Posts Tagged ‘fish oil’
First Steps After Your Autism Diagnosis
After I received Cooper’s diagnosis of Autism I expected things to change overnight. I thought for sure we’d immediately start treatment or medicine or something and we’d begin to fix him. My child was sick. Let’s fix it now. We had an answer. We knew the source. Now we fix it. But that’s not how autism works. It’s not a disease. There is no curing it. There is no solution. There is managing it. There is navigating it. And it is straight up trial and error. If you’ve met one…
Read MoreAnd Then He Was Six
Yesterday was Cooper’s 6th birthday. My baby is 6. How can that be? Of course I knew this day was coming. And I prepared for the emotional impact it was going to have on me. Each year brings on new challenges. New services are needed. Services end. He will be done at Fraser in January. That’s a toughie. Our family moved here for Fraser. And it changed Cooper’s life. His needs are changing too. It is very apparent that Cooper has severe autism. Or low functioning autism. When he was…
Read MoreTo The Parent of a Newly Diagnosed Child
Hiya there friend, Your child has just been diagnosed with Autism. You heard about me from a friend of a friend. Or maybe you found me on Instagram. Or you emailed me at 1 am as you were frantically googling autism in the middle of the night. You are so confused and scared. You feel like you’ve lost control of your life. I see you. I understand what you are feeling. I was you. I am you. You are going to look to me for hope. You are going to…
Read MoreAn Autism Christmas
Christmas is supposed to be a joyful time. Pre-autism it was my favorite. I love the decorations and the food and the family. The snow. The coziness. The children opening presents. The list goes on. Christmas was my favorite. It’s different now. Just like everything post autism. There are too many expectations. I used to get sick to my stomach just thinking about it approaching. Except now I have a wild and rambunctious 3 year old who LOVES Christmas. He talks about Santa non-stop and how he is going to…
Read MoreA Letter to the Family and Friends of An Autism Parent
Dear friends and family, I am sitting here thinking about our relationship. And about how much I love you. And how I rarely see you. We joke that it’s because life is so busy. We have jobs and babies. Life is crazy. And how some day it will be better. We will have more time. One of these days we will actually get together and do something. I’m not sure if that’s entirely true though…at least not for me. We are different. We are friends. We are family. But we…
Read MoreSeeing Your Words on a Computer Screen
I wrote a post a few weeks ago about depression. I didn’t really share it around. I kept it kinda private. It’s very hard to be honest in real life about depression. Even today as I read my repost on Breaking the Parenting Mold I struggle to believe I really wrote those words. They are pretty raw. And vulnerable. I am almost embarrassed by them. And worried that people are going to judge me. But, sigh, they are the truth. And I worry about sharing them. Here is the post:…
Read MorePreparing for an ASD Halloween….
Holidays are an interesting time for a parent of a child with Autism. And each holiday comes with it’s own unique challenges. There is also the fine line of….’how much do we actually participate?’ Cooper doesn’t understand Halloween. Or costumes. Or Trick-Or-Treating. For starters he is the least greedy kid ever….he will get one piece of candy and be great for the rest of the night. He doesn’t like to walk so the idea of walking from house to house is ridiculous. He would need to be carried or put…
Read MoreThis is Beautiful. From a 10-year-old Boy with Autism.
I was scrolling through Facebook today and this post jumped out at me. Let me preface by saying that at one point I liked so many autism type blogs and organizations that now my whole dang news feed is autism. I’ll be honest. That’s depressing. I’ve actually started unfollowing some. It just got to be too much. This one jumped out at me by the National Autism Association. A mother writes, “My 10 year old son with Asperger’s was asked to write a poem for school titled ‘I Am‘ he…
Read MoreWhen The Caregiver Gets Depressed
There is a stigma around depression. A really, really ugly one. And I think there is especially a stigma around mother’s who have depression. If you are depressed you are weak. You are broken. You are medicated. You cry a lot. You sleep a lot. This isn’t true. At least not for me. I am not weak. I am freakishly independent. I am not broken…completely. I am not medicated. And I rarely sleep. In saying that…. I just came out of an extremely low few days. Sadness is not an…
Read MoreI Am So Proud Of Cooper…
As someone affiliated with Autism I have noticed if I browse through Pinterest or Facebook or any of the dozen support groups I am part of there is often a common theme….having a special needs child changes your life. Or defines you as a parent. Or teaches you lessons and makes you a better person. I’ll be honest. I don’t feel that way yet. I haven’t ever actually. Every day is more like an episode of Ground Hogs day. He typically wakes up before 5 am. My anxiety about him…
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