Holly Robinson Peete recently sat down with B.L.A.C. Detroit to discuss her experiencing raising a child with autism and how she is helping her son, RJ, 14, navigate his teenage years.
From B.L.A.C. Detroit:
Actress Holly Robinson Peete was once best known for her roles in 21 Jump Street or Hangin’ with Mr. Cooper. But for the past decade, she’s had an additional fan base and they don’t care about her acting chops.
They are people””parents””like her who have lived through the ups and downs of raising a child with autism. Since Holly’s oldest son, RJ, was diagnosed with autism about 12 years ago, she has become a tireless advocate for the autism community, speaking out for parents and siblings of children with autism as well as for the children themselves.
She and her husband, former Detroit Lion Rodney Peete, run the HollyRod Foundation, which works with families affected by Parkinson’s Disease and autism. They are raising funds for a center to be built in Los Angeles later this year, which will provide low-cost services to the entire family of a child affected by autism.
This month, Holly Robinson Peete will be the keynote speaker at Metro Parent‘s fifth annual Living with Autism workshop on April 25. Before her appearance, Peete discussed surviving her son’s teen years, her hope for his future and her mission to help other families affected by autism.
Your son is 14 now. How are the turbulent teen years affected by his autism?
For us, the hardest things are the social circles ““ you know, those packs of boys that run wild on a middle school campus. We’d been so fortunate to have a great elementary school that had groups of kids who just embraced him and lifted him up, and now that they are in sixth grade and going on to the next level, things are starting to go a little downhill. That’s hard for any teen, but when you are on the spectrum and you have social deficits it’s especially challenging.
Check out the rest of the story here.
BMWK family, do you have an experience in dealing with special needs children? Sound off!
We’re going to be bringing more articles and resources to the site for parents of Autistic children to support you and your marriages so please stay tuned. In relation to the article we greatly appreciate the tireless work that Holly Robinson Peete is putting in.
I feel the very heartbeat of Holly Peete’s story. I remember the psychologist office and her uninterrupted words, “Your son has Autism.” Numb. My husband and I had absolutely no idea what that meant for us as a family, and especially for our son. Every answer we received only led to more questions. We felt completely isolated and unfairly judged. https://onaisle9.wordpress.com/articles/ Instead of milestones, we now journey and celebrate our lives by the inch. We started a website, http://www.onaisle9.com with conversations to enlighten and strengthen those of us on this very unpredictable journey. Here we share our family’s story and the story of other families who purpose to give their child(ren) every possible way to live their life to their fullest potential, without comparisons. The progress our son has made is remarkable and he continues to be one of our greatest teachers. Thank you for listening BMWK…
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