11. Grace for Grieving

 I’ve been obsessed with having a garden, no matter how small, since we first got married. I think there’s something that I really love about tending carefully to something, watching it grow, and sharing the magic with my kids. We recently had to pull the garden out because it’s gotten cold, but I had fun pickling the rest of the green tomatoes and roasting the tomatillos for chicken tortilla soup. 

Today’s podcast is also going to focus on growth. And it’s a growth that is sometimes hard to go through. 

As you began or are beginning the process of getting your child diagnosed for a speech or language disorder, I’m sure there are a lot of thoughts and feelings that you’re having. What are these thoughts running through your mind? 

At this point, unless you’ve already gotten a diagnosis, there are still a lot of unknowns. Many times, the unknown is the scariest part.

A lot of people, after getting a diagnosis actually feel a sense of relief. You now have a name for what you already knew was going on with your child. It feels empowering to be validated in your concerns. However, just because you are proven right doesn’t mean you are going to escape all the worries and frustrations that hit after a diagnosis. 

When you let go of how things got to be how they are, you can find a way to move on from a place of empowerment. I learned that, even in difficult circumstances, we always have a choice of how we respond to those circumstances. 

That’s why we’re going to talk about the grieving process today.Most people are familiar with the grief cycle in general, but I’d want to put it in perspective relating to a speech/language diagnosis. 

These are the stages we will be talking about:

Shock & Denial

Pain & Guilt

Anger & Bargaining

Depression, Reflection, and Loneliness

The Upward Turn

Reconstruction and Working Through

Acceptance & Hope