4. My Story of ASD 4.1 My Personal Experience as a Mother of a Child with ASD I decided to have a child when I was 28 years old, after being married for seven years. Among my reasons to wait with that decision was my need to overcome one of my greatest fears, which was the fear that something would be wrong with my child, which would affect his ability to become an independent adult. While this is a very common feeling among many expectant mothers, it bothered me a lot, perhaps more than it would bother others. Even though I was very excited to become a mother and was looking forward to this as a self-fulfilling experience, it took me a long time to overcome my fear. When my son was born, it was the happiest day of my life. He was beautiful, …show more content…
Yet, I was not able to acknowledge it. Something in me was not able to acknowledge my son’s real diagnosis, and perhaps I will never be able to. Later on, around the age of three, my son entered an early intervention program that is also provided by the Regional Center for developmentally delayed children. During that time, I was still in complete denial, hoping that all of this would turn out to be a misdiagnosis. However, my anxiety started to elevate even more when, as part of my drama therapy internship, I started working with mentally delayed adults and realized the struggles of these individuals and their families. When my son reached the age of three, the only diagnosis he had was moderate SPD and a speech delay. He also got an ear tube operation due to constant ear infections that might have caused him some hearing loss. At that time, the regional center dismissed us from services and from being their clients. By that point I realized that I needed to get him the ASD diagnosis from an independent evaluator in order for him to receive the treatment and services that would help him to deal with his challenges. I got another evaluation with a child neurologist through my medical health provider, and the diagnosis was of autism-like symptoms. This was enough for the regional center to re-accept …show more content…
When I received the horrifying message of my son’s abuse, I felt like my entire world had collapsed, like something in me died, and like I was not able to feel happy and satisfied with my life. I felt that this experience had traumatized me as much as my son had been traumatized. Still to this day, I hold a lot of pain and anger towards myself and the school system for exposing my son to an abusive adult. I felt betrayed not only by the teacher’s assistant who was the abuser, but also by the entire school system that covered and protected her instead of protecting my son. I had to immediately stop my drama therapy internship, and I stopped sending my son to school. Instead, I worked with him at home, trying to assist him with recovery. I used mostly drama therapy techniques of visual images and emphasized my own body movements when expressing emotions in order to teach him to recognize his own feelings and later on recognize other’s feelings as well. I also used games that implemented back and forth interaction and eye contact. I also used a structured visual schedule and
...in labout, that day our little Serenity was born. You would think being a father, living with the girl I loved and being out of the hospital for over a year now I'd be happy, but I wasn't.
David suffered physical, mental, and emotional abuse from the age of four to 12-years-old. As his teachers and principal, neighbors, and even his maternal grandmother and father stand by and let the abuse happen, it makes me wonder what they could have done differently. For example, David’s father saw the abuse firsthand and he would try to intervene to help him out initially. David’s father was caught by the madness of his wife in calling him, ‘the boy’ and ‘It’. As much as his father tried to comfort David, he did not have the will to stand up against his wife. Another example, the maternal grandmother commented on bruises visible on David’s body and she did not take action to report her daughter for abusing her grandchild, David. Instead, David’s grandmother stated that she should stay out of it and let David’s mother raise her children as she saw fit. I believed the unreported instances observed by the public to be just as substantial a crime as the child abusers themselves. Also, the Department of Children and Social Services were contacted because of the alleged child abuse events that occurred previously; however, he was not taken from the home because the social worker of the agency sided with David’s mother. The social worker did not complete a thoroughly
Albert Einstein, Bela Bartok, Alan Turing, Bill Gates, Thomas Jefferson and I. Is this a list of Geniuses? People who have changed history?
The fear of childbirth is very common among many expecting parents. The thought of being able to cope with the pain, any childbirth-related injuries and even the possibility of needing a cesarean section is very intimidating for many. Not to mention everything that happens after the baby is born, such as being able to feed and nurture the child. Challenges can occur during and after pregnancy. Postpartum depression can arise after birth due to hormonal changes, psychological adjustment, and fatigue. Another challenge is breast-feeding; although it is very nourishing for your baby many women have problems dealing with this. Most parents are able to prepare themselves for pregnancy and raising a child, but what most expecting parents do
Lemoncelli, John, and Robert S. Shaw. Healing from Childhood Abuse: Understanding the Effects, Taking Control to Recover. ABC-CLIO,
According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 3.3 million referrals for alleged maltreatment were made in 2013. Out of the 3.3 million referrals, 899,000 children were officially documented as being maltreated(Child Abuse & Neglect 2015). Child abuse is the mistreatment of a child. Child abuse is recognized in several forms; physical, emotional, sexual and neglect. Children who experience any form of abuse will tend to withdraw themselves from their peers and sometimes from other family members who are not aware of what is taking place. Child abuse occurs not just in the homes of these children, but can also occur in schools, churches and after school programs. Anywhere a child is present there is a chance that abuse can occur. This paper will review the forms of child abuse, the effects of child abuse, reasons child abuse occurs and possible therapies to bring healing in the parties involved.
