There’s been some discussions lately on my Twitter feed about whether or not you should be putting your child with Autism into any type of therapy.
What I’m seeing is parents trying to help their kids and adults with Autism seeming not agreeing with it. I understand the longstanding debate within the Adult Autistic community over ABA therapy but I wanted to take a second and clarify something.
I think that since this is such an emotionally charged topic, that it’s easy for there to me misunderstandings.
I wanted to share what I think and why I work with my kids on the Autism Spectrum. Parents get accused of trying to change who their kids are and I don’t think that’s accurate or at least the right way to look at this.
In order to make this as straight forward as possible, I’ve made a very simple, shareable graphic that I think helps to put things in the proper context. I want to help others in my shoes to better explain why they do things like speech, occupational and physical therapies.
When I’m accused of not accepting my kids with Autism for who they are and trying to change them in order to make my life easier, this is my reply:
It’s not about changing or keeping our kids with Autism from being themselves. It’s about helping them adapt to an unforgiving world. We don’t live in a vacuum and the reality is, it’s our responsibility as parents, not to change our kids with Autism but to instead ensure they have the tools they need to be the best them they can be.
I’d love to hear your thoughts and please help to share this post or even just the above image.
I agree with what you said 100%. This world can be cold and cruel to those who don’t fit in. There are places where high-functioning autistic people can excel, but in general unemployment rates for autistic people are quite high. Having basic tools and skills to cope with the neurotypical world is quite valuable. Autistic people need those tools to function at their best, but they are only tools. Their basic attributes will stay the same.