The Hard

I think it’s safe to say we’re in the thick of a hard season. With autism, the hard can ebb and flow. But it hit me tonight that we’ve been in this place for awhile now. Months maybe. The hard does not discriminate. It’s affecting everyone. Especially siblings. Sometimes we can pinpoint the problem, the triggers, the tipping point. But this time it’s likely the culmination of many things; the unstructured summer months, recently coming home from vacation, the transition back to a school schedule, and the biggest reason- a year of a huge decrease in services. A year ago we lost staff that helped Charlie several days a week. That loss has been incredible and we’re steadily seeing the downfall from it. Today when I called to see where he falls on the wait list for a new worker, I was told he’s half way down the list and they aren’t sure how fast it will go. The woman on the phone used phrases like “nation wide mental health crisis”, “worker shortage”, and “high demand”. It would be the same story even if we tried going to a different agency. Something needs to change. Something needs to be improved. Because my son, and thousands of others like him, are the ones on the short end of that deal. #fcvblogsquad #sunnytheservicedog #autism