A Colorful Christmas

When I share about my son’s autism’s, my hope is that I share the endearing parts with the world. The humor and the joy. The innocence and the determination. Because autism isn’t a dirty word. Not in this house. There are so many amazing parts that make him…him. For example… Last night I dressed all three boys in their matching Christmas jammies. An hour later, only two were wearing them. Cooper’s were off. This morning as I searched for them, I had to laugh. They were gone. Like gone-gone. I…

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Our Stories Are Not All the Same

This will be my most unliked post, and I get it. I’m never trying to “start something” or offend anyone, but I do want to be honest in how I feel on this journey.  My name is Danielle. I share our families journey at Story of Noahism. I made a tiktok a couple weeks ago and on that app comments get a lot of attention. More so than IG. And one of my top comments meaning hundreds, almost 1k to be exact, of ppl have liked it, goes something like…

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I Hope Kids Can Be Kind

“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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Don’t Take Mom For Granted

I’ve heard it so many times. “Just wait until they start talking, you’ll just want them to be quiet”. I see memes like this and while I know it’s said in good humor, it’s also a little heartbreaking.  Not everyone hears “mom”. Some children are deaf, non-communicative, non-verbal…parents lose children every day, and would give their whole life just to hear “mom” one more time.  My daughter doesn’t have a name for me. The last time she said “mama” she was 10 months old. In fact, neither of my kids…

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Letter to My Daughter on Her Birthday

I cannot believe it has been 6 years since I held you for the first time. I remember laying you on my chest and looking into your big blue eyes. In that moment, I knew I would never love anyone the way I do you. Since then, you have made my world go ’round. Celia, you complete me in ways I didn’t know I needed. Not only do you complete me, but you show me what true love is and how to love more. Having you as my little girl…

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What if he has Autism Mama

You were sitting on the living room floor trying to build a tower with your Legos. At six years old you looked like a teenager sitting there. Your baby face is completely gone. Your legs are getting long. Your hair so blonde and eyes so brown. The baby was all over you. On your legs. In your lap. Pulling at your toys. You kept rotating away from him. But he was onto you. You moved. He moved. I hear you yell, ‘Harbor! You wild baby!’ I looked up and you…

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Costco shooting: Man killed by off-duty officer had an intellectual disability, cousin says

On Friday night, a 32-year-old man was shot and killed by an off-duty officer in a Costco store in Corona. When I saw it on the news on Saturday morning I held my breath like I do with every shooting that makes the news. And I wait. I wait for them to say one of the parties has an intellectual disability. This time it was true. The man killed, Kenneth French, was nonverbal and had an intellectual disability, according to a family member. Last night, I sat watching my son Cooper…

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Nonverbal High Schooler Makes History By Giving Speech with Assistive Technology

Before I had a son with nonverbal autism, I naively thought ‘everyone talks.’ I grew up in a world where I didn’t know anyone who was nonverbal. Or honestly, that it was even possible. I remember the first time a therapist said, ‘you need to consider a world where your son doesn’t speak.’ That sentence. It shattered me. As a mom, to an absolutely beautiful 3 year old, how could it not? Flash forward to today. I’ve learned that communication is so much more than spoken words. It can be…

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God Still Hears Her

I have four kids and I love being a mom, all my kids are so unique and loved! But from the moment I got pregnant with my first child, I felt God let me feel his heart for my daughter in a extra special way. I felt like she was a worshipper and her heart was going to be connected to God in a super special way. I have a memory when I was in the beginning of labor with her, I looked up after a contraction to see tears in…

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Hope Bubbles Up

Four years ago I sat across from a speech therapist, whom I loved very much. She looked at me and said, ‘Kate, you need to prepare yourself for nonverbal forever. You need to acknowledge a world where Cooper doesn’t speak.’ I remember I felt like my world ended. I learned after years of self growth that she said it to me with love. She knew I needed to hear it. We just left a speech evaluation. Probably our twentieth over the years. Only this one was different than all the…

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