Besides my family and closest friends, there are still other people who walk with me through this journey. They are my support group. They are the other parents who are in the same situation as me. Not really the same because as I said, no two cases are truly the same. The same in the sense that we're going through similar challenges everyday. The roller coaster ride of emotions. Joy, guilt, anger, frustrations, celebrations, and lots of other things a mom can feel. Name it, we feel it. It helps a lot to know that we're not alone in this world. It helps to have other people you can talk to who knows exactly what you're going through. That's why I love going to Patricia's school and therapies. I love talking to other moms. Conversing without inhibitions, hesitations and guilt feeling. In this blog, I will give special mention to 2 exceptional moms I know.
Kettie is AJ's mom. And mom of Patricia's classmate Anna. I learned a lot from her. She shares everything she knows. She's studying SPED which makes her a great adviser when it comes to teaching our child. She also shares to us good books that can help us along the way and therapy centers that we might need. It's from her that I learned about IEP (Individualized Education Plan). It's through her own experiences that I learn that there will be more challenges in the future, that it's going to be a continuing process. Because of that, I'm preparing myself. That's a big help.
Janet is Keandre's mom. I admire her a lot. She's a cool mom. When you see her, she seems to be so happy and in control. But among the three of us, she's the emotional one. When she starts telling stories, we can't help but cry with her. She tells her stories with such passion. She's actually the first mom that I talked to after Patricia's diagnosis. We met in one of the therapy centers where our children are having sessions. After that, I never stopped texting her. We share everything. The latest researches, therapy centers, schools, teachers and even food. It's as if we're together in every step that we take.She tries everything and does everything for her child. She's a strong woman with a soft and kind heart. Truly admirable.
When the three of us are together, we share never ending stories of our experiences and undying love for our children. We can go on and on and on. Even when we talk about the same things almost everyday, it gives us strength and hope and joy. As we see our children coming out of their classrooms, the smiles that they bring to our faces, it's priceless. We wouldn't trade it for anything. And I wouldn't trade this friendship that I have with this two exceptional moms. =)
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Luanne, thanks for reading my website (www.ourautismjourney.com). Please know that I have not updated my site like I should. Andrew is now 7 1/2 years old and he is doing wonderful. There is so much hope for our children. Andrew can say or do anything he wants. He is in school and doing well. We've been through a lot of therapy and we see a Neurologist who manages his medication, but he is coming along great. The only problem he has at this point is getting some of his words mixed up. Instead of saying "I don't want to" He'll say "I didn't want to". Or "Andrew wants more cheese" instead of "I want more cheese". But, otherwise, he plays with friends, talks non-stop, is happy and great. Please have hope and faith. Our children can learn and can succeed! I know there will be times when you feel like you take 2 steps forward and 1 step back, we've been there. But, it gets better. We're still in this journey with you and wish you, your husband, and Patricia all the best! Please feel free to contact me anytime if I can help you. mcwible@comcast.net Melissa, Mobile, Alabama, USA
ReplyDeletehi, i was crying while reading... my son matthew was diagnosed with asd just last month, he's 4 yrs old and 5 mos. as the doctor explained to me my sons condition i cant explain how i felt, it was so hard....i thought he was just late bloomer cause for his age he can only say few things, (mama, papa, ate, wowa for lola, outside, no, ayaw, tuwi for water and kaka for food, tv, sip for sleep) until i brought to him to regular school for assessment, it was the teacher who assessed matty who suggested to bring him to dev ped.
ReplyDeletethe first assignment that the doctor gave me was to removed his nappy, matty still wears nappy if he wants to make pupu, but as we get home i keep all the diaper and started training him to use cr which he adapted naman agad. i enrolled matty in sped and will undergo ot 3x a week.
at home i gave my yaya an assignment, we started teaching matty to write and color some coloring books, 1 hour in am and 1 hour in pm, my purpose with this is to prepare him to school and to practice him to focus on one thing, we are having difficult time in getting his attention for he is sobrang hyper. the writing assignment with his yaya is quite successful the second day kase naka sulat na sya kahit tracing lang, i am also calling him everyday so he can learn how to interact thru phone which i find effective.
after 2 weeks of all the experiments i can see some progress naman with my son, nadagdagan ang vocabulary nya and nag iinteract na sya now samen though he cant talk well.
im a working mom who cant quit job especially now in my sons condition, though its hard im trying to divide my time at home and work. there are times that im feeling down but i just pray for i know that this is Gods will....
God gave us our children for he know that we can take care of them, we can give them more love and understand their needs..
i know this is just the beginning of our long journey, a journey that will make our life more meaningful for we will share this with our little ones... i will visit your blog from time to time...God Bless