Feb 13 2009
The Frustration of Being Unable to Communicate
Over the course of the last few days I have been in a position to be able to relate to the frustration a child with a communication disorder must feel. By having something to say, and having no way to get the point across.
I have been very sick the last several days, resulting in a loss of my voice. This does indeed make simple things very difficult. I try to say something and am lucky if half of the words come out understandable. In the end to communicate with my son I stand there trying to pantomime what I feel needs to be said, only to have him stand there with a glassy look in his eyes.
Living my whole life with typical communication skills, this is an experience that opens up my mind to what our children must endure every day when they so desperately want us to know something, and cannot make us understand. Before I could only relate to the frustration of not being able to understand Michael’s wants and needs. Now our roles have been reversed, and I have realized just how much patience is required when working with a child with low communication skills.
It also makes me appreciate how far my son has come verbally in the last year. For only a year ago he was considered non-verbal, and now most of those misunderstandings have faded away as he has learned to vocalize his thoughts.
My son will be five in the end of May. He was three when we started in with the appointments and evaluations. Monster loads of therapy and various sessions. Now over a year later there is still not an official diagnosis, but whenever they discuss him they use Autism to describe it. I am ready to seek a second opinion because I believe they are too busy concentrating on maintaining rather than focusing on growth for Michael. His therapists, teachers, and other workers all agree on the Autism. Even a woman who read over his case and watched a few video sessions with him agreed, but the woman who oversees his case has become less helpful than anything. Ignoring issues I try to bring up, and not putting a diagnosis so I can get other forms of help for him.