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when I found out I was going to have my first child I was excited and happy just as most are. A little nervous about work (assisting in physical behaviors), but I knew my employer had precautions in place. I could work at a different building with less behaviors or stay and try not to partake in assisting with physical behaviors. Knowing I had a great team working alongside me I stayed. I also couldn’t help but feel like I would be abandoning the individuals I was taking care of.

Stating some truth’s here. Caregivers to Individuals with more challenging behaviors are let’s say like a Revolving door. I think some take the job not knowing the full details and duties it entails. Some leave to other sites/ buildings or quite during training.

So here I was a first-time mom with all the usual hopes and dreams most parents have. At five months I started having complications. Remember I’m a petite person so not a lot of room for a growing baby. At first my doctor thought I was having Braxton Hicks contractions (false labor). Then realizing with an exam I was in fact in labor. I was put on meds to stop the labor intel further along and safer for the baby.

Bear came into the world at thirty-seven weeks as healthy as a full-term baby. I started noticing some delays (speech and OCD tendencies) when he was two years old. Being told by doctors it was normal for a Premi, and I was just over thinking it because of work. After all he already could identify the alphabet and numbers. At three I started talking to my coworkers about my concerns. They gave me information to get him evaluated. It was determined that he had delays in speech, hand grasp, and some characteristics of Autism (outburst, hand movements, lights and sounds sensitivity). He was put in an early intervention preschool.

Bear was doing great just within a few months. His speech was improving, and the outbursts were less frequent. At five years old he was put on a waiting list to be evaluated for Autism. After a very long wait due to not many doctors in my area familiar with Autism. He was Finally diagnosed with Autism and ADHD (attention deficit/hyperactive disorder) at eight.

During the waiting period he was placed in regular public school for kindergarten. Within just a few months was put in a different school with programming for children with special needs. Until I learned of a new program starting that was directed for kids with Autism. It was not in my school district.

I started doing my own research and learned the schools here had to provide transportation elsewhere if they couldn’t meet his requirements. That is when I first learned this would be another challenge for me. Luckily for me I had family and coworkers to help support me and give me advise. Which in turn put me at a disadvantage most parents that have a child with a disability don’t have.

So, using the resources available to me. My journey began as a parent standing up for my son in getting what he needed from the schools and from doctors. Alongside being a caregiver for individuals with disabilities. Remembering even back then people would ask me “How do you do it?” Especially with another baby on the way.

Never give up looking for the other side of the rainbow.

In my early twenty’s I started a job as a care giver for children with disabilities without any experience. I thought I knew a little bit with having family in the nursing field. Knowing I wanted to help people and working with kids would be easy right. I would see pictures of kids with disabilities smiling and doing all these fun activities. so, what better career for me.

The training I had before even meeting the Individual’s I’d help care for was pretty informative. I won’t get in full details about it. For training like everything else is always changing and getting better from my prospective. Besides not all places do it the same. After all we are all forever in the learning process.

Some of the training intrigued me (how many different disabilities you didn’t hear about) and to be honest some of it made me nerves. Such as some of the more challenging behavior’s (physical aggression and Self injury). Some of the terms I had never heard of (SIB and Pica) that some of the kids would have. For I am let’s say a more petite person than others. Part of my job would be to help manage their safety and the others around them.

There was so much information to learn. I remember being encouraged to do additional research about different disabilities. also, how the care given to those with disabilities has changed over the years (Heartbreaking).

Meeting the Individual’s and staff I was going to work with was kind of scary to me. I had heard story’s/ rumors about some of them that had me second guessing my career choice. Here I was this small young girl walking into a place with individuals to care for that where two and three times my size. After all I was going to be working with individuals that had some of the most challenging behaviors Autism and other disabilities can come with. That was after all why they were there.

The staff I worked with taught me a lot. The two most important to me where to understand every behavior was for a reason. Most of the behaviors then were due to lack of communication for the individuals. Ipad’s and tablets were not common items and Pecs was still relatively new. Second is to always have patience. Some of the individuals took longer to process what they were asked needing a few extra minutes to respond or to get a basic daily task done such as getting dressed, brushing hair and even eating took longer for some.

As I bonded with each individual getting to know each one’s personality, I learned from them that although most had autism it was as different for each one as their personalities were different. It wasn’t long before I knew I had made the right choice, and I was right where I wanted to be. They had my heart. although as a staff you are told not to get emotionally attached to the individuals you care for. But let’s be real, we are all humans and most of us do. So, it was a challenge I was willing to take on alongside the other staff that had become like family.

Just within my first few years at work I was already seeing so much change in the approach and the understanding of Autism alongside other disabilities. It was as if every day new information was being brought forward. So many new and improved things were becoming available to help with all the sensory and other needs of the individuals. To me looking back from then to now it is actually pretty amazing how far things have come. There was one thing that others and I noticed that concerned us. The numbers of individual’s being diagnosed with Autism seemed to be rising.

I leave you with this for now. Always keep an open mind no matter what you hear about something or someone. Don’t ever make judgement on anything without full facts no matter how it appears. Most of all always stay positive and keep your head up things do get better over time. For there is a rainbow after the storm.