If you are a parent of a child on the spectrum, you do the same kind of comparisons as other parents, but on somewhat of a different level. Let me explain. We all want our kids to grow and develop. We want them to learn new skills, develop meaningful relationships, succeed at school — all of these things and more. As an autism parent, perhaps just sleeping through the night?
Whatever it is you want for your child, although it may be different, it is still wanting more for them and striving to help them reach the next level in their development.
I know that if you have a child with ASD, it’s easy to want to see “big” changes — especially if you are doing lots of things to help your child. As a family, we do lots of different things to help our son. These include biomedical treatment, ABA therapy, structured social group, nutrition, extra curricular activities (swimming, martial arts, scouts, hockey), ABM movement lessons. We do all of this to enhance his life. Do we expect to see changes? You bet! Do we see changes? Yes Do we see changes that blow our mind? I would have to say No.
But do we see small steady changes? Yes we do. All the time.
As people, we always want everything to happen quickly. That’s just human nature.
But the important thing to remember is that small steady changes are amazing! We need to recognize these and get excited about them. Change is growth and growth is fantastic! We should celebrate growth every time it happens.
You’ve heard the phrase “slow and steady wins the race”? This couldn’t be more true for a child with autism.
Life, I have discovered, is a marathon and if you cross the finish line too quickly, you will miss the important small stuff — the small steady changes that happen gradually.
Shelly Wedge 