Hello everyone and welcome back!
Today I’ve written a poem dedicated to our daughter. Like my last poem – ‘Sizzle’ – this is a peep inside our front door into our weird and wonderful family home.
This time I’m focussing on our reaction to our daughters neurodivergence and how it effects her, us and the people that come and go in life.
I’m still relatively new to autism, so I’m learning as I go. But I’ve digested a lot about the impact of positive and negative narratives surrounding the diagnosis, and I try to think carefully before I speak whenever we’re discussing the subject.
This is how we got this far…
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Puzzles
She’s only six
But we’ve known for years
That she’s not the same
As her classroom of peers
Why did I focus
on differences small?
The fact is that no one
Is ‘normal’ at all
And while we were shocked
And tears sometimes fell
It stopped being a problem
When she emerged from her shell
Yes, she sees life
A different way to me
But so do you, reader
I’m sure you’ll agree
She counts very quickly
And adores mathematics
But stop saying she’s Rain Man
And be more pragmatic
Now fear has subsided
And I’ve learned much more
I know she’s a kid
With an internal war
Rather than worrying
About my concerns
I support her in growing
her best while she learns
Her neurodivergence
Doesn’t dictate
Who she’ll become
Or what she’ll create
Despite hidden struggles
She has such a spark
And life’s never easy
We’re all in the dark
Whoever we are
We’re all on a mission
To see what’s in store
As life builds to fruition
I don’t see her different
And neither should you
In fact what we have
Are answers and clues
It’s my only job
To be a great mum
And manage life’s ups
and downs as they come
As we’re still learning
Our family of three
We’ll give her the freedom
To be her greatest ‘ME!’
So after the shock
I quickly concluded
We’re all on a spectrum
And no one’s excluded
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Thanks for reading 💜
Creative Steph 