Episode 18: Sherry Amaral-Lopez: Parenting not one child on the autism spectrum, but two! Twins!

Have you ever wondered what it’s like to raise an autistic child?

Sherry Amaral-Lopez is here to fill us all in, enlighten us and talk about autism and her experience raising TWIN autistic children!

Sherry Amaral-Lopez is a mom of adult twin sons with ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder) who has volunteered and worked in in the field of Autism for over 20 years. She is an avid supporter of incorporating healthy dietary and lifestyle choices on her sons' healing journey as well as daily self-care for caregivers. She loves nature and reading, cooking and spending time with family and friends including her two beloved pups.

Sherry’s sons are identical, both of them will be on the spectrum. (Spectrum disorder encompasses a wide array of ways autism presents itself.) They may have sensory issues or language delays but they don’t fit the criteria necessarily for a full diagnosis of autism. 

She explains the differences in each of them, and how they are very individual in things that they enjoy doing and people that they like to be around, and at times there is even a level of competition between the two! The autism just magnified who they were and their personalities.

I try to teach that each child needs to be nourished and raised suited to their individuality, which is the Chinese Medicine Element type that I teach about (which you can find out your child’s element type by taking the quiz here) 

The same is true for autistic children as well. 

This should be done more so than it is, in therapy fields and medical approach.

We also talk about the importance of diet and how it could change the behavior on the spectrum.

For those parents who are discovering their child is on the spectrum and you are in the midst of navigating the school system, the medical system, the most important thing to do is to trust your instinct.

Sherry said, “Look to your children for their ability to show you what it is that they are interested in. Because  sometimes as parents we have a to-do list as far as what we feel or what we’ve been told should be the next step. And then if that child doesn’ t hit that milestone by that certain time frame then they’ll never reach that milestone. Which is honestly a lot of b***s*** because our kids are lifetime learners like we are. So while they may not fit into that box of learning that skill set at that age, it doesn’t mean that down the line they won’t learn it.”

They travel along the developmental milestones at their own pace!  All kids at their own pace, actually. They just need a certain level of support in order to be able to gain that skill. 

I also asked Sherry about making self care a priority and how she had the time for it. She learned from other parents that it was important to teach her children that she wasn’t their whole world. She was able to build a support system that would allow her to feel comfortable leaving her children. 

This was so important because caregiver burnout is a real thing! For all moms, because we tend to put so much on ourselves.

This was such an informative conversation, I hope you enjoy!

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julie hatch