From Hopeless to Optimistic - Be a stronger Parent in Autism Journey

Boys are more naughty and need more pampered by parents. They take more time to learn and adjust. Boys start speaking very late. These are the common statements we heard from my Relatives, neighbours and even his Doctor. Me and my husband also got carried away with the same opinion and didn't pay much attention to my child's speech delay and unnatural behaviour. By the time we identified there is a problem it was late and the question is did we miss the Early intervention period for Autism Spectrum Disorder.

I'm Durga, love to be called as an Autism Mom which makes me stronger all the time as I'm left with no other option. My son is diagnosed with Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) at the age of 4. Autism, or autism spectrum disorder (ASD), refers to a broad range of conditions characterized by challenges with social skills, repetitive behaviors, speech and nonverbal communication. According to the Centers for Disease Control, autism affects an estimated 1 in 54 children in the United States today.

when a child Psychiatrist told us that you have already crossed the golden age of early intervention and now there is nothing much which we can do. She blamed us for going to work by leaving 4 year old kid at home with my parents. She told that a Mother should be always with baby in his growing age and not being with him we ignored his condition. After asking his doctor multiple times she told us to consult with a child psychiatric center. Autism is not very much known condition to every family. We didn't have any guidance even though we were taking him to Doctor for vaccination every time. We didn't receive any such feedback from his Doctor until we insisted her to give us any reference to check his behaviour. We had sleepless nights after we learnt about his condition. I researched a lot and consulted few child Psychiatrists who used to do assessment and first blame us for not identifying his condition and then advice us to go for Speech therapy.

I was hopeless and direction less finally we joined him in a Speech and Occupational therapy centre. We were walking in dark not knowing where are we going to reach. Destination was unknown as they told us we have crossed the golden age where we can actually make a difference in him.

As early when you realise

When I have started my journey in Autism with my son with no hope I was weak as I did not have any idea about Autism and it's reaction. I understood that fighting such a condition when I am weak may not help I need to be a strong support for myself and my son so first thing to do is develop strength and act accordingly as  life gives you. Take good as fortune and take bad as opportunity. For gaining this strength I need to gain knowledge about what I am into. I need to learn more about Autism, it's history and how can we deal with it. It's a condition which my child is gifted with so he needs to live with it. Great thing which I can do for him is being optimistic and cheer him up all the time and if he is happy only then he will respond to the therapies well. It's never late. You can always work with his condition it's better early but never delay whenever you identify. 

Early identification mechanism

You can't expect a 2 year old kid coming to you and tell his/her problem. It's our responsibility to involve with the the child to identify the problem but for someone who is a layman in this it's very difficult to analyse the situation. 

Parenting not an easy job

As we grow older in our education we get specialised in one or the other field but being a parent we have to gain knowledge in all the areas to avoid risks. I never knew much about Autism if so I would have identified at the early age and would have helped him better now. But still the day I realised this I presumed it as early intervention and started working towards his betterment because better now than later. Therapy centres will give only 20% and the remaining 80% is in your hands. You need ample support from your family as a kid learns much from the Environment. Your child should be always infront of your eyes. You need to observe him smiling , crying or learning anything. It was hard to make my child sit for 5 minutes but not I can atleast make him sit for 1 hour to make him study. Concentration level may be comparitively less but at initial stage making him sit and study or play is only your success. Like this there are plenty milestones you need to achieve. It's definitely difficult at the early stage but later on whenever you see a little sign of improvement in your child you will be enthusiastic and your energy levels will increase to deal with it.