Where did that expression come from? I’m sure someone can tell me. Anyway welcome to the world of a 39 and a half year old mother living with a child with autism in a family of five.
I read a book by a parent who had a child with autism when Joel was first diagnosed. I can’t remember much about it apart from this bit; that when you have a new child you imagine it’s like waking up in a new pleasant place like somewhere like Paris in the Spring - sunny, bright and fresh with new hopes. The parent then went on to describe what it’s like having a child with autism - it’s like waking up and you’re in Beirut. That was my world on 30th July 2003. I woke up in a pretty grim hospital bed in Queen Charlotte’s next to Wormwood Scrubs prison. Welcome to Beirut. Let the battle commence.
Autism is like one battle after another as you face so many obstacles in one day that they are like battles you get through by the skin of your teeth and you think you've mastered one until the next one hits you. So I would say it's like a war with battles if that doesn't sound too dramatic! That was the description of one mother who spoke to me about her child with autism and it kind of stuck with me. I was also told when Joel started his ABA autism Intervention programme in Australia age 3 that it was like a marathon not a sprint and some kids learn quicker than others but they all progressed if they did ABA.
Not only does a parent have to get through these physical and mental battles that her child is having but also there are battles with the authorities to fight for the right for their children to have the appropriate educational setting so that the child will learn. It really isn't what I thought would happen to me having a special needs child and then having to go to a tribunal where I'm told by an Occupational Therapist that Joel will never learn much. This was probably one of the worst days of my life and I walked out of that meeting knowing that I would fight even more for my son because I knew as well as my husband that Joel could learn if he was put in a school that understood his autism and that had a method of teaching that Joel could understand. We were advised by the educational psychologist to move counties as we were clearly losing the battle in East Sussex.
Off we moved to West Sussex within months to start a new case there and thank God it paid off in the end....that's another story I'll tell you later. The point is. Never give up. We didn't and by the skin of our teeth we are here and Beirut is feeling a bit more like Mexico now. It's a bit brighter, is never dull - colourful is one way to describe it. Quirky, ridiculous, hilarious at times even. But it has a dark side which comes out from time to time and a desperate side too but certainly it's never boring.
I read a book by a parent who had a child with autism when Joel was first diagnosed. I can’t remember much about it apart from this bit; that when you have a new child you imagine it’s like waking up in a new pleasant place like somewhere like Paris in the Spring - sunny, bright and fresh with new hopes. The parent then went on to describe what it’s like having a child with autism - it’s like waking up and you’re in Beirut. That was my world on 30th July 2003. I woke up in a pretty grim hospital bed in Queen Charlotte’s next to Wormwood Scrubs prison. Welcome to Beirut. Let the battle commence.
Autism is like one battle after another as you face so many obstacles in one day that they are like battles you get through by the skin of your teeth and you think you've mastered one until the next one hits you. So I would say it's like a war with battles if that doesn't sound too dramatic! That was the description of one mother who spoke to me about her child with autism and it kind of stuck with me. I was also told when Joel started his ABA autism Intervention programme in Australia age 3 that it was like a marathon not a sprint and some kids learn quicker than others but they all progressed if they did ABA.
Not only does a parent have to get through these physical and mental battles that her child is having but also there are battles with the authorities to fight for the right for their children to have the appropriate educational setting so that the child will learn. It really isn't what I thought would happen to me having a special needs child and then having to go to a tribunal where I'm told by an Occupational Therapist that Joel will never learn much. This was probably one of the worst days of my life and I walked out of that meeting knowing that I would fight even more for my son because I knew as well as my husband that Joel could learn if he was put in a school that understood his autism and that had a method of teaching that Joel could understand. We were advised by the educational psychologist to move counties as we were clearly losing the battle in East Sussex.
Off we moved to West Sussex within months to start a new case there and thank God it paid off in the end....that's another story I'll tell you later. The point is. Never give up. We didn't and by the skin of our teeth we are here and Beirut is feeling a bit more like Mexico now. It's a bit brighter, is never dull - colourful is one way to describe it. Quirky, ridiculous, hilarious at times even. But it has a dark side which comes out from time to time and a desperate side too but certainly it's never boring.
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