Having said this, there’s a personal struggle that I face quite frequently, and that’s trying to balance letting go and being overprotective.

There are clearly times that I know I’m being overprotective. I’ve worked on allowing more independence as I feel it can safely be done and that’s been moderately successful at times.  It’s also produced situations where one of my kids wandered off and was lost for about twenty minutes. Very scary.

When your child has a disability or disorder that impacts them physically or cognitively, it’s very difficult and scary to let go, even a little bit.

At the same, how are you ever going to know what your child can handle if you don’t give them a chance, even if it means they might fall or fail.

I would never want to provide specific, blanket advice on what to do or not do in regards to your child, especially when it comes down to something like this. Every single child and adult on the Autism Spectrum is brilliantly unique and what works or is safe for one often won’t transfer to anyone else.

All I want to do is create a dialog about finding balance between letting go and being overprotective. It’s not easy by any stretch of the imagination but having a discussion with others who get it might be helpful.

We can all learn from each other.