Autistic Children Wished You Knew…They Are Still Just Children
Often times as parents and caregivers of high needs and special needs children, we forget the fact that they are still children. Somewhere along the line, we begin to see them as their ailment instead of the wonderfully unique children they truly are. Nothing is worse, than for a child to lose sight of the fact they are a child, a unique child like any other. Once they begin to feel they are autism and nothing else, we have failed as parents and caregivers.
Although they hold unique challenges daily to raise and care for, we need to look past the illness. Just like a child prodigy is unique, any other child, with any other uniqueness is still a child.
How can you ensure that you are focusing on the fact they are a child and not an illness?
First step is to take it as it is. All children develop in their own ways and a child with special needs is no different. They are still just a child. They are a child who needs and deserves all the same love and affection and needs being met as any other.
Remember all the great things they can do. When we begin to focus on what they are good at and what they do well, we no longer are viewing things from the negative side, we begin to view them from the positive side. All children do things that make us smile and make us happy each and every day. When we stop taking these things for granted, we will better focus on the good things in life.
Be thankful for the blessing that they are. All children are blessings, all children are little bundles of joy. Sure there will be days you just don’t feel it is true, but overall they always will be the light of our lives. Think of how warm and happy their smile makes you feel. Remember how it feels when they hug you or show you affection. Remember, even at the worst moments, the happiness and fulfillment that they bring to your life.
Autism is not a child, it is an ailment. The sooner we remember that it afflicts our children and that they are children first and foremost, the healthier and happier we will be as parents and caregivers and the better off our children will be. Children are victims of autism, they are not autism.
