Mentorship for New Parents

Our son, Logan, was diagnosed with autism in May. Three months have passed, and I feel like now I am just starting to get some perspective back in my life and am able to see the big picture in all of this. Quite honestly, the past 3 months have been a blur of emotions, stress and confusion, mixed in with appointments with pediatricians, OT's, psychologists, social workers, family doctors, physiotherapists and behavioral aides.

I know that it was naive of me to think this, but in the very beginning, after getting the diagnosis, I had an expectation that some kind of autism "SWAT team" would be called into action to help us get our therapy started and support us in our time of distress. Needless to say, the cavalry never arrived. Instead, we had countless consults with multiple health professionals of all different disciplines, all asking the same questions, all requiring stacks of paperwork, and all offering different opinions on the best course of treatment. Often the recommendations were in direct conflict with one another.

The other frustrating part of our first few weeks was the fact that all of the therapies were being recommended, but we initailly had no support at home to get them accomplished. I was given pages of OT exercises, and given a crash course in the Floor time play therapy model and in essence was told to "do it yourself."

Now, I tend to be a go-getter, stand on your own two feet type of gal, but I think that telling a parent who is still reeling from the diagnosis of autism that they now need to be their child's full time OT/psychologist is expecting a bit much. It makes about as much sense as standing on the shore watching someone drowning and shouting instructions to them on how to swim. SOMETIMES WE JUST NEED SOMEONE TO THROW US A ROPE!

Given how overwhelming this process is, and how many of us must have basically the same experience, I wish in retrospect that our medical community would have assigned a parent mentor for us. Someone from our community who had dealt with it all before, and could have helped us to navigate the system.

Parent mentorship and support newtworks are so important! I am very thankful to have found this community. AutismOne is a fantastic resource for me. I hope I can give back and help other parents in return.