Autism Parenting 101: Overcoming Frustration

         Most parents, if not all, begin to dream and aspire for their children as soon as they were born. It would begin to wanting their children to be healthy, to be good persons, to finish school, to be successful in whatever they would go into when they become adults. To sum it all up, parents simply want all the best for their children.



         A painful phase in the life of parents of a child with autism is the "revelation"- the time when signs of autism become apparent. A beautiful and seemingly healthy child would come to their life. As doting parents, they would start weaving dreams and plans for his future. Until this child would begin to show indications that deviate from what a typical child should be. He would be needing help for him to improve in terms of behavior and development, and also to deal with his environment. Even his chances of going to a regular school may become uncertain. So is the possibility of earning a degree in college and getting a good job. Then questions like "what will happen to my child's future?" would start to come in. At this point, to have feelings of frustration is inevitable.

         Our son is now 10 years old with the intellectual abilities of a 6 year old. When he was born, I also aspired to see him a successful and fulfilled man. Maybe he would become a doctor, too. Or an engineer like his grandfather. Or a tech savvy person  like his dad. Since he has a significant delay in the areas of cognition and speech (part of autism symptom), these dreams I had for him seemed far from being realized. I harbored feelings of frustration for several months after my son was diagnosed having autism. Not because he may not become any of who and what I had dreamt of  but because I worry too much about how he would live and what kind of life he would have when the time comes that we, his parents are no longer around. It is emotionally tiring to harbor feelings of frustration. We love our son so much. So we must find a way to help him be better. We realized we cannot do this rationally if  we allow ourselves to be conquered by frustration. Thus, we chose to be hopeful and optimistic rather than stay in the dark recess of frustration.
       After our son's diagnosis of autism, we never wasted time and he started to attend therapy sessions. We followed his doctor's recommendations and took part in every activity that would help him develop and accomplish therapy and academic goals. Sometimes, it takes longer time than expected for him to achieve certain goals in his program. However, our hearts have no more room for feelings of frustration anymore because we have filled it with so much hope, love, acceptance and faith that God has also a plan for him. We are happy with whatever achievements, big or small, our son may have.        
                                       
                                           

             

Image Credits:
Depressed Man by Master Isolated Images
Family by Tueleksa
Jeremiah 29:11 by instapray.com