Being an Autism Parent: Finding Support in Others

42 blog avatar Being an Autism Parent: Finding Support in Others
Expert Name: Jennifer Briner
Expert Title: Parent of a child with ASD
Company Name:  none
Company URL: n/a
Short Bio: Jennifer lives in Columbus, Ohio with her husband and four sons. Her oldest son was diagnosed with Autism at a young age, thus starting Jen and her family’s journey toward recovery.

She used a multitude of complementary alternative medicines to help her son achieve further success and independence and overcome some of the deficits that have come with his ASD. Jennifer has been involved in many virtual parent groups over the years and has found that she finds strength in the numbers of parents out there just like her who just want their child to be as healthy and as happy as possible. In her spare time, Jen enjoys being a Jazzercize instructor, leading her church choir, and being a mom to four handsome and lovable boys.

Being an Autism Parent: Finding Support in Others

When you have a child with autism, you need a different kind of support system. I have the most wonderful family in the world and two best friends since college that are still there for me 100% but they don’t understand what life with autism is like. Their kids talk back and get a bad grade on a test and forget to do their homework. Having three typical kids myself I understand that, to every parent, things their kids struggle with are big deals. My son punched me in the face the other day, has pooped on the floor of Goodwill and streaked through the Disney store buck-naked! Only an autism mom knows what that’s like. I met my “Autism BFF” at a Vacation Bible School seven years ago. The second I saw her son, I knew he had it. She didn’t know so I made sure to mention the fact that I had an autistic son and gave her my number. A few weeks later she called me and we cried over the diagnosis. I mentored her at first. Now we share ideas, work together to find solutions, complain, cry, scream and give each other advice. Life as parent of a child with Autism is sometimes hard and she knows exactly how hard.

Find a parent of this community to connect with. Autism can be isolating but there are those of us who know what it’s like and would be happy to talk about poop consistency, leaky gut syndrome and inappropriate behaviors for a few hours! Find us