autism

Here We Go Again

by donna
Brian has been off the past 2 weeks. His sleep pattern is all over the place, he is not eating much and he is very anxious. Unfortunately, being anxious causes unusual behaviors. We have been beating our heads off the wall trying to figure out what is causing his funk, and then we realized the answer is right in front of us. Brian is in a critical transition phase and he knows it and more importantly he knows what he is losing. Brian is more than capable of feeling emotions and my intuition is telling me he is feeling and dealing with loss. He is heading to the high school next week and he is losing the wonderful teacher he had for the past two years at his middle school. He is losing the wonderful aides who had worked with him every school day for the past two years. He is losing the in-school speech therapist who has worked with him for the past four years. He is losing the wonderful women who worked in the front office of the middle school who made him feel loved and welcomed every time he walked into the building. He is losing the teachers who accepted him and made him feel a part of their classroom. He’s unsure if he will see the group of friends that he spent time with that really care about him. On top of all that he may be losing his private speech therapist who immediately connected with him and made progress in the past year and a half that we did not think possible. So of course Brian is sad and anxious.
Wo wouldn’t be?
Brian has lost meaningful relationships and I’m not sure that gets recognized. It is not enough to say he will deal with it. Of course he will. In fact, we hear that too much in relation to special needs kids and it is insulting. He is sad like any person who loses critical people in their life but unlike others he can’t verbally express his sadness so it comes out only through his behaviors and in his demeanor. Yet he knows exactly what is going on around him and he feels things probably more deeply than main stream kids who are better equipped to handle transition and loss. We cannot ignore or forget how impacted kids like Brian are by loss of people he likes and change just because they can’t tell us. I have to be optimistic for what lies ahead but I have to recognize his loss. It just wouldn’t be right not to and I would be doing so with my other kids. Brian will adjust and will be smothered in love in the process but here we go again adjusting and developing new relationships. Autism moms…. if it’s a transition year for you I’ll be thinking of you and wishing you the best! We can do this. 💙🧩💙🧩
#autism #transition #autismawareness #understanding