Hear what I am doing By Carolyn Hunsinger

HEAR WHAT I AM DOING

Please, mom, hear what I am doing; see what I am saying.
The world is a crazy, confusing, scary place for me.
I can’t do the things other kids do—my body doesn’t work right.
But inside, I’m just like other kids—I need to be loved and appreciated;
I need to belong, to fit in; I need to contribute, to be useful; I need to be heard and understood; I desperately want you to be proud of me.
I want to tell you my needs, my feelings, my thoughts, but they get trapped inside me because I can’t get my mouth to say the words. There gets so much piled up inside me that sometimes it just blows up everywhere. And I know you’re disappointed in me, and you get angry at me, and somehow, it’s all my fault.
My actions speak so loudly, you can’t see what I am saying. Yet, my actions are my saying. My body says what my mouth can’t. I act out my feelings, but often, the acting out is such a problem that my feelings go unnoticed. But I have no other way of telling you my feelings.
I want to cooperate, to succeed, to contribute, to feel good about myself, but to do that I must be heard.
Please, mom, hear what I am doing; see what I am saying.
Carolyn Hunsinger