The author indicates that along with positive feelings and thoughts about parenthood, there is a degree of anxiety about the changes this life experience will bring about. Chodorow (2003) also supports this concept of ambivalence. The author describes how a constellation of fantasies and defenses that are unconscious, can delay childbearing. Women, who use feminism or career-based reasons for delaying motherhood, do so based upon their psychic realities and the behaviors these realities have generated. Anxiety around uncertainty of roles, career delays, and how the quality of significant relationships in their lives will be affected by the arrival of a child, can unconsciously lead to a delay in preparing for motherhood (Wischmann, 2003). Women feel that the struggles they are experiencing with becoming a mother and those who may be hurt in the process (spouse and/or other family members) is their
I never dreamed of having a child at such a young are. In fact, in high school I was the typical student. I maintained good grades, stayed on the honor roll, participated in extracurricular activities, and even volunteered at local hospitals. Outside of school my friends I were always doing something after the football games or just hanging on Saturday nights, being typical teens. Soon all of that would come to an end. Little did I know for the next few months to come, I would be home to what could be our future president or the person that would make history for finding the cure for cancer. The scariest thing is, I would be forever responsible for a new life, as if trying to be responsible for my own was not enough.
Two of the greatest days of my life were the days my daughters were born. The first time I held the both of them and gazed into their eyes I felt a sense of relief and hope. The feeling is a warm tingling sensation that engulfed my entire body. The emotions that I felt are beyond what words can explain. It’s amazing to me that in the first few minutes of their lives they completely changed my perception of the world.
There are several domains that must be considered when treating a survivor of child abuse: the need for safety and trust, sense of belonging, protection from perceived or actual threats, facing the defendant in court, prevention of revictimization, and empowerment (Sawyer & Judd, 2012). Davis, 2005, states that “children terrorized through sexual abuse, neglect, physical abuse, or wartime atrocities may suffer from lasting wounds, nightmares, depression, and troubled adolescence involving substance abuse, binge eating, or aggression.” Victims of child abuse need to regain their sense of control over their lives. Experiencing healthy relationships, being nurtured by adults and helping them to learn resilience are all interventions that have been well-documented (Sawyer & Judd, 2...
Abuse can happen to anyone, at any age, at any time. This is repetitive acts of behavior of wanting to maintain power and have control over someone whether it be through childhood, adolescents, or adulthood. This subject is sensitive as it impacts so many different people around the world. The topic of abuse is not just a family matter, it comes in all forms, such as sexual, emotional, and physical. Abuse is accompanied by the long term emotional tolls, especially on children because their brains are still developing and can take abuse harder than others. One question to ask, is how does one overcome abuse? As children and adolescents develop, how do they function emotionally and physically? These traumatic experiences that happen through
Emotional abuse is prevalent within our society. Some child experts “argue that almost all parents are guilty of emotional maltreatment of child at some time or another” (Crosson-Tower, p. 211, 2010). However, it remains “the most difficult type of abuse or neglect to define or isolate” (Rees, p. 59, 2010). While physical abuse leaves detectable signs like scars and bruises, emotional abuse is hidden deep within a person. It lacks the public profile of sexual or physical abuse (Rees, p. 59, 2010).
Whether planned or unplanned, change can cause disruption to one’s stable environment if not handled in the correct way (McGarry, Cashin, & Fowler, 2012). Having children was a positive planned change for me. The decision has greatly improved my well-being and outlook on life. My thought process was changed the instant I held my first child. From that point on, every decision I make is centered on how it will affect them. Motherhood has opened my eyes to the realization that change occurs every day and there is no halting the process. As I watch my children grow, I emotionally embrace each unforeseen moment that comes with it.
When the topic of abuse comes up, many different forms of abuse pop into individuals heads. Whether its Physical abuse, sexual abuse, verbal abuse or even drug abuse, the list just keeps going. Now take all those different forms abuse and imagine them happening in a family. A father physically abusing his children, a mother verbally berating her daughter about her body image, a child growing up in fear. According to the research by David Wolfe in the Journal of Consulting and clinical Psychology, that the number of children that have suffered a physical injury due to physical abuse is between 1.4 and 1.9 million annually. With such a high number of physical abuse happening to children, one can imagine how high the number of all the
I still can’t get over the fact I am a mother it’s not an easy job to do. I have had my fair share of struggles emotionally and physically. I worked dead end jobs and it just wasn’t enough to get by we couldn’t live. This is what gave me that push to go and get my nursing assistant certification it was a stable way to live. I had to put school on hold because I had to work and to raise him at the same time. It gets tough sometimes and I just want to scream because I never knew what my son would do next. Even though it gets stressful and there is a lot of the unknown I wouldn’t change it for the world.