autismfamilystory. com

  I am not an SLP but these are the strategies I learnt raising my son who is on the spectrum. One of the hallmarks of autism is impairment in social and communication skills!! Communication is very important for all of us but with children with autism, it is delayed or slow. Many children in the spectrum are nonverbal. They use different modalities to communicate but never develop verbal speech or remain nonverbal. Our son Aarian started babbling around 18 months of age but never developed verbal speech and became silent. This is when he got an Autism diagnosis. After the diagnosis he started vocalizing however, there were no words or word approximations that were noted. He would imitate some sounds. He would take our hand and lead us to what he wanted, point to things he wanted, he did not engage in any play activities and if he did he only did solitary play. It was difficult to engage him and needed constant adult supervision which was very tiring for us. In the beginning, we at...

 I decided to start a podcast autismfamilystory podcast even though there are lots of podcasts already out there. There were a few reasons for it. Every family's journey in the world of autism is different and unique as they say if you have met one person with autism you have met one person with autism. I know firsthand parenting a child with autism or any other special needs is overwhelming and isolating as people do not understand our struggles. I have been on this journey for over a decade and have learnt so much over the years. I wanted to share our story with other parents who are starting this journey as I was there once upon a time in their shoes. I want to help other parents to know they are not alone. A community of special needs parents out there are willing to share and help parents in this journey. I want to let parents know some people get it and understand it as they have dealt with the same things in the past. The most things for parents are to accept their child...