Small Victories, Big Smiles

     We are at the end of April. The end of Autism Awareness month. Obviously it does not end in this household; but this leads me to take a moment for this post. I was at the gym one day and heard a familiar sound. An autistic child out of rhythm with their schedule quite upset about it. It was swim day for her. It was not like the rest of the days. This was upsetting to her. Her aide was desperately trying to calm her down to get her dressed. I just walked around as if it were a normal day. After all it was for me. I see this too. Others stared wondering what was going on. Later, they were walking up stairs going back up to class. I asked if she made it in. And the aide replied with a big smile "toes" And in turn said that was awesome. She said it was small but it was something. That is what we get to enjoy as care givers of special needs people. Small Victories and Big Smiles.
      I was thinking for the rest of the time how we easily take God's Grace for granted. Than we have children struggle to do the easiest tasks. God says STOP. Don't take my Grace for granted. You better believe these kids don't. When Sharon gets something really gets something she gets the biggest smile on her face. I DID IT. I DID IT. It can be something very small. But we should all be so happy when we work hard and accomplish something. But we take the abilities that God has given us for granted. Nay we even ask for more. We see somebody more able then us and say why not me? But Sharon has been given the Grace to not be able to have time for such nonsense. She is too busy to have to think while doing the easiest tasks.
   And in the same sense we as care givers, parents get to enjoy this. Eagerly enjoying their small victories smiling right along with them. So we as parents can take two sides to this we can get bogged down by their many challenges. Or smile big at their many, many small victories along the way. Wishing you many small victories and BIG smiles.

April is Austim Awareness

This is Sharon. She is Autistic. Doesn't look like it does it? Funny thing about Autism with every child it is different because every child is different. She is a very happy girl as you can see. She gets frustrated. Like every other autistic child she can't communicate like a typical person. And a typical person has a hard time understanding their way of communicating. By all means Sharon communicates. Sometimes it is hard to understand what she wants. And because of this we have all types of behaviors that come out. This is only part it.
     We as humans really just need to be better at communicating in general. We are quite bad at it. We tend to complain about a person rather than talking to directing to person and getting the situation resolved. We get angry at a person don't tell them why. And expect things to change. Communication is not just about what words come out of your mouth. You can say a lot by your actions. I have learned this by having an autistic child and her behavior. I know when she is doing a certain thing she needs something. Or what does she need by what she is not doing? It is all very complicated. But the short of it is that I learned a lot about communication when autism came around. I learned one thing about it. I horrifically horrible at it.
   I have become better as time has gone on. However, there are times that I don't know what she wants. I also still don't communicate properly with others the way I want. I try but still fall short. But God has given me the grace to want to keep working on that. To meet Sharon half way. And while I'm doing that I can learn to communicate and understand people better. I try in the state am in to recognize my actions as well as my words. And what that is communicating. By all means I think I am still bad it. But at least now I know that I am. After all that is one of the reasons Sharon was probably given to me.