Saturday, April 12, 2014

Autism Understanding & Acceptance 2014 Day 14: Patience

Perhaps it could go without saying, but one of the most important abilities to have when raising a child with autism (or any special need, for that matter) is an unimaginable amount of patience.   Now, I know parenting any child requires patience.  I get that.  The amount of patience I'm talking about is a whole different ball game.  Every step of any new skill needs to be taught.  He needs a lot of prompting to begin a task.  And the intense scripting, especially when he is stressed, can really try even the most saintly person.  But blowing my top or rushing him or yelling only results in crying and more intense repetition of words, so patience it is.  

Regarding T: he has a tremendous amount of patience too.  As with all of us, he has his impatient moments!  But I think about what it must be like to want to communicate something, or need something - and not be able to say it - how incredibly frustrating that must be.  It also must feel odd to have people talk about you right in front of you; making decisions for you, discussing what you can't do, or every minor infraction that occurred at school, etc.  How much patience must he have - to live in a world not built for him?  

So we are patient with each other - as best as we can be.

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