‘All the progress he made is gone. We’re back to square one.’: Mom to son with nonverbal autism discusses impact of COVID-19

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“When life goes back to normal will you be happy?

That is the question you need to ask yourself.

I can say our family won’t.

We might have days that bring us happiness, but we won’t be happy for a while.

We will be stressed out and sleep deprived and overwhelmed more than we are now.

Let me explain why.

When life goes back to normal, it will probably take numerous story boards, flash cards, timers, and a lot of coffee to find our footing again.

Regression is coming along with high volumes of meltdowns.

All the progress we made with Avery attending school, going into grocery stores, going for walks without being in his stroller.

All that progress he made is gone.
It now has disappeared.
Back to square one.

So, once the world goes back to normal, we get to start all over again and teach Avery basic life skills again.

It is what stresses us out as parents and feels like a huge defeat.

6 years of coaching, teaching, planning, and filling our life with counting and social stories went down the drain.

So, as some of you may be beyond happy when this all ends, we are terrified because that is when our world is going to get that much tougher.

Please keep us in your hearts, thoughts, and prayers.”

Courtesy of Katie Emde

This story was submitted to Love What Matters by Katie Emde of a Journey for Avery. Submit your own story here, and be sure to subscribe to our free email newsletter for our best stories, and YouTube for our best videos.

Read more stories from moms of children with autism:

‘What happens to my girl when society realizes it’s not ‘cute’ anymore? How do I make people see the beauty I see?’: Mom to daughter with autism urges us to challenge our idea of beauty

‘He looked right at me. ‘Mama, do you hear how happy he is?’ He couldn’t hear the TV over your happy sounds, but he didn’t care.’: Mom to son with autism shares sweet sibling moment

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