Monday, June 22, 2009

Faith and the Auti-Mom

v2.323 and 17/366: January 17th (Gotta Have Fa...Image by Phoney Nickle via Flickr

As he boarded the bus for week 2 of his YMCA L.I.T. (Leader in training) program, Diver noticed that someone was sitting in *his* seat.

I paused. Then high-tailed it out of there.

It is the first of many challenges he'll face today.
My challenge is a) to prepare him; and b) to trust. I will not always be there to advocate for him; to say, "Diver has an Autism Spectrum Disorder and needs; a) routine b) order c) space d) quiet e) chill time f) whatever. "

I must trust that he can advocate for himself. That he has the skills to meet his challenges. That even when he stumbles, he will be all right. He will learn.

That's what will make him a successful, independent human being. Not me.

All of this requires faith on my part and I am trying to exercise it. Having tried the way of faith and the way of no faith, I know that the way of faith works better. I do not have the faith of my sister auti-mom who blogs at Autism in a Word .

But I admire it. And my faith can only help Diver. So I am going to keep exercising it.
Reblog this post [with Zemanta]

4 comments:

  1. I too don't have that kind of faith, and I wonder what it would be like to feel that supported by the Creator or the Universe or whatever.

    Lacking that, at least I have the support of bloggers like you. And that gives me faith that I can do this parenting thing.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I feel exactly the same way. Having some kind of faith definitely works better. So does learning to advocate for oneself, if one is able. Nigel's been working on that too, these days. It's been good for both of us.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Count me in on this too. My faith has increased since I have had Movie Boy, in a way I'm not sure it would have if he had been NT. I think challenges in your path force you to take stock of things.

    Good for you for having faith in him to advocate for himself. Its a hard line to figure out -- when to catch our children and when to let them stumble a little.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I love your faith. It may not look exactly like mine, but every time you leave a comment for me it strengthens my faith. Thank you for that. I admire (1) your discernment for knowing when to let Diver advocate for himself and (2) your courage to let him try.

    ReplyDelete