A young Harry here aged 3 â¤ď¸đ
Thought I would talk about younger Harry, as I know we have a few followers with preschool/ nursery aged children on the journey.
Our start to preschool/ nursery was rocky. Harry disliked children in his space, wasnât able to communicate any needs (used Echolalia) and would often hurt himself in overwhelming situations.
Itâs not very noticeable from the picture, but on his ear (left side of picture) is a red cut and his cheek has a graze across.
Harry use to rub his head across carpets to cause injury to himself and head bang. I use to guide him with other sensory distractions that were less harmful. But a lot of his shut down came from being in a child environment. Many younger photos of him, have a Graze on his face đ.
He use to do things in patterns of 3 such as twirling in a circle, sliding a car down a ramp and if a cycle was broken, that caused a lot of discomfort and frustration. He would repeat words and try to cause himself injury, because he couldnât cope with that change. He was physical to other children, pushing them out of his way and didnât like them within an arms reach of him.
We all know what children are like at a young age, very much space Invaders. But for Harry it was the unpredictability of the children he hated. He preferred to be around adults and would gravitate to an adult. He was never physical to an adult, I think he felt safe like he knew they were not going to try take a toy, or hug him etc.
We both struggled majorly in the start, I think all my strength to fight started from here. Although at times I wanted to give in, especially after verbal altercations from other parents one said to me âI donât mind have a problem with him being here, as long as he is supported to be around normal childrenâ . Words hurt and still burn despite it being 5 years ago, you donât get past it.
Harry has grown a lot since then, infact he is a gentle giant. He just needed some understanding and patience. â¤ď¸
Iâve worked really hard with Harry since he was 3, weâve progressed on the journey together. But it certainly didnât happen overnight, there were many sleepless nights and hard days that as I look back I donât know how I got through it.
The struggles for him are different now, but cause just as much pain at they did when he was younger.
I guess Iâm just trying to say hold on in there, you may feel alone. I know I certainly did but I promise you, someoneâs else is weathering their own storm too. Some days I didnât even feel like
I could face the world, but the flame inside me never extinguished I just needed to let some of the smoke out. Those days are ok to take, itâs ok to say ânoâ to the world sometimes đ .