Thanks Jen for coming back this week to share more about your struggles to help your son Ben, and to provide the listeners with tips and recommendations you can offer, after all that you have gone through in your great attempts to raise Ben. His greatest challenges have been related to getting through the school year without his processing difficulties being understood or validated, and his social challenges have been another great challenge for him in and out of the school environment.

Jen shared with us how she and her husband found services for Ben over the past few years and what they have done to help him get through his kindergarten school year, so he could gain public funding through the McKay scholarship to help pay for private schooling of the family’s choice for the following school year. Jen emphasized the fact that Ben’s needs change and their personal funding changes each year, so they seek community resources that are the best match for them at the time. They are currently receiving Occupational Therapy to address his eye contact when speaking to others, to help him control his behaviors and emotional outbursts, and to help him and his parents understand sensory processing and activities they can do at home to help him process and function better on a day-to-day basis. He also has received behavioral therapy, and is currently enrolled in music therapy and takes a dance class, both which he loves!

Next year is will be attended a private school that has very small class sizes with teachers who have extensive background training in Autism and behavioral interventions and a sensory therapist on staff who works with every child on campus, on a weekly basis.

Jen offered great recommendations on this podcast for teachers in order to be better equipped to handle children with sensory-based difficulties, like Ben. Her recommendations included:

1. Be aware of how fast things are changing around you (i.e.- research, & the prevalence of children with varying needs and difficulties, etc. ..)

2. Don’t be afraid to take little steps toward trying something new to help a child, even if you haven’t done such a thing before.

3. You are encouraged as the teachers of today to not necessarily go off of what you may think about a child from past experiences (as no two children are the same), but to look at each child’s individual needs.

For all parents out there, Jen strongly feels that if you keep your problems a secret, then you can’t get help. She encourages everyone to speak up and share their difficulties with others, so others can learn and be helpful. Jen’s job to help Ben: be his best; have a good day at school; learn how to socialize with friends successfully; and control his emotions is a job that is very exhausting and emotionally draining. She encourages parents out there to be partners with each other, work together as a team, spend their own time with each child, and then to learn to ask for help from others, and then take it when it’s offered!

Jen feels that life is a marathon, not a sprint, and the “people” she and her husband have found to help them are more valuable than the specific treatment that each professional has provided. So parents out there, connect yourselves with great people that you feel confident with, and make sure to keep yourselves surrounded by supportive people, not just the nice people, but the nice ones who are great at helping your child make steady gains. Thanks again Jen, your stories and feedback are invaluable!

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