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Kids & Company Blog
Raising a Child with Autism: Interview with a Parent
April is Autism Awareness Month! This initiative is a nationwide effort to promote autism awareness, inclusion and self-determination for all, and assure that each person with ASD is provided the opportunity to achieve the highest possible quality of life. Those of you who have read my previous blogs will remember my younger brother Jason has Autism. To celebrate this special month and promote awareness of these amazing individuals, I interviewed my mom to ask her questions about raising my brother, who is now 24 years old!
1.What were some of the things you noticed in Jason that prompted you to have him screened?
After Jase was six months old, we began to see delays in his meeting developmental milestones. The most prominent was Jason’s limited to non-existent words. We told ourselves that his adorable “Dadadadadadada” was “Daddy” but we kind of knew it was just babble. By the time Jase was 18 months, both his Grandmothers sensed something wasn’t quite right but we were in deep, deep denial! Finally, at his two-year-old check-up our Pediatrician agreed to refer us to a Developmental Pediatrician and our journey officially began!
2. How old was Jason when he was diagnosed? What was your response to his diagnosis?
Jase was two when he was diagnosed and our family joined “The Club”, as we like to say. We had heard the word “Autism” but really had no idea what it was. A part of both of us was relieved: now that we had a label we could figure out what we were dealing with and educate ourselves. Once we knew the “problem”, we dug into making a plan.
3. What were some of the programs and supports that you used to help him grow and develop? How do you handle being his advocate?
We were open to trying anything and everything. At the beginning, I approached autism as the enemy. I was in a battle that I would surely win. Jase became my little science experiment. Anything with anecdotal evidence was good enough for me. The list of therapies, diets, pills, and equipment we tried was long and vast. We had a trusted team of experts that guided us on the mainstream approaches, so we really felt we had all the bases covered.As far as being Jase’s advocate, we took a team approach with me being the lead. We tagged each other a lot, and knew our respective areas of expertise. I had a softer approach but when we had to get squeaky, with the school board for example, Steve was happy to step up. We had clear objectives and lots of support from our extended family. We needed every hand up, hand out and kindness that came our way!
4. What was the biggest obstacle you have overcome in Jason’s life?
I struggled with accepting Jase the way he was, a wonderful child who happens to have autism. I believed I could defeat this beast and have my “normal” child back. Steve was able to accept and love Jase just the way he was way sooner. The problem was me. I had to believe that Jase didn’t need to be fixed because he wasn’t broken.For Steve it was accepting that Jase wasn’t sick or dying, he was just different. There is a wonderful article titled “Welcome to Holland” that hit home for both of us.Nowadays our challenge is accepting that Jase is capable of way more than we expect of him. Our urge to protect him is actually holding him back. We need to get out of his way more often…it is really hard!
5. How did you manage parenting your two other children while still providing additional support for Jason?
This was easy! We made extensive use of the “divide and conquer” approach. We knew we were both competent and played on the same team. We didn’t keep score or micro manage each other. We respected each other’s decisions and didn’t over-rule each other, no learned helplessness!
6. What advice would you offer to parent’s who have recently become a part of the ASD club?
Read “Welcome to Holland”. Clean up your child’s diet, it is relatively easy when your child is young and much harder later on. This way you will have no regrets. Trust your gut, if an approach or therapy doesn’t feel right move on to something else.Ask yourself “What if this is meant to be a good thing?” over and over again. It is a fast way to get you seeing the glass is half full.
7. What is your favourite part about being Jason’s mom?
Jason has made us both better people, no question. We believe Jase chose us to be his parents and that makes us feel very blessed and humbled. He has made us a stronger, more grounded, more accepting and loving family. How great is that?
