This blog is about my 11 year old child who has an official ASD diagnosis. I don't completely understand this disease. I want to hear from others with similar ASD characteristics.
A history: My sweet baby was born to an alcoholic father and a dysfunctional mother (me.) As my husband was actively drinking during the first 5 years of our son's life (my husband passed away when our son was 5 years old), I chose to disconnect from him as an act of self-preservation. I was not allowed to parent our son in a way that I saw fit, so my unfortunate choice was to emotionally disconnect from him. I didn't want his behavior to be a poor reflection on me as I was not able to exert any significant influence over how he was being raised. Each time I tried to wield a parenting strategy or choice, it was met with strong resistance. Neither my son nor I were ever physically abused, but emotional abuse and manipulation were present. My husband loved his son in the best way that he could.
As a result of my detachment from my son, I'm sure I missed any significant early signs of ASD. Although, I don't remember there being any major milestones that he missed or was delayed in reaching, he did, however, walk on his toes and showed preference to only a few foods and explored limited topics of interest when playing.
So, we have a diagnosis of ASD at the age of 6. Having dealt with grief of my husband's passing, grief of an ASD diagnosis, and guilt from basically missing the first 5 years of my son's life, I set about reclaiming my son's life and tried to focus on him. I really kicked things into high gear in 2020 with the onset of Covid-19. Why? you may ask.
Covid-19 brought my son home from school. I noticed some things were missing in my son's education when he started 5th grade in late summer 2020. All the hints and clues I'd been picking up on through the years became glaring, gaping holes in 5th grade. I believe this is a result of my being by his side throughout the day watching him take classes in the virtual environment. My unscientific analysis of him put retention of his elementary education at about 40%. Meaning it seemed like my son didn't get or retain 60% of what he was taught or supposed to learn in elementary school! That's quite a bit!
To hear more detail about my son's education (or lack thereof), please read my next post.
Thanks for coming along on our journey...
A history: My sweet baby was born to an alcoholic father and a dysfunctional mother (me.) As my husband was actively drinking during the first 5 years of our son's life (my husband passed away when our son was 5 years old), I chose to disconnect from him as an act of self-preservation. I was not allowed to parent our son in a way that I saw fit, so my unfortunate choice was to emotionally disconnect from him. I didn't want his behavior to be a poor reflection on me as I was not able to exert any significant influence over how he was being raised. Each time I tried to wield a parenting strategy or choice, it was met with strong resistance. Neither my son nor I were ever physically abused, but emotional abuse and manipulation were present. My husband loved his son in the best way that he could.
As a result of my detachment from my son, I'm sure I missed any significant early signs of ASD. Although, I don't remember there being any major milestones that he missed or was delayed in reaching, he did, however, walk on his toes and showed preference to only a few foods and explored limited topics of interest when playing.
So, we have a diagnosis of ASD at the age of 6. Having dealt with grief of my husband's passing, grief of an ASD diagnosis, and guilt from basically missing the first 5 years of my son's life, I set about reclaiming my son's life and tried to focus on him. I really kicked things into high gear in 2020 with the onset of Covid-19. Why? you may ask.
Covid-19 brought my son home from school. I noticed some things were missing in my son's education when he started 5th grade in late summer 2020. All the hints and clues I'd been picking up on through the years became glaring, gaping holes in 5th grade. I believe this is a result of my being by his side throughout the day watching him take classes in the virtual environment. My unscientific analysis of him put retention of his elementary education at about 40%. Meaning it seemed like my son didn't get or retain 60% of what he was taught or supposed to learn in elementary school! That's quite a bit!
To hear more detail about my son's education (or lack thereof), please read my next post.
Thanks for coming along on our journey...