April is Autism awareness month, and for us that means a lot of activities and fundraisers at our children’s school. While losing our job and moving in with my in laws almost 3 years ago hasn’t been the easiest experience of our lives the fact that because of those two things we ended up here in UT with one of the only charter schools in the world for children with autism has been the biggest blessing in our lives.
Our children were diagnosed the same week my husband lost his job, it was not a fun week for us! Of course the fact that we were going through the diagnosis process we obviously had our guess as to what the outcome would be. Our second child, Computer boy, had a miserable kindergarten year, mostly because of a very difficult teacher that didn’t have a lot of patience with our son. BUT while it wasn’t a very fun year, because of it we were lead to getting a diagnosis. And while getting a diagnosis is hard, having answers, support and help is so worth it.
I love my children, I adore my children, and I love being a mom. While aspergers has it’s challenges but like all children there are also wonderful moments that make it all worth it. My children have different weaknesses than other children but they also have different strengths! But sometimes the weaknesses overtake even the strengths so we’re constantly trying new ways to teach and get through to our children.
Luckily for us in this amazing day and age there is a lot of help out there. Our school helps us in many way, with tips and tricks we didn’t know about. We’re willing to try anything and everything that might help us teach our children and raise them to be strong and independent.
One of the tools that’s doing amazing things for kids on the spectrum is an ipad! Something that we’d love to give our children, but it simply hasn’t been in our reach. It’s on the list (you all have lists of what you’ll buy when you can, don’t you? Please say I’m not the only one!). But also on the list is being able to move out of my in-laws basement before all our kids are in college (oh and college for all 5 kids is on the list too!)
And while I can’t do it all by myself I have the most AMAZING friends! Elizabeth from Sew Chatty was the recipient of an ipad fundraiser for her son with aspergers last fall and she’s passing that on to our family, doing a fundraiser for us. It’s humbling, very humbling, to accept help, something I’m not very good at. But while I have high expectations for my children to overcome their weaknesses I need to overcome mine as well for their sake!
I’m so grateful for friends like Elizabeth, not only for her generosity, but also for their support and friendship. There is so much about aspergers that’s hard to explain, it’s nice when someone else “gets” it. So thank you to all the people that love and support us. And thank you for being a part of my world!
