How did we do this? What was this cutting edge therapy we had found, this latest in scientific development?
It was plain old being ready. Time.
Susan Senator, The Autism Therapy That Worked For Us: Time
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This is why I tell you not to give up.
This is why I insist on redefining what does and does not constitute functional behavior.
This is why I ball my fists and stamp my feet and refuse to succumb to the tyranny of made-up deadlines.
This is why I say this …
Our children deserve to have childhoods. Happy ones. Comfortable ones. Playful and play-filled ones. Stimmy, squealy joyous ones. Ones in which they learn and grow and discover the world in their own ways.
And this …
We have got to break free of this bullshit paradigm of artificial deadlines — of the need to rush, rush, rush to teach, teach, teach to drill, drill, drill — to make every moment a “productive opportunity.” Because when we release ourselves from that pressure, we allow our autistic children to BE CHILDREN. And by God, how freeing is that? (For everyone involved.)
And this is why I whole heartedly believe this …
Once we can all take that collective deep breath and agree that opportunities for growth and development are not finite, we give ourselves the luxury of looking at things through a different lens. A slower one. A less pressured one. An unpanicked one.
THIS is why.
Psst … click on a blue THIS. Any one will do.
“THIS” is so true. I used that quote just the other day and I choose to believe it whole-heartedly. “everything will be okay in the end. If it’s not okay, it’s not the end”.
Love you,
Mom
Reblogged this on Roy F. McCampbell's Blog.
It’s a marathon, not a sprint!
Reblogged this on Walkin' on the edge and commented:
A lesson for EVERY parent – love, caring, understanding, and willingness to let our children be who THEY are, special needs or not.
Letting my kids be kids ( for me it meant taking them out of school to homeschool them to leave us more time to play) was the best decision I ever made. I did have lots of help with RDI ( Relationship Development Intervention)..knowing how to frame letting my kids be kids and empowering them to make decisions ( instead of schools prompting the heck out of them)…so I am not sure Time is the magic as I believe there are lots of other factors to help make the most of the time, but its agreat start!!!
I really needed this today. We’ve had a bit of regression in our eldest- it’s cyclical, and this helped remind me to be patient. Thank you!
I love the quote, everything will be okay in the end, if it’s not okay, it’s not the end. Great post.
Oh my goodness, YES! Susan Senator…YES! This is what I have learned as well, and why wouldn’t our kids KEEP LEARNING? I know I do, I know that I have changed and grown so much in the years that I have loved and nurtured these little people. It is so nice to just let go of the stopwatch, to stop expecting that the tenth time will be the time he gets it, to just keep going, keep trying, and know that whether its the hundredth time or the thousandth time, he hears me, he’s going to get there. Yes.