Plan for your child's future now

[MUSIC PLAYING] LAURA BUCKNER: No matter where you find yourself on this road-- maybe you're there with a brand new baby that you've just been given a really scary diagnosis. Maybe your child's 3, 4, 5 years old. Maybe they're 8 or 10. Maybe they're teenagers. I don't know where you are on this journey. But what I do know is that your child's going to be an adult. And I meet parents all over the country who are on similar journeys as you and I who haven't given a whole lot of thought to what adult life will look like for their youngster. And I just really want to encourage you that now is the time to think about that you have to begin to think about what does my child love to do? And how might he or she do that in the adult world? Here's the thing. Your child is entitled to a free and appropriate public education through the school system because by virtue of their diagnosis. But the day they graduate high school, they're not entitled to anything. There's no entitlement to a job. There's no entitlement to work training or career advancement. There's no entitlement to friendship. There is no entitlement to a place to live or people to support your loved ones. And so I just want to encourage you to begin thinking about that now. Whatever your child can do for himself or herself, they need to do that. I meet so many parents who with the best of intentions are disabling their child unintentionally by doing all those things for them. Don't do that stuff for them. Take the time. If it takes them three times as long as you wish it would, take the time. They'll get better at it and better at it. Maybe they can't do it like everybody else does it. Let them do as much of that as they can do as best as they can. They will improve. Even if they need a little bit of help with it, that's OK. [MUSIC PLAYING]