“He talks like a baby!” The young boy shouted excitedly to his friends. “Baby, baby, little baby!” The boy was inches from my sons face as he taunted him. His buddies all laughed. My son, just wanting to be part of the fun and play on the playground with these young boys, innocently smiled back at him. He didn’t realize he was the object of ridicule. He was simply happy that they were including him. What those boys didn’t know is that just the week before, my son said his…
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My wife and I are nurses and have been at work during this pandemic. With schools closed we contemplated who would care for Grayson, our 5-year old son with autism. In our pre-Covid life, he attended school for a full day and received OT, PT, Speech, Counseling, Music, Art and Yoga Therapy in addition to the core academics. School was followed by ABA at home for 3 hours/day Monday-Friday. You guys know the drill…it’s A LOT!! We also have Nicolas our 19-year old neurotypical son who is in his 2nd…
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Yesterday I was scrolling mindlessly through Instagram, as I usually do, when I saw a picture that stopped my finger mid-motion. It was a little girl I knew well. Her mom, a friend of mine. We were pregnant at the same time. We have slipped apart over the years, as we so often do. The photo was precious. The caption read, the last day of third grade. Third grade. Wow. For a second I thought, that can’t be right. I did the math. It was right. If my son was…
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Hi. My name is Carrie. I have five kids, a handsome husband, and the best dog in the whole entire world. His name is Wolfie. My dog, not my husband. My husband’s name is Joe. We have four boys and one girl. Our second son, Jack, is diagnosed with autism. He is sixteen years old. He has had autism his whole entire life. I do not believe there is a cure. When I was young, I didn’t give a lot of thought to what kind of mother I might be.…
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We used to not be able to safely ride in the car as a family. Let that sink in for a moment. We had to take two cars, Jamie and I separating the boys, or one of us had to ride in the back with the kids and even then it wasn’t all that safe. At one point we had to have a safety plan. We couldn’t turn left. Or stop at stoplights. Road construction was the worst. Slowing down wasn’t allowed. I’d tell friends that we couldn’t go through…
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We practice. I remember in the beginning feeling overwhelmed about all of the things my son needed to learn. Things that came seemingly easy for most children. Walking safely, using silverware, speaking, playing, self-care, I could go on and on. When I thought about all of it I almost couldn’t breathe at times. I didn’t know how to do it all. So, I did what any logical person would do…I made a list. I ranked them. I picked what was most important and what could wait. For our family, it…
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Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about the paths that each of my boys will take as they grow up. Three sons. 9, 7 and 1. Cooper, my oldest, well, it’s been complicated. So many daycares until we finally couldn’t find one to take him anymore. Then starting in the school district at age three, multiple day programs, IEP meetings, transportation to and from, trusting the world with my tiny, yet mighty, nonverbal, unaware child who could hardly hold up his backpack. I waved goodbye to a child who didn’t know…
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The world is fighting CovID-19 and black people are fighting to stay alive. Black men in particular are being murdered and threatened for no reason at all, other than being black. Black families are having hard necessary conversations with their children, even if you don’t want to or feel as though they’re too young it’s being forced on us due to the daily news reports. We are literally getting no days off from the trauma. My son Caleb had a speech evaluation yesterday and he scored below average on the…
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When I was pregnant for the first time, so were a bunch of my friends. We had plans. Our kids were going to be best friends and grow up together. We would watch them meet milestones together and bring them to the park for playdates. It was going to be the, let’s be honest, the somewhat unrealistic expectation most first time moms have, but I have seen it happen, the pictures posted online to prove it. Some best friends do get to extend those deep connections to their children and…
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Before I had babies, and even when they were younger, I had preconceived notions of what I would teach them throughout their lives. I assumed how to walk. And talk. Throw a ball. Read and write. I assumed we’d practice riding a bike and hitting a baseball. Later on I’d teach them to drive a car and how to dress for an interview and tip at a restaurant. Tangible things. It’s funny now because yes, those things matter. A’s on tests matter. Making the team matters. But kindness matters too.…
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