Guest Post
It’s Not That I’m Not Happy For You
I need to be real for a minute. It’s not that I don’t want to be around you. It’s not that I don’t like your kids. It’s not that I don’t love watching your kids grow up from afar. It’s not that I’m not happy for you. It’s just too hard. It’s too hard to see your children developing at a normal rate. There’s no speech and language delay. There is no vocal stimming. There are no show stopping meltdowns. You just have kids who have a typical path to…
Read MoreAll That’s Locked Inside
Autism comes with so many difficulties. There are serious medical issues. Constant vigilance is required to prevent wandering and accidents. Often, a Herculean effort is required to complete the most basic of tasks. And every victory, every milestone was earned with blood, sweat, and tears. But I want to write about one of the biggest difficulties that comes with autism. It weighs on me daily. I can only imagine how it affects my son, Christopher. And it might even be THE biggest issue for me – the main reason why…
Read MoreAutism and Siblings…Now What?
Autism Awareness month has ended and we now have an official diagnosis…for the second time. Let me clarify. My son received a very early diagnosis thanks to my daughter. You see our girl had her difficulties in language development leading to early intervention services. Yet no autism diagnosis. We did the developmental doctor visit and left with a language developmental delay and sensory processing disorder as I was hugely pregnant with our son. Do I dare say relief? As our daughter’s language developed it was a breath of fresh air. …
Read MoreHow I Pour From an Empty Cup
You can’t pour from an empty cup. I’ve seen this plastered all over social media. And they are such wise words. Figuratively and literally, it makes so much sense. And I believe them wholeheartedly. But there’s a problem with my cup. There’s a hole at the bottom of it. And no matter how much I pour in, I always seem to fall short and empty. And that hole is autism. I am a very blessed woman. I have a wonderful 5 year old son who is the highlight of my…
Read MoreHe Understands A Smile
We’ve known Lennon has autism for quite some time now, but the medical diagnosis came more recently. He is 30 months old now, a 2 1/2 year old aptly nicknamed “Baby Giant.” What that diagnosis came with were the parameters in which he fell. Nothing was where it should be, even his gross motor skills which we (his father and I) believed to be stellar. In most categories he fell in the 9 – 18 month range. Expected. Receptive comprehension was another story. There he was at (or under) the…
Read MoreIt’s Like He is in His Own Little World
Being in a new place – with new surroundings, new people, new sounds, new lights, new everything – can be trying for any child. However, for my Jack it’s A LOT. It’s a challenge and something we all have to work hard towards together as a family. But we do it. We want to. Albeit a lot easier, we don’t want to always stay in our comfort zone of home. When the environment gets to be too much for Jack, he stims a lot more (in his case, jumping and…
Read MoreA Letter to My Boy on His Birthday
Dear son, On the eve of your 4th Birthday, I want you to know that you are loved beyond measure plus infinity forever. Autism has nothing to do with the fact that I am blessed to be your Mama. The love and joy that you have brought to my life is beyond anything I could ever have imagined. You make me smile EVERY single day. When I saw you for the first time, I couldn’t believe how beautiful and perfect you were, and I feel the same way today. You…
Read MoreAutism Defeated Me Today
Autism you won. It was one of those days. A day you felt like a dump truck has repeatedly hit you over and over again. Tears that continue to flow. Nothing is stopping them. I am hurting. I am hurting because I can’t figure out what is making my son so frustrated. I can’t figure out what is causing his meltdowns. Autism is hard. There is no sugar coating it. It hit me extremely hard today. I just became so overwhelmed with emotions today. The feeling of my anxiety taking…
Read MoreTo the Dads who are Superheros without Capes
It is time we appreciate the underappreciated and uncelebrated dads who make up half of special needs parenting. It is part of our culture to glorify motherhood whereas the struggles of a father are seldom talked about. Special needs fatherhood can be especially lonely. They often don’t have a support system and men in our society are often discouraged to show the vulnerable side of their personality. These are the men who work twice as hard, who make difficult decisions for the sake of their families. Who are mocked and…
Read MoreSing me a Lullaby Mama
Our almost 6 year old nonverbal wonder has been having a tough time recently. In short ongoing seizures. With numerous visits to doctors and hospitals anxiety runs high in our household. For any family a visit to see any medical professional is daunting but for families of special needs children the experience takes on a whole new set of challenges; busy waiting rooms, loud noises, bright lights, clinical hard surroundings and long queues! These environments take a toil on everyone. Added to this is a child with autism’s unique expressive…
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