Rearing a Child with Autism - Insights into the Experience of Parenting an Autistic Child
In the whirlwind of daily life, parents of autistic children often find themselves in a constant juggling act, balancing the needs of their family and the demands of the outside world. One such parent, who has four children, two of whom have autism, shares her experience.
On a particular day, she found herself attending a baby shower with all four children. To manage the situation, she had a well-thought-out game plan. Responsibilities were assigned to each child, with her teenager in charge of the autistic toddler and her preteen looking after the autistic 9-year-old. She had prepared snacks, tablets, sensory headphones, and even had an adult backup on standby.
However, despite her best efforts, her autistic son did not interact with people at the event. This is a common challenge faced by parents of autistic children, who often have to choose between announcing the diagnosis at every handshake or keeping it to themselves. It's important to remember that autism does not define the person, but rather, the person decides how their autism will be perceived.
Strategies for socialising an autistic child in various settings are diverse and effective. Structured social skills groups provide a controlled environment where children can practice conversations, recognise body language, and manage emotions through interactive activities and peer modelling. Role-playing and social stories, which mimic real-life social settings, help children learn appropriate responses and social norms. Parental involvement and play, tailored to the child’s interests, foster social engagement and bonding.
Promoting diversity and peer understanding in school settings is crucial. By teaching all students to appreciate differences and promoting empathy, bullying can be reduced, and social inclusion for autistic children can be facilitated. Consistent practice across settings ensures that skills learned in therapy generalise to community, school, and home environments, thereby improving independence and emotional well-being.
Implementing these strategies, often combined and adapted to the child's unique needs, leads to improved social competence, confidence, and a better quality of life for autistic children.
Parenting an autistic child can be a complex journey, a mix of blessings, burdens, enlightenment, depression, exhaustion, and reward. It's okay to feel emotions like sadness and to cry when things are difficult. Letting oneself feel emotions allows a parent to understand a small portion of how their child is feeling.
Parents should not be too hard on themselves. Sometimes, they may feel like they've failed when feeling weak. But it's important to remember that doing what's best for their family and not worrying about the world's opinions is the most important thing. The key thing to remember is that a child's diagnosis doesn't define who they are. They are unique individuals with their own strengths and challenges, and with love, patience, and understanding, they can thrive in the world.
- In her experience, she found that socialising an autistic child requires diverse and effective strategies, such as structured social skills groups, role-playing, social stories, and parental involvement that cater to the child's interests, which collectively contribute to improved social competence, confidence, and quality of life.
- Struggling to engage her autistic son socially at a baby shower, she realized that parents of autistic children often face the challenge of choosing between disclosing the diagnosis or keeping it private in social settings, but it's essential to remember that autism does not define the individual, and they decide how their autism will be perceived.
- In the pursuit of health-and-wellness, mental-health, and parenting, it's crucial for parents to acknowledge and address their emotions, such as sadness, during the complex journey of parenting an autistic child, as understanding their feelings allows them to empathise with their children, promoting a better parent-child relationship.
