Homeschooling  with Autism

Moving Forward  

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Your child will have their own strengths and challenges that are part of this diagnosis, but it is important to remember that autism is a condition that generally does not get worse over time. Almost every person with autism matures. They will just learn and grow at their own stages and paces - not only through receiving intensive treatment but especially when receiving encouragement, support and love.

Everyone's circumstances will vary indifference in terms of living with autism, but it will always need to be a factor that needs to be considered in every single decision that you make from now on both with and for your child.

In all of the different stages of your child's life, you are going to be expected to make decisions for them which some will be quite complicated, and most of the time, some of the decisions that you need to make, you will not be immediately prepared to make them!  The severity of your child's symptoms, your personal family situation, your financial situation, your professional working life, your social life, and everything in between - will all be part of this equation.  

Every family situation has its good times and bad times. There will be times where it will be challenging to keep things in perspective to balance taking time for yourself, keeping certain routines, and carrying on with plans that will be accommodating for all immediate family members. It is important to maintain a good sense of family humour and be sure that you laugh with each other and do things together that help relieve tension so that each person within your household feels valued, supported and accepted.

You might also at times need to work with additional doctors, dentists, therapists, school staff and administration, federal/non-federal agencies, organizations, social/caseworkers and lawyers (and anyone else that I might have missed...) to advocate for your child’s special needs.  Remember that any outside person that you interact with along your journey are only temporary in your child's life and many will come and go, but you will be permanent in their life always.  It is completely up to you to take things further and to do your additional research on things that your child needs because no one in this world knows your child better than you do.  

 

All of this from this day forward is about helping your child grow into the best person they can be and loving them for who they are every step of the way.

 

First Step Questions that You Might Have...

 

In any form of parenting, it is vital to reduce any common stresses.  There will be many new things to learn and things will need to change and be adjusted along the way as your child matures.   When you receive your child’s diagnosis, there are going to be many other questions that come up for you which you will want to investigate further and discuss with your doctor or other professionals (medical or otherwise) you deal with, such as:

 

• Which therapies or treatments or services would be the best options for my child?

• What type of educational setting will be best for my child?

• What type of recreational or community experiences would be appropriate for my child to participate in?

• What type of funding is available for my child?

• How should I plan for my child’s long-term future and care?

 

Again, not all of the answers to these questions above will be the same for every person.  Some of these topics have been broken down on this website for better clarity.  

 

Do not be afraid to ask questions, but try not to tackle getting all of the answers you need for everything all at once. Write them down so that you can go back to that list later to be sure that you covered everything you needed to do.  Remember that everyone's situation will be different from another so take the time to be honest with yourself and focus only on what would work best for your child and your family situation directly at that particular time in your lives.

 

Expect that sometimes you will find that you will not get any answers to your questions.  Be prepared that often, you will be told to "get in touch with" someone else and will need to contact them instead. 

 

While it is always fantastic to plan for the future, don't spend all of your time planning on something too far ahead and ignore the things that need to be addressed during the present day. You can plan and plan until your heart is content but in reality, things will NOT be the same in your family in 1, 5, or even 10 years time and circumstances WILL change regardless if you want them too or not.

Make a priority on working on things that you need for "Today" or at least "in the near future". Sometimes things do take a significant amount of time to research and look into for better clarity.  Focus on dealing with "1 priority topic" or "1 thing" at a time, for however ever long you need it to take until you are fully understanding of what is possible and what it involves at "this" time.  Then you won't become overwhelmed with the stress of too much information at once and it will be much easier for you to make your decision clearly with confidence if you decide you want to move forward with the idea - or not.