For this autism parent interview, Eileen is here to talk about her experiences with autism. Eileen P. has a set of twin girls followed by a son. As her son’s second birthday began to approach, Eileen had a good idea of what speech milestones her son should of been meeting. She knew he didn’t have the amount of words that he should have, but it wasn’t until the words stopped, he began banging his head, and showing repetitive behavior that she knew she had to push for a referral for a diagnosis.
As a parent advocate, Eileen was able to wrangle speech therapy and OT services even though there was a general reluctance from the pediatrician to prescribe services. While this should never happen, it can be common in areas where there’s a shortage of providers or where services are stretched thin. Eileen started looking on the internet for how to supplement her son’s therapy, and that’s when she found my course.
The skills assessment from my course was a revelation for Eileen. She thought her son was doing great until she realized how much her daughters were talking or helping him. His language skills were the same as a six-month-old, and my course helped her see that she needed to teach her son more prerequisite skills.
Eileen took on the challenge of teaching the family how they needed to communicate with her son. She knew that by pairing up words with signs or pictures, it would increase the odds of speaking. Soon her twin daughters were keeping their words simple too so that he could understand what they were saying.
I really believe that by teaching parents, they can become the captain of the ship. My courses and workshops are designed to teach parents of young children with early signs of autism how to deal with some of the more difficult topics like eating, sleeping, potty training, and speaking, and that in turn helps them build stronger, happier families.
You’ll Learn
Resources