I’m having a rough day emotionally and I’m struggling to find the patience that my kids deserve. I think by most standards I’m doing really well but I tend to hold myself to a much higher standard and therefore, I feel I need to do better.
That being said, I’m not going to dwell on the negative tonight. Instead, I want to focus on celebrating a really important victory.
Unless you’re an Autism parent, you might not appreciate this but I assure you, it’s a big deal.
The above picture is my youngest, Emmett. He recently turned 11 years old and I couldn’t be prouder of who he is. He diagnosed with Autism when he was much younger, we were told he was nonverbal and probably would never talk.
He’s very, very sensory oriented and clothes have been a huge challenge for him. He went years without wearing shoes and socks because he couldn’t tolerate the sensation. Most of his home life has been spent wearing as little as possible and that presents some challenges. Don’t even get me started on food.
Fast forward to today. He’s talking like someone significantly his senior and he’s wearing jeans for the first time in many, many years. He’s fully dressed, including shoes and socks. He’s also drinking a somewhat chunky smoothie as well.
If you had told me even 6 months ago that he would be wearing jeans today, I would have probably laughed right in your face.
Mr. Emmett has come such a long way and I just wanted to point some of these things out. He deserves so much credit for this. I felt it was important to celebrate these victories because. Things have been rough lately and I could definitely use the good news. 🙂
We were also told that my son would never talk when he was first diagnosed. Today he can talk to you about politics, computers, video games and other subjects. We were also told by a not so great psychologist to put him into an institution three hours from where we live. And told “you can have other kids.” He also made a very rude and unneeded state that our son would have as much feeling for us as the empty chair that he pointed to in his office. I told him in no uncertain terms what I thought of him and his suggestion and we got up and walk out of his office. My son was three years old at the time. He’s now 37 and a great human being. I couldn’t even begin to consider not having him in our lives. His autism also proved to be a motivation for his younger brother to go to college, medical school and become a doctor because of what he experienced as the younger brother of an autistic sibling. Although there are still other difficulties, we continue to work with and relish our oldest son’s achievements, however small or large. When they are small, you can never predict what obstacles they may overcome as they grow older.