Having a son with autism and other disabilities is shocking at first. You receive a diagnosis and are not sure what life will be like going forward. Once the first shock of the diagnosis wears off, the work starts, and the harder the parent works, the better off the child will be in the future. The harder you work, the more your child benefits.
The first thing for a parent to realize is that you are not an expert on what afflicts your child. That’s why we have professionals in the medical community who can teach you how to appropriately care for your child. A great step to discuss with your son’s specialist is to explore what therapies are the most effective for your child’s diagnosis to help them prepare for school and socialization with friends. These therapies can include speech therapy as well as occupational therapy.
An appropriate discussion to have with your child’s doctor is whether or not to medicate your child. This is a difficult process to undertake. Once there is a decision to try medication, it is unlikely that you will get the right medication on the first try. Instead, there is a period of troubleshooting that commences to find what is most effective for your child. For example, some medications will strip an appetite entirely or result in a complete lack of personality from your child. Troubleshoot until you find the medication that curbs the symptoms while still allowing your child to show his personality.
