“Everyone tells us what NOT to do, and no one gives us a real plan”
“The advice feels so random and contradictory, how do I actually put it all together?”
“Can’t someone just tell me how to be the parent-advocate my kid needs?”
Sound familiar? If so, you aren’t alone.
The truth is, most of my members say the exact same things when they’re getting started.
And it makes sense. Parents are hearing a million and four conflicting views, and they end up in overwhelm-central.
But here’s the truth… Parenting your Autistic child doesn’t have to be so hard!
And I’ve developed a simple tool that will help simplify parenting your Autistic child, that’s unique to your specific family situation and takes into account what your child is struggling with most.
It’s called a Parent-Advocate Plan.
And I’m going to say something pretty bold… Every single parent of an Autistic child needs a Parent-Advocate Plan.
But this might be the very first time you’re hearing about this… So I thought I’d share with you what a Parent-Advocate Plan really is, and 3 important reasons you need one.
Plus an invite to a free workshop where we can create your Parent-Advocate Plan together!
But What is a Parent-Advocate Plan?
Basically, a Parent-Advocate Plan is your unique roadmap and guide to parenting your Autistic child.
Instead of telling you a million and four things not to do, your Parent-Advocate Plan focuses on exactly what you should do, step-by-step.
Basically, it takes the overwhelm out of parenting your Autistic child in a world that wasn’t designed for them.
But here’s the thing: all Parent-Advocate Plans are unique because all Autistic children and family situations are unique.
So while all Parent-Advocate Plans include the same basic parts…
- Accommodate Plan
- Balance Guide
- Change Scripts
- Support Plan
- Oops Plan
…I can’t just tell you exactly what your specific Parent-Advocate Plan should include in a simple blog post.
But good news! I am running a FREE Autism Journey Workshop where I’ll be helping you create your Parent-Advocate Plan in just a few weeks.
Click here to register and reserve your spot!
But enough about that, let’s jump into why, exactly, you need a Parent-Advocate Plan in the first place!
3 Reasons You Need a Parent-Advocate Plan
#1 Meet Your Child’s Needs So They Feel Safe & Regulated Day-To-Day
The first reason you need a Parent-Advocate Plan is that it helps you meet your child’s needs so they feel safe and regulated on a day-to-day basis.
And friend, this should be your top priority when parenting an Autistic child.
Because the truth is most Autistic kids spend most of their time anxious, frustrated, or dysregulated just trying to get through the day.
When you really focus on putting accommodations in place to meet your child’s needs, you’re able to:
- Avoid meltdowns, shutdowns, and aggressive behaviors
- Encourage flexibility and cooperation
- And reduce anxiety, power struggles, and rigidity
So if that’s something you want, you definitely want to make sure you’re signed up for the Autism Journey Workshop starting August 30th!
#2 Help Your Child Navigate Boundaries & Build Independent Skills
The next reason a Parent-Advocate Plan is so important is that it guides you in helping your child navigate boundaries and independent skills.
Because, let’s be honest… Nothing scares a parent-advocate like thinking about what will happen to our kids when we aren’t around anymore.
Empowering your kids with the ability to understand boundaries (like laws and consent for starters) and how to gain independent skills is massively important.
But you can’t jump to this before you’ve done step #1 because a child who doesn’t feel safe and regulated won’t have the capacity to learn new skills.
That’s why the Parent-Advocate Plan is put together in a specific order that you can use as a step-by-step roadmap.
#3 Fiercely Advocate For Your Child & Help Them Advocate For Themselves
The third reason that every single parent of an Autistic child needs a Parent-Advocate Plan is that it empowers you to fiercely advocate for your child AND help them advocate for themselves.
Because it’s awesome to know that we can regularly meet our kids needs at home… But what happens when they step outside our front door?
Advocacy is too important to just leave to chance. We need a plan for how we will confidently advocate for our kids.
But more than that, we need a plan for exactly how we will empower our kids to effectively advocate for what they need.
Because there will always be situations where we aren’t around to help our children, and we need to know that they are safe and able to get the accommodations they need.
And there are tons of ways to build advocacy skills for you and your child:
- Boosting communication skills
- Practicing effective advocacy scripts
- Discovering your preferred mode of advocating
- Developing problem-solving skills
But this won’t work if you just throw spaghetti at the wall and try to learn random splinter advocacy skills.
That is why it’s so incredibly important to create a custom Parent-Advocate Plan that is unique to your family and the next steps you need to be taking.
So at this point, you know what a Parent-Advocate Plan is and why you need one, but you might be left wondering: “How do I actually make one?”
Well, friend, that’s exactly what I’ll be teaching in my FREE Autism Journey Workshop.
>> Click here to reserve your spot! <<
In this 4-day workshop, I’ll be walking you step by step through:
- Strategies to be the calm in the storm and manage meltdowns without sacrificing your sanity (and ways to reduce their frequency and intensity)
- Techniques to reduce demands on your child without increasing the demand on you (and how to tell if you’re accommodating vs. coddling)
- Tools for dealing with unavoidable boundaries (featuring topics like electronics, rigidity, aggression, and more)
- The path towards advocacy with schools and therapists (and how you can set a stellar example, so your child learns to advocate for themselves)
- Autism myths your child’s team taught you (vs. what’s actually possible for Autistics today)
- The Autism Journey Roadmap, so you can identify which stages your child is in, and create a custom Parent-Advocate Plan to help you navigate through it.
We start August 30th… Click here to reserve your spot for free!
