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Good Manners |
Friday, July 26, 2013
Am I to blame for my child'a autism?
Should
I blame myself for my child's Autism?
I work with children with Autism but I also work with their parents to
help them help their children. Once a parent becomes comfortable with
me, this question always comes up...Am I to blame for my child's autism?
I had one parent confess to me that during her pregnancy with her
autistic son she considered having an abortion because she was not ready
to have another baby. She is so haunted with guilt by this thought, that
she believes her son's autism is a punishment for this thought. I have
worked with another mother of a child with autism who goes to grief
therapy with her husband to mourn the loss of the son they anticipated.
Some mother's go over in their minds everything they may have eaten
during their pregnancy or anything they may have come in contact with
that may have caused this disorder. Some parents reveal to me that they
have various relatives with mental disorders, social oddities or speech
delays and they wish they would have realized their might be a genetic
disposition in their family to Autism. Then there are things that
plague them about their parenting once the child was born, since he
seemed typical at first but then became delayed. Was it a vaccine that
caused it? Was it an illness or an injury that could have been
prevented. They lie awake at night trying not to blame themselves for
their child's problems, wondering if someday their child can have
friends or at least conversations with their own family.
There is nothing I can offer in way of whom to blame for
these distraught parents. There is nothing conclusive about vaccinations
causing Autism or environmental factors, or even genetic links. All I
can encourage is for parents to accept that their child is unique and
love them for that uniqueness. A child with autism can bring things to
your life that no typical child can. You find yourself tapping into
creativity that you never knew existed in yourself when you are
exploring ways to relate and communicate with your child. When you take
a few minutes and put yourself in your child's world and try to
understand why they call things the weird things they call them and you
find yourself speaking not French or German or Spanish but "Johnny" (or
whatever your child may be named). It always makes me feel proud when I
can have conversations with children then realize someone from outside
of their world is listening in and they ask me puzzled, "How on Earth do
you know what he is talking about?!" I can smile and explain that we
have a special connection.
If you feel frustrated with the things that your child
can not do and find yourself agonizing over the obstacles your child is
facing or will face in the future, you need to take sometime and think
about all the things your child has accomplished and what is special
about them. I like to keep a notebook with my clients in which I write
only positive things about the child, so when they are having a hard
time they can page through it and smile about the good things. Some
notes are as small and quick as "Today, Johnny said Girl is brooming,
when he saw a picture of a girl sweeping." This is a great antecdote for
this child because it is rare that he comments on anything
independently. Other notes are long and describe successful social
interactions such as eye contact or a smile, or a time when another
child went out of his way to include Johnny in their play.
Daryl Hannah has Autism
You are not alone in dealing with Autism. There are many people
in this world who have Autism or live live with someone who has Autism.
Some famous people with Autism Spectrum Disorders include:
-
Daryl Hannah, an American actress best known for her roles in Splash, Blade Runner and Kill Bill was diagnosed as a child as being 'borderline autistic'
-
Matthew Laborteaux, actor on Little House on the Prairie
-
Robert Gagno, actor from Vancouver
-
Dan Aykroyd, comedian and actor: Aykroyd stated he has Asperger's
-
Craig Nicholls, frontman of the band The Vines
-
Dawn Prince-Hughes, PhD, primate anthropologist, ethologist, and author of Songs for the Gorilla Nation
-
Vernon L. Smith, Nobel Laureate in Economics
-
Satoshi Tajiri, creator of Pokémon
-
Michelle Dawson, autism researcher and autism rights activist who has made ethical challenges to Applied Behavior Analysis
-
Bill Gates, Microsoft Chairman and world's third richest man (2008)
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Albert Einstein possibly had an Autism Spectrum disorder, watch the video below for more information.
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