Hello, and welcome to Curly Autism Mom Blog. My name is Hannah Townsley, and I am an autism mom. I created this blog site to create awareness and to also provide a one-stop site with helpful, resourceful information for autism parents like me. It can be difficult to navigate all the different things that you need for your autism child. Often times as autism parents, we don’t know where to look, we are overwhelmed with the overload of information we are given, or not given, if you know what I mean lol, and we feel like we are left in the dark on what to do, where to go, who to see, or what things we need
A little more about me. So, I’m going to be completely honest, I barely knew what autism was. I had heard the word literally like 10 years ago, but I wasn’t knowledgeable about what it was. I had my son, and like any normal parent, we take our children to see their pediatrician. I took my son to see his pediatrician, which is amazing because she was there on the day he was born. Anyway, by the time he was 2 going on 3, she was asking me questions about his development, if he is talking, if he is still in diapers, breastfeeding, how he’s eating, all those types of questions. My son was not talking that much, he was also still in diapers, and he had a habit of not being able to hold a cup properly without dropping it, and he also ate with his hands instead of using utensils. When I told the pediatrician this, she told me my son was autistic. It honestly went in one ear and came out the next. She also gave me a paper with a phone number on what to do next. I was like, “Yeah, right!” Again, I wasn’t knowledgeable on what autism was, so I just shrugged it off. I took my son to another appointment some months later and she asked me if I contacted that number and I said I didn’t, then she gave me the paper again…and again, I shrugged it off. Fast forward, I was visiting some family during the holidays, and my son was acting out and a family member told me that I need to get my son’s ears checked because it looked like he wasn’t listening. I also had another family member who worked with children like that and told me I need to get my son checked, and that I need to stop playing around and stop being in denial. I’ll admit, I was really in denial. I’m going to be honest, any parent doesn’t want to hear that there is something wrong or off with their child, they don’t! I didn’t have knowledge on what autism was, so therefore, I didn’t think about it and ignored it. When three of my family members told me that I needed to get my child checked, I then listened. I contacted the number on that paper, and scheduled my son to be evaluated, and that age 3, he was diagnosed with autism. I was scared, didn’t know what it meant, and didn’t know what came with autism or how the experience would be being an autism parent. Little did I know, it would definitely be a journey. Working a regular 9-5 job was difficult. I had appointment after appointment, therapies, evaluations, you name it, I had it. Plus, I was putting my son in school and I needed someone to be available to pick him up. It definitely was a difficult time trying to navigate what to do. I luckily did have a job that I had FMLA at, but the job was so busy at the time and I noticed that coworkers weren’t trying to be that accommodating or would give a side eye because I was taking off work so much, or had to have them cover me around the office, so I decided I needed to leave my job to become a full-time caregiver for my son. He had eloping and behavior issues, and I just couldn’t let my job get the best of me. It honestly was one of the best decisions I made and I do not regret it one bit. Because of me leaving my job to take care of him and doing my due diligence, I feel he has progressed. Listen, I’m not going to just encourage and give information for you, because we know society barely helps and doesn’t hold our hands as autism parents. I am going to give you tough love. I’m not going to tell you what you want to hear, I am going to tell you what you need to hear. You have to advocate for your child. You need to do your due diligence. You, yes YOU! The parent that is reading this. Yes, YOU! You are responsible for YOUR child, you are responsible for making sure all the stuff is done for YOUR child, and you know YOUR child. Nobody else doesn’t! I see some parents just winging it and not getting the help their child needs. I get it, it is hard. But nothing happens if YOU don’t take action! I am in no way an expert at anything, I am just trying to help and give as much information in ONE PLACE as I can. What helped me is looking at other people’s situations and just getting out of my own way. Also, following different autism parent groups on Facebook because a lot of the parents get it and are supportive. Okay, so I’ve written so much.
Check out the rest of the blog site and feel free to contact me if you have questions. Oh, and because I am a giving person, I have a freebie. Sign up and you’ll get a free visual to use for your child.
You got this,
HT