Hearing that there is something wrong with your child is the scariest thing you could ever hear as a parent. As a mom, I think we all have those moments where our guts tell us that something is wrong or “off”. That moment for me came when my daughter was very small. She was delayed in speech, walking, everything really. She would scream at the slightest difference and for me that was so scary. She got extra help learning how to walk, talk, and tolerate little things like tags in clothes. The scariest moment, the one that stands out more than anything is when my daughter was standing at the top of my stairs crying and screaming, “I want to kill myself!” I did what any mom would do and took her to therapy right away.

What I heard from the therapist was not what I expected. “I think your daughter is autistic,” is not at all what I thought was coming. She got tested and she was diagnosed at six years old with autism. She has added disorders onto that but autism is the main diagnosis. Since then, she has exceeded my expectations. Don’t get me wrong, I still have my days where I break down because I see her struggling. It is never easy to see your child struggle or be an outsider and to be bullied.

When you have a child with autism that are things you must realize:

1) Nothing is wrong with your child. She is just unique, just her.

2) She may never go to college or be that doctor that you were dreaming of when she was in your stomach, and that’s okay.

Your child is amazing just the way she is. Yes, you must fight harder to get help for your child. I fought hard. Due to fighting and helping my child so much, I went into the field of helping children with autism. I went back to school to get my Master’s so that I can help more kids that do not have the help. So, they can learn to talk, socialize the correct way, be able to eat dinner without added help. Doing the little things that we take for granted do not always come easy. The things we think that everyone should be able to do. Not everyone is the same. Every single one of us is different. Some of us are just a little more different, and to me that just makes the person even more special. Every time I look at my daughter, I see so much potential, so much love, so much of my heart. She is definitely, by far, my hero!