With Halloween coming up there has been a lot of debate about trick or treating. I have seen a lot of really positive posts making people aware of all different styles of communication and different expectations for trick or treaters. There have also been a lot of negative posts regarding age. I just want to point out how difficult these special occasions are for children with special needs and their parents. It doesn’t matter where you fall on the spectrum or whether there are other types of special needs. There…
As Halloween quickly approaches and you prepare for trick-or-treating with your children, there is one staple item you need for the night — something for them to collect all of the candy! If you are like me, you have taken the quick and easy option: the standard $1 orange pumpkin pail from a big box store. But have you noticed these traditional Halloween pails are now available in some new colors? These colors are the center of great debate in the disability community. You see, each new color supports a…
Each day I am a little bit stronger. After the drive home from diagnosis day. I am a little bit stronger. After crying all night long about a different future. I am a little bit stronger. After each and every meltdown my child has. I am a little bit stronger. After each appointment where I am told you have once again not met a milestone. I am a little bit stronger. After another Diagnosis. Autism, Apraxia and ADHD! I am a little bit stronger. After being told you would be…
There are many challenges when a little one can’t speak. Is she sick or tired or just having a rough day or week? What is she thinking or feeling right now? I know there’s more inside, but how do I reach her? How? Will she play and interact with me? Or is she just content flitting to and fro like a bee? Then I think of things that need no words, She knows I’m Mom, and I know I’m hers. I’ll be there for her, To advocate, teach and pray.…
Measurement – it’s a natural human instinct. We measure time, distance, capacity, success, and achievement. Many forms of measurement I understand; time and distance for example facilitate civilizations’ successful functioning. There are however some forms of measurement that lack the same definition and purpose. Parents worldwide often over analyze a measurement: the measurement of milestones. From the moment you become a parent other, often well intentioned, people question you with regards to your child’s development. Your email inbox highlights notifications of what abilities your growing baby should have. Mothers’ groups…
There are so many things I worry about when it comes to my autistic daughter. Raising a vulnerable child comes with so many fears. Some of these things are things we all worry about. I have four children and I worry about them all. The intensity and degree of worry when it comes to Alyssa is so intensified. My biggest fear is what will happen when I’m gone. This brings me to my knees, it terrifies me. Me and autism have long battled with control. I like control and so…
On September 1, 2022, our youngest daughter Lucy was diagnosed on the autism spectrum. Almost exactly two years after her big sister, Opal. It may come as a shock to some, but I have tried to talk openly about how we had concerns that Lucy may be autistic too. Lucy and Opal are complete opposites, and I know to some people that would seem to mean that Lucy couldn’t possibly be autistic, but this couldn’t be further from the truth. Autism is different for everyone. You will never meet two…
In life we all go through different seasons. These seasons come and go as time goes on. Sometimes we even live in these seasons without even realizing we are in them. When Charlie was younger we lived through a season of train obsessions. He loved trains to no end and would sometimes stay up until the wee hours of the night because he just HAD to play with them. He still loves them now, but the obsession has died down. The train obsessed season has passed. There was a season,…
I really was anxious about the carpool ride that was arranged to get to the More Than a Caregiver Respite Retreat this past weekend. I was desperate to drive, convincing myself that I probably needed five hours each way to decompress. Even that the silence may help me more than friending. Turns out, I was so anxious about it that my breakup the carpool text never got sent. Then it was too late, these three were on the way, they showed up, we hugged quickly and I piled in. As…
My husband pulled himself out of bed yesterday morning, quietly pulled his Sunday best from the closet, and went to church while the little man and I slept. We haven’t been to church together since the beginning of our marriage. We haven’t been to church as a family in years. And though I’m proud of him for making that decision for himself on such a random Sunday morning, I am simultaneously conflicted in my emotions. I’m glad he went, if that’s what his heart yearned for yesterday.…
