Covid has been tough on everyone and has hit some harder than others. It has forced us to make changes and do things differently. We have had to adapt to things that we don’t like and we have had to create new ways of doing things at home.
It has changed the way our children learn, the way we work and the way we do things. It has created many ups and downs and we have had to adapt to things in a whole new way.
Things are slowly getting back to some kind of normal, which is good. But what I have discovered through the past year and a half is that there have been many positive things that have come from this experience.
Sure, school has been hard. One day you go in, the next day you are at home. There are cohorts, no lockers, time changes for in person learning and learning to do school through zoom. There has been lots of pressure for both children and parents.
Honestly, I am so proud of both of our children during this time.
For children with autism, one knows that changes are difficult – any changes. This could be routine, lunch, going to school, trying to do school on a computer, getting up at different times, trying to make connections etc. You name it, it’s hard for them to adjust.
Our children are both different and unique. For our daughter, having cohorts in high school really reduced her anxiety of having to be around large crowds of people at one time so the change was really positive. Since she was doing a lot of art as she went to an art school being on-line was good at times because she could be in her own space and focus on her art rather than all of the other distractions that can arise.
For our son, getting more attention in a smaller class size allowed the teacher to get to know his strengths and how he worked. For him, trying to get to know a teacher and fellow students on a computer was rather difficult. But on the plus side, he was able to learn in a comfortable environment and I was able to see first hand where he needed help and where he was self-sufficient.
For our family, it was a lot of togetherness, which as you know, can be positive and negative but for us, I want to say that it was good. We didn’t have to rush to so many appointments as things we done on-line. We were able to spend more quality time just doing things together like eating lunch and just hanging out.
Looking back on things, for our family, I know that we are going to keep some of these positive changes and incorporate them into our lives going forward. We have realized that some of the things we did were not necessary and we want to let some of those things go and focus on what is truly important.
I’m glad things are settling down and I look forward to creating a “new normal” going forward.
Shelly Wedge 