My Autism Awareness month article!

Here is the article I wrote for the Great Start newsletter! For those of you who haven't read it yet, here it is!

As the mother of a preteen with two younger siblings on the Autism spectrum, life can be quite challenging. My younger girls are quite different in their impairment. One child is non-verbal and has extreme difficulty in social interaction and communication. The other one is very verbal and is excelling in her general education setting.

I like to describe autism as the invisible disorder. There are no physical characteristics that make these children stand-out in a crowd. As a matter of fact, I always get the look of shock when I reveal that my verbal child is on the spectrum. “No? Not her! She looks so normal!” is the response I’ve gotten way too many times and it always stings. She IS normal, just different.

 I’m just asking you to choose your words with care. I am asking you to consider this….I had dreams for all of my girls from the time they were in my womb. Dreams of playing tea party, getting dressed up for dance recitals, going on shopping trips to the mall, to the zoo, to the movies. Their first date, their prom, their wedding….My dreams are different now. What you take for granted comes so hard for my children. It is work to make friends, work to play with toys, work to follow simple direction. It takes so much effort for them to go on a simple shopping trip to the mall. All of the smells, noise, lights, and movement can send my children into sensory overload meltdowns. Let me translate for you, it would be the kid that is kicking and screaming and trying to run away from Mom. I can’t tell you how many stares, laughter and rude comments my family has endured due to the insensitivity of some. Their judgments have placed the weight of the world on my twelve year olds shoulders. I am in awe of her strength, compassion and devotion to her sisters.

So, I will continue to dream for my girls. We have chosen to not look at their limitations but to look at all of their possibilities. We are a family just like you, we just have special needs. While you are out doing your day to day thing in the month of April, take time to notice the puzzle pieces, the donations jars for autism and the blue porch lights and think of families like mine.  And that is what drives me to bring awareness to our community. So that I don’t have to see that look on my child’s face. So that families like mine won’t feel so out of place in this world.  So that when my little ones grow up they will be accepted for who they are. So that while families like mine are doing our best to raise our children, we will know our community supports us. I do this for my girls. They are not defined by their behaviors. They are so much more than that and I want you to see the beauty I see.

Autism affects 1 in 110 children. It knows no racial or financial boundaries. It is a developmental disability that causes significant social, communication and behavioral challenges. How significant the impairment depends on where the child is on the spectrum.

To learn more about autism:  

Jackson Autism Support Network

jasn-mi.org

autismspeaks.org

Jeanna TenBrink

Proud Mom of two children with autism and one strong and compassionate tween!

I'm a blogger!!!

I was dropped into Autism World three years and 2 months ago today. It was like being stranded in a seedy part of town with $100 bills taped all over my body. It left me completely vulnerable, helpless and scared out of my mind! I didn't want to be in this world. It was a confusing, dark place to be. I wanted to bundle up my precious baby and get on the first plane out of there but there was no escape route. No busses, planes, trains or even rocket ships could get us out of this place. I had to face the fact that we were going to be permanent residents here. And while we were trying to make this world our new home, our family was hit with a second diagnosis of Autism....So, as I tried to reassure our oldest (who is neuro-typical) that we would make frequent visits to the other world, where she is more familiar, where all of her friends live and her interests are, I couldn't help but feel at that time that it was possible to do it all. To live in Autism World but vacation in the Other World and make it work for all of us. At that time I thought it was possible. But fast forward three years and 2 months since "D" day and I can barely remember a time when we didn't live in Autism World. It has consumed us with it's demands and has driven most of our close friends away.