I just got off the phone with a mom I have never met face to face. She has a little one that has been diagnosed with FAS. This is ALL NEW territory for her. She needed someone to talk to who gets it. Someone who lives it. It was a joy talking to her.
This is the third mom that I have spoken to in two weeks time that needed a connection. This is a hard life!
She needed to here that we are not alone.
It is amazing how similar her child is to mine. He is a little guy. He is showing the same behaviors that Dustin did when he came to our home. After we talked for a bit, she said, "We have a long road ahead of us don't we." I said, "Yes. Yes you do." That is a sad thing. But us Trauma Momma's have one another as long as we use each other as a resource we will get through. I tried to share some strategies and some ideas with her. I explained that what works today may not work tomorrow.
We also talked a bit about how our perceptions of others has changed. It is amazing that once you live with a child that has a hidden disability how you change that judgmental attitude that you may have had for other parents in the past.
What advice would you have for a mom that recently got the FAS diagnosis?
One of the first articles I read shortly after we received the diagnosis was called, "The Visible Kid with the Invisible Disability" (I just googled it to find the exact name) It was a very helpful article at the time and discribed my kid to a T.
ReplyDeleteHook up with as much support from other Trauma Momma's as you can. During the early years, no one was talking about it and I spent so many years alone in my little slice of hell.
Peace to you both