Many special needs parents end up social isolated- even before COVID-19. There are many reasons, why this can happen. One of the reasons it happened to me was partly my own fault.
I know we don't have any guest speakers scheduled for this week, but don't worry, we have more coming in May.
In the meantime, I've been working on converting the blog to a website and on putting together the list of resources available in Belize: from schools to doctors to therapists.
Once such resource is St. Peter's…
God yes! COVID-19 is freaking scary. Everyone is worried about what the future will look like; can Belize’s Healthcare system handle a full outbreak; what happens with my children if I get sick; are our kids going back to school; what about my job; Belize’s economy; will imports for groceries, etc still come in; when will flights return? The worry is endless for us all here in Belize- as for the rest of the world. This is seriously stressful times.
I’m not sure if I’m handling it well, but I really am trying. I’m not binge-watching Netflix or reading book after book- which is usually my norm for coping with stress. I AM trying to stay busy. With it being Autism Awareness and Acceptance month, I’m really trying to get Autism Belize active, even in the midst of this craziness. I’ve started this blog and I am working on the Autism Belize Speaker Series. Besides, well, I have Teo.
I’m going to begin here with full disclosure: even though we have known Mateo and loved him from before he was born, we, as a family, have only been truly getting to know him for the past two years or so. They didn’t live in Belize, so our contact and interaction was limited to videos and calls and emails – we knew about him but didn’t really know him – if you understand what I mean.
Since the summer of 2018… my, how we’ve grown! We are nowhere near autism experts, nor do we come close to knowing how to manage Teo the way his mama does, but our little family has definitely learned a few things from this kid.
“I’m not broken. Just because you can’t understand me does not mean I’m not communicating”
Last year when I came home, my favorite niece (yes, she is the only one) asked to take Mateo to meet her friends. She wanted to introduce him since she had been trying to explain to them about him and autism. But some couldn’t understand or grasp the term ‘non-verbal’. To help explain that term, I thought I’d take you through the journey of our quest for spoken language.