Earlier this week when our youngest got home from school he went into the kitchen and sat down at his favorite spot. While this is not abnormal for him, the next thing he did totally caught me off guard and made my day. He looks over at me and says “I’m hungry.”
This almost brought tears of joy to my eyes. Our youngest son is nearly completely non-verbal, so something like this is a huge moment for him. Not only did he speak, but what he said was an appropriate phrase in an appropriate place.
The challenges we’ve faced
Our youngest has been our pickiest eater, and often won’t eat, even if he asks for food. But today, he was actually hungry and ate what was given to him. There were so many wins in this short moment!
I applauded him and told him what a good boy he was. On of the things we’ve learned in our journey is to celebrate the little wins.
We celebrate those wins because its easier to remember the struggles, and get discouraged. It’s easy to think that is all you will see. But in celebrating little wins like this, it helps lift our spirits as well. We need this as much as they do.
There is no set milestones
What most people don’t realize is that things that seem so normal for them are huge monumental things for our kiddos. There’s no milestones book for parents with kids on the autism spectrum. We realize that our kids go at their own pace and throw out every book that says by age ___ they should be able to ___. We know that’s just not going to happen.
So don’t get discouraged when your child doesn’t do the same things that other kids do, even other kids who might be on the spectrum. Know that every child is different, and instead of trying to get them to be just like the neuro-typical child down the street, walking, and talking, at a certain age – allow them to just be them.
And allow you to be you, doing the only thing you can do: keep encouraging and pushing them to do the best they can and celebrate their milestones.
