Parents

I would never want to fill a parent full with false hope, so I guard my words carefully.

I'd heard a professional once say to a group of parents "tomorrow will be better than today." I couldn't believe a professional would tell parents that! There are no guarantees that tomorrow will be better... for anyone's life, autistic or not!

What I would like to tell parents of young children with autism... where you are at today, will not be where you are at tomorrow or many tomorrows from now. I would never guarantee it will be better, but it will be different.

Our kids do change and mature in their own unique ways. Look for even the smallest bit of progress. We are with our kids everyday and are used to their behaviors, so I do recommend a diary or some sort of documentation that can be looked back on so the progress can be seen.

We should also count our progress as parents. What are we, as parents, doing to educate ourselves so we can make changes within to help and understand our kids with autism? Too many times the child with autism is the one expected to do the changing and adapting. WHY? They're the one with the disability and in some cases mental retardation on top of the autism! Yes, we need to encourage progress and change in our kids, but also in ourselves.

I'd like to share a quote I found years ago by Helen Keller "I long to accomplish a great and noble task, but it is my chief duty to accomplish small tasks as if they were great and noble."