When you first hear those words, "Autism" there are so many different things that run through your mind. Will my child go to school, college, get a job, get married (the list goes on and on). I think one of the first thoughts a lot of parents have is anger. Why did this happen to our family?? Autism just doesn't affect the child, it affects the WHOLE family. Parents are already completely 100% exhausted both physically and emotionally, sometimes there is very little left to give to your other children. If you're a single parent, than it is really difficult. Sometimes parents blame each other for their child's Autism. One of the best things you can do when you first get that initial diagnosis is to grieve. It's okay to scream and cry. I spent two weeks feeling sorry for myself and coming to terms with the diagnosis. Other parents take longer to come to terms with the diagnosis. The most important thing is that you do come to terms with it. Once you make it through that tough time, you are then able to put your focus back on your child and start pursuing all avenues to get them help. I believe one of the worst things you can do is not accept that your child has a disability. Accept that your child is "special" and move on!
We are heading towards 600 orders for Dominic's business. Since our long-term goal for Baked Goods By Dominic is having a "brick-and-mortar" and hire those with disabilities, it is essential and imperative that I continue to teach him all parts of the business. Since I prompted Dominic for so many years for speech, he has become "prompt dependent." What that essentially means is that he will look at me for a prompt, like, "what do you do next?" I do that one a lot. Dominic has been going to a private speech therapist for over ten years and she reminds me often that Dominic usually will know the answer, if I am patient and wait for him. That has been a very hard habit to break! Dominic has an incredible memory, so I put it to the test this morning. I didn't write out the steps, I wanted to see how much he could do completely on his own. We have a customer picking up his order today, but the only thing that had been done is putting the cookies into t...
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