My 5 year old son was just diagnosed. My husband is no help and is in denial and wants nothing to do with the diagnosis. My 9 year old son is depressed that his brother will never be normal. I also have a 2 and 3 year old daughters that love him and he is really more on their mentality. But afraid they will outgrow him soon. Any advice?
2007-02-05 13:26:52 · 7 answers · asked by Anonymous in Family & Relationships ➔ Family
The whole family is going to realize sooner or later that having a brother/son with autism is no easy thing. I am not an expert, but one thing that you don't want to happen is for you to get stuck at the house 100% of the time taking care of him. It is not good if your family divides into two parts because of this-one willing to help and the other not. As for your 9 year old son, if you want to move to another place where it might be a little better for your 5-year-old, seriously consider not doing it. If hes depressed that his brother won't be normal, the last thing he needs is a move to make all new friends on top of at home troubles. Your daughters will probably outgrow him, but most likely will still love him. Just don't concentrate only on the 5-year-old, because the others will get jealous and might end up doing something they will regret just because the 5-year-old gets the attention and because of that life is never fun.
Your husband will be a much harder thing to deal with. Most guys have some hidden dream for their son, like they will play baseball. Your 5-year-old won't get this dream unless your husband realizes that he might be capable of acheiving it. He possibly is sour because he'll never get to play with him or teach him something, or give him "the talk," or any other of those manly passions for their kids. Find something that the 5-year-old can do like a normal person(no offense), and offer it to your husband. Perhaps your child has something the doctors did not diagnose; something that will make your husband love him for the way he is.
-good luck
2007-02-05 13:44:02 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Many communities offer families with children of Autism support groups, If yours doesn't you can always start one yourself. I have a friend that did this in her community she had the local newspaper write a story about it to get it started. Now she has over 50 members. It is a great way to learn from others their experience and on autism issues and how to best deal with your child and a great way to get support from people that know this affliction best. Not to mention support, friendships and best doctors to see. Good luck and who knows you could be someones angel for helping others through this.
P.S. Many Autistic children are often highly intelligent, while it may be only one specific thing they often almost become experts in that area. Almost as if the have a one track mind on the subject. If you notice you son to have anything specific that interests him please help him and encourage him to do it everyday as you never know that one thing may be his future talent.
2007-02-05 13:40:03 · answer #2 · answered by Destiny 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
a person who is high functioning can be someone who is a benefit to your family and life, don't shut the door on his future just because you finally have a diagnosis, he is still the same person he was before the diagnosis, give him the opportunity to be the best that he can be, let your family come around to reality at their pace and let them see your son as the person he is not a the stranger with autism who lives in your house, he is a family member
2007-02-05 13:32:58 · answer #3 · answered by kat 6 · 2⤊ 0⤋
you were blessed with a child who has high functioning autism
try to make your family understand this. your husband and son might have to do things differently because their son/brother is a little bit different, but you are blessed to have a child who thinks of things in a completely different light than most of the world. autistic children are some of the most fascinating people on the face of this earth
embrace your son, and take it one step at a time with the rest of the social issues that you might face
2007-02-05 13:36:35 · answer #4 · answered by Shellular Kellular 6 · 0⤊ 1⤋
I think you could all benefit from Family Counseling. And there are other resources too, call your Town Hall and see if they know of respite care in your area, or groups for parents of Autistic kids. Your husband needs to grow up. Try your hardest to get him to the therapy.
2007-02-05 13:55:17 · answer #5 · answered by Bud's Girl 6 · 0⤊ 1⤋
autism is not the end of the world, it is just the beginning of a slightly different world, there are many people in the world who have autism and they can make huge contributions to world if we just let them
2007-02-05 13:41:26 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
wow i don't know i will pray for you.
2007-02-05 13:31:39 · answer #7 · answered by katherinekimbrough 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