Most of us might be a little concerned about what the new normal might look like – not just for us, but mainly for our kids. We are used to our kids (and adults) going to various therapies, with many kids around them. We want to focus on when things go back to normal, but sometimes we wonder at AIMS if this was an ideal place for any of us. We felt a bit calmer when we were forced to reevaluate our routines and slow down. Although many of our families have noted an increase in anxiety when their kids were home, we did feel a bit more connected and in control of what the day looked like.
Many cities and countries have already lifted restrictions and we are now allowed to walk more freely, yet with our masks on when we enter shops. We, at AIMS have thought about this together as a team and we believe there will be areas of our lives that will return to some normality, but that we should, as a society, try and explain changes to our kids before expecting these changes to become part of their daily routine again.
We have released a blog about how to explain Covid-19 to our kids (Click here to read the first part of that blog), but we wanted to focus on the idea of the new normal in this blog. Was all the transitions and moving from one therapy to another, while eating lunch on the way really needed? We totally understand that most professionals will suggest a certain amount of behavioral therapy, speech therapy and occupational therapy as a bare minimum when a child is diagnosed with ASD, but do you, as the parents and the experts of your child believe that this should happen all in one day or even in one week? Is there a different way to ensure you are doing everything you can AND focusing on not just your childs levels of comfortability, but also your family as a whole (including expenses that goes with these therapies)?
I dont have all the answers, but I do know that slowing down has never been a bad idea, well in my life at least. I have seen this with our current clients too, where they seem more in control of their own lives as well as the wellbeing of their childs when everyone in the family has some down time.
I totally understand that it feels like a race – as you hear the words early intervention is key by most professionals as well as most articles you are possibly reading. I honestly believe that kids and adults alike learn until we grow very old 🙂 There is no expiration date on learning new skills and sometimes it might be best to take it a little bit slower and ensure that you and your child are in the right frame of mind to learn – you are both feeling that you want to learn, instead of you have to learn. You are learning in your own time and about the topics you enjoy and not being pushed, every second of the day to perform better or faster.
I am interested to hear your thoughts on this topic as I believe we all learn best with collaboration and ideas from one another. Please feel free to send an email or comment where you are reading this blog.
For now, until we can decide if moving around to various therapies, why dont you try and implement some of the strategies we discussed here: Creating a “perfect environment” blog (part 1)
And as always, stay safe and healthy,
Karla