No matter where I go, my grandchildren, (who I am raising) will correct you, if you call me Mom or Grandma, Grandmother or even by my given name, to them I am Nana and they will correct you!
I am the mother of 2 grown children, the youngest is 30 ! I am also the "Nana" of 6...4 of them, live with me and they are all GIRLS!
Two of them are also diagnosed with Autism.
Before the monumental task of raising children with Autism came along, I used to love to play guitar and write songs and poetry.
Today I am happy to just fall into my bed as soon as the last child closes their eyes and drops off into lala land!
If you had asked me 6 years ago about Autism, I would have told you all I knew, about the movie "Rainman" you know the one with Dustin Hoffman...
Today, I consider myself an expert, on dealing with many of the aspects of Autism, including, fighting for the children with school boards, Drs, EAs the government and other assorted organizations.
My days when the children are in school are filled with meetings and running off to assessments and assorted appointments. hours and hours on the phone trying to connect with a group or agency that can help provide things that the children need (most often they are not supported by any agency) and filling out the reams of paperwork that comes with any type of interventions.
I suppose that we are fortunate that we live in Canada and many things are tax supported. On the other hand, we are limited to what the government thinks works best and that is pharmaceuticals (been there done that won't do it again) and in home support (that's not where we need it). School support is quite another thing and takes years!