Parent Perspectives … Autism
by Danni Bloom
Every individual with a disability has their own strengths and challenges. In an effort to increase awareness, understanding, and acceptance, I would like to share a little about our autism journey.
In October of 2000, at the age of two and a half, our son Christian was diagnosed with autism. His father and I felt completely alone and frightened. We didn’t know what to do, but we knew we needed to figure it out fast. We scoured the Internet for information and resources and ordered books about autism. We began an in-home autism treatment program right away and got him enrolled in early intervention services (speech therapy, OT, PT, sensory integration, music, etc.). We exposed him to as much as we could, taking note of what worked and what didn’t work.
Since 2000, Christian has made great strides and we believe it was due to an early diagnosis and because we dived right in to getting him the help he needed. He continues to learn and he continues to have challenges, but we will never give up.
Having a child with a disability can be overwhelming and scary, but your child is still your child, no matter the diagnosis or label doctors assign.
My advice to parents would be to trust your gut instincts, read everything you can about how to help your child and start helping them with their challenges right away. Be your child’s best advocate and then teach your child to become a self-advocate. Don’t set limits and never give up.
Danni is a board member for Limitless Purpose and serves as the Director of Policy and Outreach for The Arc of South Carolina. In her role with The Arc, she works to provides resources for families including this online directory of resources: https://www.arcsc.org/scdisabilityresourcedirectory