Christie is the Marketing and Events Manager at Kids & Company’s head office. She is one of three children and was born and raised in Toronto. Christie enjoys spending weekends with her family at their cottage and is looking forward to getting married there in July! Connect with her at cwhite@kidsandcompany.com
Posted on: Monday April 8th, 2019
Posted by: Kids & Company
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Jackson
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Harrison
West Loop
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Sweet Kiddles University Circle, part of the Kids & Company Family
Cochrane
Brightstart Coquitlam, by Kids & Company
Dartmouth
Dover
Walpole North
Eastern Passage
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Edmonton Ice District
Baturyn
Diamond
Friendly Frog
Meadowlark Park
St. Charles
St. Dominic
Sunshine Factory
Tender Heart
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Fraser
Century Park: New – Open for Enrollment
Islington
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ABC Kiddie Kampus Exeter, by Kids & Company
Apple Hill Academy Freehold by Kids & Company
Halifax
Hamilton
Hammonds Plains
Route 39
Schaffner
Swatara
Apple Hill Academy Howell by Kids & Company
Sweet Kiddles Hudson, part of the Kids & Company Family
Hummelstown
Pine Village JP Revere, by Kids & Company
Pine Village JP South Street, by Kids & Company
Kamloops
Eagleson (South Kanata)
Crayon College, by Kids & Company
Tyke Town Lake St. Louis, by Kids & Company
ABC Lake St. Louis, by Kids & Company
Kids World
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London Richmond
Sackville
Apple Hill Academy Manalapan by Kids & Company
119 Avenue, Part of the Kids & Company Family
Dewdney House (Infant/Toddler and 3-5), Part of the Kids & Company Family
Dewdney Church (Preschool/OSC/3-5), Part of the Kids & Company Family
Edge, Part of the Kids & Company Family
Webster’s Corner, Part of the Kids & Company Family
Harry Hooge, Part of the Kids & Company Family
Alouette, Part of the Kids & Company Family
Silver Valley, Part of the Kids & Company Family
Whonnock, Part of the Kids & Company Family
Under The Sun Marlton, part of the Kids & Company Family
Sweet Kiddles Medina, part of the Kids & Company Family
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Lougheed, Part of the Kids & Company Family
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Briskham, Part of the Kids & Company Family
Robert Speck Parkway
Mississauga Gateway Centre
Nanaimo
Pine Village Needham, by Kids & Company
Ottawa Barrhaven
New Westminster
Pine Village West Newton, by Kids & Company
Pine Village Newton Highlands, by Kids & Company
North Vancouver
North Van Esplanade
O’Fallon South
ABC O’Fallon, by Kids & Company
Oakville Cornwall
Oakville Dundas
Joshua Creek
Oakville West (3471 Wyecroft Rd)
Okotoks
ABC Kiddie Kampus Old Forge, by Kids & Company
Ottawa Albert
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Palmyra
ABC Kiddie Kampus Pittston, by Kids & Company
Brightstart Port Coquitlam, by Kids & Company
Port Moody
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Randolph
Red Deer
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Head Office
Schaumburg
Sherwood Park
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ABC St. Charles, by Kids & Company
Tyke Town St. Peters, by Kids & Company
ABC St. Peters, by Kids & Company
Stoney Creek
Under The Sun Stratford, part of the Kids & Company Family
Sweet Kiddles Strongsville, part of the Kids & Company Family
Morgan Crossing
Surrey Professional Centre
King George
Brightstart Cloverdale, by Kids & Company
Sylvan Lake
Bloor Christie
Bloor (Bloor St. East)
Consumers
Finch
Front
Scotia Plaza
Stockyards
St. Andrew’s Church
Liberty Village
Rosedale
Queen West
Tyke Town Troy, by Kids & Company
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Langford
Victoria
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Tech Town
Under The Sun West Deptford, part of the Kids & Company Family
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https://youtu.be/T_-oyh2B7qQ
I hope this link can help..
I am a teacher and I personally interviewed a 17 year old boy with Autism..
Children with autism also exhibit strong resistant to change in their routines so we as early childhood educators must set a fixed schedule for them in the classroom to ensure that they day is more predictable for them to reduce the occurrences of challenging behaviours and better learning experience of the child. As children with autism are visual learners and that they have auditory processing difficulty where they find it challenging to deal with verbal informationinformation.
http://www.myautismworld.com
This is a very insightful and informative comment. Thank you to the author for sharing this information.
https://thebirchcentre.com/about/
I am currently on preparations for interviewing parents raising kids with autism and I can’t deny how helpful this piece of writing is towards achieving my Goal.
Appreciation comment to the author and the participant for informative interview.