[ad_1]
“We need to praise ourselves some day, be happy with what we have achieved,” says Eglė, telling his story.
– Tell me, what do you live for?
– I was wondering what you could tell readers, how interesting could it be (Serie). However, my story is quite simple: I am a photographer who is more committed to the love of photography than to financial matters, mother of two children: Leon is currently 7 years old and Paradise is 11.
Photography has been in my life for a long time; As a child we leafed through photos and albums. There is nothing to do, lessons have been made, let’s see the photos (Serie). But at the time, he still didn’t really think he would be a photographer.
I became more interested in photography when the children were born; it’s probably completely natural. Like most women on maternity leave, they realize that they need to take time for themselves, to perform in some activity that is not enough to be just a mother.
This is how I started taking pictures, only to learn it for a long time, slowly, because I was doing it mostly on my own. For a couple of years, everything was at a very amateur level, and then little by little you saw that the photos were born in the way you expected.
– What do you usually photograph today?
– Children first, then family members, and then everything else, business orders. I really like photographing children because they are not spoiled yet, they do not care which side of the profile of the face looks the best, they do everything they can think of. And that’s the most important thing when you want to implement your idea. Especially when you find a way to work with children.
There are children who accept to pose, and with others you have to make an effort, to be able to interest them. Many complain that it is difficult to take pictures of children and, in fact, the children themselves are bored, so they must be able to feel them and do something interesting that fascinates them.
– How did your instagram come up? content being created – 5 pounds of songin which you talk about autism and dyslexia?
– I wanted a cozy, warm and poetic name for my account. I wanted a bit of nostalgia to hide underneath, like in childhood memories. Also, that the name is interpreted in different ways, as well as the feelings we experience. After all, music cannot be weighed or measured, as can the love of children and mothers. This is how it came about 5 pounds of song.
I enjoyed sharing my photos on instagram, and then as the children got older they started going to kindergarten and school, I realized that I was a minority representing the interests of that minority, in this case my children , which had certain nuances of neurological diversity.
I realized that I want to tell people about my experiences, especially those for whom it is relevant. The goal is to share the information I have so that people with autism and dyslexia are not so left out.
The fact that autism is not a disease is very visible and felt on the outside, the goal is not that those around you see it as a disorder, and here in Lithuania you feel that negative tone, the gap, the separation from other persons.
I want to raise awareness, tell my experiences, maybe something at this moment is where we were two or three years ago when you still don’t know but you suspect something. Perhaps that information would help people and they would come for help.
– How did you find out that your son Leon is autistic?
– We have traveled a long time to this diagnosis. Autism is wrapped up in many stereotypes in the press, on television, and in literature. We usually imagine a silent autistic child, superintroverted, good at math or sorting toys, and we don’t know anything else about those children.
Our Lion is quite different, not even similar to the stereotypical description of an autistic person. He is communicative, understands humor and lies. And it is said that autistic people always tell the truth. When we attend classes or therapies, we also receive observations that the son certainly did not have autism.
We lived like this for a long time, hoping to find some way to solve our challenges. However, the school was coming and if you don’t have an excerpt from the development center, you can’t wait for help either. Today we have that diagnosis.
On the one hand, it was very difficult to see how a child could be autistic if he didn’t fit those stereotypical descriptions, he had no signs of autism, but over time I understood. When other mothers tell me that they asked questions: why, how to live, I did not, I lived and that’s it.
A man helps me a lot, we just live poorly, he works abroad. I’m more concerned about shoulders, but your support, help, and advice is an important part of life.
– Who, however, betrayed that son with autism?
– We saw that something is wrong, but it was difficult to define, and that diagnosis of “autism” was like the icing on a cake. We noticed that the son was a little behind in development, we noticed reactions in certain situations, it was difficult to control his emotions, for example, when he did not put on his shoes.
These were and are various challenges. But when you get used to it, a lot of the unusual becomes the norm.
It seems that you see something is wrong with your son, but you don’t know what, so for two years I lived like a personal hell, I was very scared of school, I just panicked. I didn’t know what to do, I thought maybe I would have to study at home … But everything turned out better than I expected – Leon came to a fantastic teacher and everything is a hundred times better than I expected, so now I am very happy.
Leon is very communicative, gentle, he likes soft things, animals, stuffed animals: kittens, bunnies. He is very warm and friendly. On the other hand, self-regulation of emotions is insufficiently formed. There are situations that are simple, but you perceive them differently: you couldn’t write a letter, tie a shoe, open a car door, and emotions flood you like an explosion, like the end of the world. And if someone succeeds and succeeds, the source of joy springs up again. Perhaps the hardest part here is controlling those emotions.
– His next son Paradise is dealing with dyslexia. Tell us about your experience.
– Already in kindergarten we noticed that his work stands out, his hand is heavier, he cannot write with a pen, he is not easy to focus, so at the beginning of first grade we realized that we have to do something.
The son’s memory was and is simply great, he remembers stories, poems, encyclopedia data. You know, that feeling of broken scales. He seems to know that a child is gifted, has a lot of knowledge, but on the other hand, teachers complain that they don’t work, they don’t try, they look out the window.
We decided to see a specialist and quickly saw that it was a reading and writing disorder, otherwise dyslexia. Paradise has difficulty reading and writing and is very distracted. A true dreamer, who constantly forgets about things at school, fixes on homework, does not remember whether he put notebooks, even if he already did his homework. It is especially difficult to write and read foreign languages, but you can speak, understand what is being said.
Paradise is perhaps even softer than Leon. He really likes to hug, hug. The son is in fifth grade, and in five years I see the biggest challenge in the fact that some teachers don’t know much about learning difficulties and disorders, but they try to understand.
– Don’t you think that our educational system pays very little attention to children in need?
– I think the biggest problem is the lack of knowledge. Sometimes the frustration speaks through my lips because I can’t achieve my imaginary goals, and then I want to direct that frustration elsewhere. After all, it’s easier to turn that frustration bitterness outward.
What I want most from teachers is even more flexibility, the understanding that not only traditional teaching and assessment methods are effective and encouraging to improve. Having these children come to schools is exactly what we adults teach and broaden our horizons.
With both children, I realize that whatever you do, the child goes at his own pace, in his own way, which turns against him, and attempts to incriminate him are futile. The child will go where he needs to, he will not change direction. Teachers need this skill and knowledge of how things work. After all, the most important thing is to create the conditions for the child to work more flexibly.
– Now that you have experience, you have experienced many challenges, what feelings have you experienced and how do you feel now?
– There was a lot of patience, I didn’t even know I had so much. But they need even more. There are exciting situations. But after all, we are human beings and those emotions come naturally, we cannot separate them from ourselves. This is probably the biggest challenge for me – finding a balance between controlling emotions, not being too loving or too demanding.
And anyway, we face the same challenges as other parents. My own observation is that children are very plastic and it is never too late to change something in their behavior and communication to achieve better results.
I never thought and considered myself a strong or super powerful woman, but now I think I am quite strong. And that’s to thank. And praise yourself.
– What has brought you the most happiness today? What you can advise other parents is, after all, that the word support is very important.
– Parents, of course, are afraid, especially when they are locked in such stereotypes, that nothing will change, nothing that the child will learn and will never be able to live independently. But keep in mind that children grow up, they look at us, even out of the smallest corner of their eye, and they really get better. More optimism in everything.
I already mentioned that I myself lived with a lot of fear and anxiety, what will happen when Leon goes to school? And suddenly he got such a good teacher who is very flexible, and few children in the classroom, a paradise! (Serie). Even a private school wouldn’t be better! There are challenges, I will not lie, but today I am happy.
[ad_2]
