A huge thank you to everyone that submitted a thank you in November. Please know that if you sent me one I will publish it. I have twenty or so to go! Each one is so beautiful. I hope the people you honored feel the love! December’s Topic This December I’d like you to write about your best or hardest autism moment. What was the moment that you remember above all the rest. The one that changed everything. For me it was when I realized how funny Cooper is and…
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“My coworker says to me “Well at least he’s not dying.” She meant it with good intentions I’m sure. But it stung. I was in fact mourning the loss of the life I thought my son would have. Would he ever talk to me? Would he ever go to preschool? Would he ever make it to high school? Would he drive? Fall in love? Have a family of his own? “At least he’s not dying” it still burns. Maybe I’m being selfish. Maybe I am being ungrateful. My son is…
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Imagine not being able to express every day needs and wants. Behavioral issues become a concern because the child is feeling frustrated. The parents are equally frustrated and concerned as to why their child is unable to express their wants and needs that are appropriate for their age. This scenario was what my daughter, myself, and my husband experienced. At 18 months old our daughter was referred to Early On Intervention. After being evaluated a speech therapist diagnosed Haley with Expressive and Receptive Language Disorder. As time went on, we…
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A few days ago I received some validation. Validation I didn’t want to receive. And as I processed it, I realized how numb I must really be to all the emotions that go into special needs parenting. Every time I chat with a 7 year old boy or listen to a 2 year old speak in full sentences. Or watch my 5 year old growing up, achieving every milestone and becoming more independent. Or when my autistic son yells at me and melts down repeatedly. I must be numb. And…
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When my son was diagnosed with autism over four years ago, I remember not being able to picture him as a teen. And not one person in my life, not doctors, not therapists, could tell me what the future held. The unknown is very, very hard. I think it’s harder than knowing. I so badly needed a glimpse of the future. I needed to know what nonverbal looked like at age 15. Or 20. But I was scared too. I am big enough to admit that I wasn’t ready to…
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I’m someone who copes very poorly with the unknown. I like to KNOW what is going on and especially what is going to happen. This is true to a much lesser extent with having MS (whose hallmark, as we know, is unpredictability) but I suspect this is because I’ve been doing so very well for the more than seven years since my diagnosis—it’s something that has faded into the distant background of my life as the more time passes without incident. But ask anyone who knows me and they’ll tell you that…
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I would like to recognize my son’s aide and our respite care provider, Hunter. Hunter is a college student who we first hired in the summer of 2017 to spend time with my son, Nathaniel, and give him some variety to his day. My son Nathaniel is 9 years old with moderate Autism. He is very smart, but struggles with social communication, following directions, and getting along with others. I was having trouble finding summer activities that Nathaniel could do independently. It is difficult to take Nathaniel to unfamiliar places.…
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“Heather, if sign language isn’t working for Milo, I don’t care. I’ll teach him something else. I just want him to learn how to communicate.” I looked at my son’s sign language tutor, Hannah, whose eyes were glistening with tears as we watched my six-year-old nonverbal son press his stomach onto the swing in our living room. Anyone who knows Hannah knows her passion for sign language. We’d hired her to teach our nonverbal autistic son how to sign, but he wasn’t getting it. He was defaulting to signing “more”…
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A few days ago, Jamie and I spent the day, 10 hours to be exact, going through our son’s hoarding piles. We were absolutely shocked by the amount of stuff we found. Honestly, we had no idea it had gotten so out of control. We found piles under every bed, in every closet, under dressers, couches, bookshelves, entertainment centers and even the fridge. Almost every item was damaged and couldn’t be salvaged. By the time we were done we had thrown four garbage bags. In this video I touch on…
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Super Cooper just kissed his baby brother. He smiled at me, walked up to him, touched his head and then kissed him. I almost fell out of my chair. I took this video a second later when I asked him to do it again. Showing affection to anyone besides me has never came easy for Cooper. It’s not natural for him. He doesn’t willingly give hugs or kisses. Or ask for snuggles. So this pretty much made my whole entire year. He never ceases to amaze me. I’ve never seen…
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