Group Support for Parents

We attended our first support group for parents of autistic children.  At first it felt a little odd for us to be there since we don't have an actual diagnosis. We suspect, and her health providers suspect, that she has aspergers at the very least but no official diagnosis.

However, like they said "no one was checking our credentials" at the door. What we found was a group of people that were incredibly welcoming and offered their help and support however they can give it.

It was refreshing to hear them talk about their children and how they initially fought the diagnosis and shared annoying things that well meaning people would say.  It made me feel not so guilty about not wanting to accept what the doctors were saying. One of the main reasons I haven't blogged very much about this whole process is I've been afraid of offending those moms out there who are living with special needs already. 

So it was freeing to listen to one mom say that she disagreed so much with the diagnosis she took her child to someone else for assessment.  She got me when I said we were so desperate for her to just be "normal" that the psychologist had to point out to us:  "you're going to talk yourself out of a diagnosis and help for your child".

The down side is we got to listen to how difficult it is to be in the school system with a special needs child despite having funding and how long it takes to get diagnosis.

Still we came away with some resources to look into for help with E and an email address of a mom whose child has written output disorder like E.  So it was a positive experience and we will definitely be going back next month.

This was big for me because I'm primarily a somewhat reserved person and find it difficult to project myself into new situations.  If hubs hadn't been pushing me, I probably would never have gone.  I'm glad I did.

Would you go to a support group?

Zeemaid