www.autism-and-treatment.com
by Marcia Hinds – Megan and Ryan’s Mom
As much as our friends try to help us, parents with “typical” kids have no idea how difficult it is to raise a child with special needs. We aren’t just parents, chauffeurs, cooks or in charge of the family’s social calendar. We are physical therapists, speech therapists, occupational therapists, teachers, doctors, pharmacists, scientists, nutritionists, researchers, coaches, cheerleaders and amazing problem solvers.
When you live on Autism Island the loneliness and isolation can be overwhelming. But most days we march on. We hide our feelings and put a smile on our face. No one has a clue that we constantly worry about what will happen to our kids when we are no longer here to care for them.
When we go to those family celebrations on Thanksgiving , Hanukkah, and Christmas, all our relatives have no clue as to how hard it is to see their typical kids laughing and just having fun. We hide the envy we feel when our they talk about their typical kids struggles that seem so different than ours. They have no clue how easy they have it.
But we never see our kids as having special needs, we only see kids we love and would move heaven and earth to help. We will do something 10 times or 1000 times if that’s what it takes to help our kids grow. My family didn’t understand that I had to actually teach my kid how to smile for that family pictures. And we pray they don’t embarrass us again with one of those meltdowns this year that they are famous for.
On those particularly tough days, we take a deep breath and tell ourselves we will try again tomorrow. But no one celebrates the little successes as much as we do. We know every single step forward matters. Although we sometimes feel like giving up, we can’t because we love them too much! They have shown us what is most important in life. Autism is hard…but helping our kids is so worth it!
NOTE FROM MARCIA HINDS – Megan and Ryan’s mom:
Ryan became an aerospace engineer, because he received proper medical treatment combined with behavioral, and educational interventions. To preview my book, “I Know You’re In There – winning our war against autism”go to Amazon or my website www.autism-and-treatment.com
Contact info for Marcia:
Phone: 805 796-8213 Email: For help finding a doctor marcia@autismandtreatment.com
There is more info to help on my website.
