How to Deal with a Difficult Diagnosis When others hear we have a special needs son and a daughter with dyslexia we often get asked, “How to deal with a difficult diagnosis? How did we deal with it with it being our children?” How to Deal with a Difficult Diagnosis for my Child The day of a diagnosis is one of those events in your life that you remember every detail of. There was shock, fear, feeling scared, and so much more; all the feelings. There was a point where…
Read More
It may not get easier, and some things may not get better, but you have the power to create a world that works for your family. I wish someone would have told me that when my son was first diagnosed with autism. Because, initially, and in the challenging years that followed, I will admit that we felt stuck in a lot of ways. We couldn’t do this or that. Like go to restaurants or church or fly on an airplane, go for walks, visit the mall. We said no to…
Read More
When I became a parent, I had lots of dreams for my child. Most of my dreams revolved around sports: Little League baseball, peewee football, go-kart racing, bike riding, whatever he wanted to do. In fact, since my family is involved in racing, I couldn’t wait to put him in the family race car! I also thought about best friends, building blanket forts, and sleepovers. I wanted to try to be the “cool dad,” lol. Later, I would want to teach him to drive a car, change his oil, change…
Read More
Last night something monumental happened in our little world. Our middle son Sawyer had a gaggle of friends over playing and as they ran from room to room, crashing and bashing and giggling about farts and butts, our oldest son Cooper ran behind. He was the oldest of the whole group on paper. The big brother and yet not. He will be 14 in a few months. But he has no interest in Fortnite or hockey or girls. He doesn’t acknowledge the coolest shoes or ask sliding mitts. Instead he…
Read More
When my son was two years old his daycare provider told me that he would never speak, make a friend, or ride a bike. She later went on to say he would never hit a baseball. She told me at my car after I had buckled my son into his car seat and closed the door. She had followed me out. She was determined to tell me her predictions. In the eleven years that have since passed I have replayed that conversation a million times in my head. It broke…
Read More
My daughter is 15 years old; she is autistic and has sensory processing disorder and anxiety. She is only semi-verbal, and for us, that means she has words to make requests, she can echo words and phrases, and she can answer yes or no questions with about 80 percent accuracy. However, she does not have conversational language skills. I cannot ask her how she feels and get an answer back. Every once in a while, in the wee hours of the night, I am awoken by the sound of my…
Read More
I just encountered a gentlemen with a disability in the airport. I would say he was in his fifties. I heard him coming. He was saying the most cheerful ‘hi’ to every person he passed. I noticed he was mostly being ignored. Which I guess isn’t all that uncommon. When a stranger says hi it’s probably common to ignore. When he said hi to me I gave him the most cheerful hi I could give. He stopped walking and asked if I was flying somewhere today. I smiled and said…
Read More
When my son was diagnosed with autism eleven years ago, I knew nothing of the diagnosis. Not a thing. I researched of course. I found Rain Man. And dark grainy videos on YouTube of individuals on the spectrum struggling. I wondered where my son would land. The savant side? The hard to watch side from those videos? Or somewhere in between? As time went on Hollywood brought us Love on the Spectrum and The Good Doctor. Eventually other shows too. Our autism looked nothing like those shows. I worried and…
Read More
‘The best feeling is watching things finally fall into place after watching them fall apart for so long.’ The beginning was so hard. Before the diagnosis. The unknown. The hating myself for suspecting something was wrong. The watching all of his peers and even younger kids pass him by. The fighting with my husband because I saw something he refused to see. The hoping it was anything but autism. Late bloomer. Boys will be boys. Then the diagnosis. The praying it was wrong. Praying it wasn’t severe. Telling myself I…
Read More
I advocate for autism employment worldwide because autistic adults deserve a chance to succeed just like anyone else. Growing up autistic, I wasn’t sure what my future would look like when employed. I knew I had vital interests in sports and theater, but I didn’t know if some of my challenges, such as the inability to read body language, needing breaks at times due to long periods of social interaction, or inconsistent eye contact, would be accepted in a workplace setting. I went from a Sports Management degree at Seton…
Read More