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ENCORE: Grandparent Challenges



(The following is a previously posted article that may be worth revisiting)


What are your challenges as an autism grandparent? You of course have many in a wide variety of categories. Have you listed your challenges? Have you prioritized them? Do you know which ones are the most urgent? Which are the most important?

I wonder if my challenges as an autism grandparent are similar to those of other autism grandparents. I’ve been an autism grandparent for only three years as of this writing, and it will be interesting to see how my list changes during the coming years.

Here are five of my challenges:
  1. A support group of other autism grandparents. Right now my list of autism grandparents who are my friends and live in my city is tiny. I need it to grow so I can have in-person commiseration and camaraderie.

  2. Knowledge about autism. There is a ton of information on the Internet, but my challenge is knowing what’s good, what’s current, and what is best for me. I wonder if I can develop a system for sorting this out?

  3. How to help my granddaughter’s progress. Should I select just one thing at a time – like teaching her to dress herself – and work on that one every time I’m with her? Or should I be open to a wide variety of things and work on them as opportunities arise?

  4. Relating to my daughter. My daughter is a single mom, so there is just one parent of my autistic granddaughter. We have a great relationship, but this is something that I know I need to proactively work on. I assume that all grandparents believe that they know what’s best for their grandchildren, and I assume that all parents resent THEIR parents giving them advice on how to raise their children correctly. I’m gradually making a list of the best ways for me to continue to have a best-case relationship with my daughter.

  5. Planning for my granddaughter’s long-term future. For folks on the autism spectrum, odds are that they will need financial and other types of support throughout their lives. What’s my role in this? And how do I make it happen?


What are YOUR challenges?

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Marian sikora
Jun 22, 2021

These 5 challenges are the same as mine. I hope to find other grandparents to connect with on this matter.

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