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Late Diagnosis
You love your child, and while you've also lost YOURSELF, You've also found yourselfLearning about your kid’s sensory needs, filling out your own autism wheel in solidarity with your child and finding yourself surprised by your answers, seeing yourself in your child, and reflecting back on your past experiences through a new neurodivergent-informed lens may have you wondering if you too are neurodivergent in some way, maybe autistic or ADHD. Maybe you’ve done a quiz online or gone so far as to seek a diagnosis, and this new identity of yours has you reeling. It simultaneously feels incredible and is also a huge undertaking to incorporate into your understanding of yourself.
❋ You’re striving to discover how to accommodate different sensory and nervous system needs of multiple family members in the same environment. Sometimes, daily, you uncover a new one. You wonder how all of you are ever going to live together comfortably again.
❋ You’re in perimenopause, and you keep seeing in your social’s feeds that forgetfulness and task paralysis are common symptoms. There’s a nagging feeling inside you crying, "But my experience is different—it’s like everything that’s happening to me is on steroids.”
❋ Memories from the past make more sense now. You have more context and understanding of what was really happening in your hatred of your elementary school lunchroom. Along with the memories, a new sense of sadness creeps in, and you don’t know what to do with it.
❋ You wonder how people who’ve known you a long time will react if you share this news with them. Will they perceive you differently? Will they understand?
WHAT we do in sessionsWe start where you are and not where you think you should be. You have spent so much time understanding your children’s needs and getting them the right supports. Now, we do the same for you so you can be resourced as we dive in. Together, we get curious about your life, so the impacts of your culture, the systems you live in, and your own history and environment become clear. We work to develop tools to support you in your reality. Sometimes, we feel like bad parents if we’re frustrated, anxious, or sad about the challenges of being a caregiver. I want you to know that you are not a bad parent. You are a human, with needs and feelings, just like your child.
WHAT getting better looks likeYou’re not waking up and immediately bracing for the day. You understand what you need and feel the permission to go after it. It feels like there’s a you that exists outside your child. You’re able to meet yourself with compassion on the rough days. When times get tough, because they still will, it doesn’t feel like you or your family is permanently broken. You can hold the hard times in balance with the good. If any of this sounds like you, you don’t have to manage it alone. Book a free 20-minute consultation.
