In life, there are so many possibilities. You can look at the possibility of each new day as it happens, the possibility of things that you want to look forward to in the future as well as just the possibility of the unknown.

I believe that even people with autism have many possibilities. These may look different but nonetheless have the same impact. When I first started this journey, I think I felt robbed of any possibilities. I saw everyone around me having these experiences and that was just not my reality or the reality of our family. I felt defeated, sad and alone most of the time and I didn’t want to think about “future possibilities.”

Today, this is not my reality at all. I’ve learned that kids and teens on the autism spectrum have many possibilities, chances or dreams as you may call them. Just because their dream doesn’t look like someone else’s doesn’t mean that it is not true or does not exist. As a parent, it is extremely hard to get out of your own head space and look beyond and dream beyond for your child because you are the voice and the one that can make these possibilities happen for them. We are the voices for our children.

When our son first started high school, my husband and I talked and we did some research and thought that if he got 15 credits then that would be enough to get into certain programs at college. We started off aiming for this possibility for him. What we found is that we didn’t aim high enough! We thought he could do a combination of credit and non-credit bearing courses. The first year, we discovered that he was bored with some of these non credit bearing classes, so the following year, we put him in all credit courses. I told the school that it didn’t matter if it took him two tries to get that credit, but that was our goal. He now has all of his high school credits!

To our surprise, he was able to get through the majority of his courses with a fairly good grade. That’s not to say that he didn’t work extremely hard to do this. Our son is an incredibly hard worker and as a parent, I have figured out over the years, the best way to help him get through and even thrive!

High school is opening up a new world of possibilities to him that we never imagined when we first began. We are now looking forward to the college experience (on his terms) and will continue the journey to the possibilities for his future.

Autism can be so overwhelming at different stages and times of your child’s life and believe me just because I am writing this doesn’t mean that we still don’t have challenging times and moments because we do. I always want to aim the bar super-high and if either of my kids don’t get there, that’s totally fine, but I will always help them strive to be the best version of themselves that they can be.

I am so grateful to God for putting me in this community and being able to influence, help and even create lasting friendships with people who are in the same situation as myself. There is always an unspoken language between autism parents and it feels good to be able to have a community that loves and supports each other no matter what.

Hebrews 10:24,25 says, “And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another.”

My hope is that everyone sees all of the possibilities that their children have.

Shelly Wedge
Exceptional Family Ministries Coordinator
Amberlea Church