Autism Awareness Corner

By Autism Snipe Mama

She:kon, I would like to say Nia:wen Ko:wa to Indian Time Newspaper for allowing me to bring Autism Awareness to Akwesasne by having ‘Autism Awareness Corner’ in the paper.

I am a parent of a 7-yr. old Autistic boy. I would like to first say that with hard work, time, energy, stress, sleepless nights, therapy appointments, doctor’s appointments, road running and money, your special needs child can achieve greatness. 

My son was non-verbal, no eye contact, no touch, solitude, stemming, flapping, rocking, “meltdowns”, lining up his trains everywhere and anywhere, and if you moved it, watch out for the “meltdown”. He would hurt himself and me, due to lack of communication. 

Yes, it is hard work. It is hard work having a child with special needs. Once you and your spouse can get over the “denial” hump, I promise you it is worth having your child become as self-sufficient as possible in their future. It is all up to you, the parent, to put your all into helping your child achieve greatness. Denial is a parent’s greatest apprehension. My husband had a hard time; however, when we received the official diagnosis his reality set in and he accepted it and joined the team to help better our son. 

My son now is verbal, lovable, touchable, has eye contact, and is more independent. My husband and I worked together on our goal, for him to be self-sufficient and independent. Having a great team of support from doctors, therapists, teachers, school and family helped him to achieve his current success. 

Therapy is weekly and luckily in our home. Our therapists are awesome, so awesome they are willing to help me help our community of Autistic children. We are planning training for the community, which I will post here. 

Please do not give up on your child, they are so intelligent in their own way. They can achieve many, many milestones; we have proof of that. And it’s continuous throughout his life. My constant worry is my special needs child, and positively will be till I pass on. Till than I will continuously work hard to provide him the best therapy we can get. 

I am a strong advocate for my son, and for Autism. I will be posting information, training sessions, cartoons, and all Autism Awareness information, here in the new AUTISM AWARENESS CORNER. 

Nia:wen Ko:wa,                                                                     

Autism Snipe Mama