Raising kids with Autism is no easy task. There are a zillion little things that we as Autism parents have to be cognizant of, that other parents don't.
There are challenges our kid's experience that are unique to Autism, and it can be very difficult to navigate as a parent. Losing a loved one is one such challenge.
I've been talking recently about my late grandmother. She passed away a week ago, and we had to decide how to handle services with our three Autistic kids. Elliott and Gavin didn't want to go because they knew it would be too hard. Emmett, on the other hand, struggled to decide.
Ultimately, Lizze and I went on our own while the kids stayed with her parents.
We knew that even without attending the services, the kids were going to struggle, and we were right.
Elliott is struggling a bit, but he's managing. Gavin seems to have moved on for the most part because he very much lives in *the now. *
Emmett, on the other hand, is struggling. This is at least the fourth night in a row that Emmett sees midnight and is still unable to sleep.
Both he and Elliott have been struggling to sleep, but Elliott has been slowly doing better, while Emmett seems to be getting worse.
Even melatonin isn't helping
Emmett internalizes everything and struggles with expressing himself, making it very difficult to help him.
It's almost 1 AM and Emmett is still wide awake. He's so emotionally overwhelmed, and when that happens, we see lots of meltdowns. Emmett is very sensory oriented, and when he's emotionally overloaded, he is unable to cope with things that might be able to under different circumstances.
He has therapy on Tuesday, and he needs a little extra time with Dr.Pattie. Frankly, that's not a bad idea for all three of them.
We have to find creative ways to get through to Emmett and help him process his feelings. He's wound pretty right now, and decompression is something he's likely to benefit from, but I'm struggling a bit on my own at the moment, and it's quite overwhelming for me as well.
It's apparent that he's struggling right now and in need of emotional support. We're providing him with as much love and support as we can. Dealing with loss is something that no one likes to do, but for an Autistic child, it can be especially so.
