A Touchy Subject: Autism

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It’s a sensitive, yet very controversial topic, that seems to be a non stop story brought up on the Facebook wall, by some of my friend and groups; what causes Autism?

For almost a year I have officially been a parent to a diagnosed autistic child, with a second with suspected autism.

Some believe the condition is genetic, their partner has it and all their children have it as well. But then you have many other families who have only one family member with autism.

Some believe their children got autism from the 18 month MMR vaccination,  others believe it’s caused by other different ways.

There are many many scientific reports and research backing up a lot of claims on what maybe the cause. Last one I heard was if you didn’t have morning sickness during your pregnancy your child is autistic, another one saying if you were stressed during your pregnancy, again a possibility. It seems that every other month something else is the cause.

In all honesty,  we still don’t know what causes it.

From talking to parents who are new to the whole autism thing, we all continue to ask why? Or how?

A lot of us go through a lot of grief.  And we continue to be our biggest critics. I guess which is true for most parents.
But unlike most parents,  we are drumming in therapy everyday, continuously reliving the whole, your kid isn’t right, stirring up all those emotions every time.

Parents of older children, are past the whole why? Or how? Question,  and have come to the mindset, that that’s how it is, and some have already come to their own conclusions to answering those questions.

There are almost 230,000 Australians that have Autism, that is about 1 in 100 children, and it’s more common in boys. The numbers are increasing, and have done so every decade. It is believed that the reason is that there simply has been alot of undiagnosed people.

We can continue to ask the question why, or how?

But in the end we have all been blessed with amazing, bright children.

We must remember to stop and pat ourselves on the back. This goes for all parents. Our little people wouldn’t be where they are without us to show them the way.

References:
autismspectrum.org.au
autismawareness.com.au

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One Comment

  1. Great blog post. At the end of the day, it is more important to focus on the blessings we have and how best to move forward than it is to naval gaze about the hows and whys! True on so many levels.