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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 MoreA Little Mom Life Humor
I shared this on Facebook today and tagged my bestie. So funny. So true. The life of a mom. Quickly Cooper’s dad responded with how untrue it was. So I dug into Instagram and pulled up these gems from my life. They just keep getting better…. I see you mom. Mom, I see that you are pooping. Here, have some tea. Or would you prefer coffee. My two little sidekicks. Notice the raincoat. And that he’s in between my legs. And my personal favorite… I can’t remember the last time…
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…
Read MoreA Thankless Job
Yesterday we had another weekly visit from Cooper’s crisis social worker. It was great as usual. We laughed and told stories and talked about ways to help Cooper. More specifically ways to make life easier. I mentioned how the week before the electricity was out at the house and I lasted 15 minutes before I threw him the truck to watch a movie. That kid cannot survive without technology. In a 15 minute period he melted completely down over no WI-FI, useless remotes, VCR’s, DVD players, TV’s, kindles, etc. It…
Read MoreWhy Is Honesty Perceived As Negativity?
Hi all, I wanted to share this post from a fellow autism parent and blogger. I read his posts often and rarely has something resonated so deeply with me. Click to read Losing Hope Is Not A Bad Thing by Autism Daddy. When people ask me if I think Cooper is going to talk one day I used to say….YES. And then slowly I switched to MAYBE. And lately I say a no. People usually look at me with a weird look or scold me or tell me to be…
Read MoreMost Of All, I Teach You Giving
This. Always this. I do not gift you with clever conversation, cute remarks to be laughed over and repeated. If you allow me, I will teach you what is really important in life. I gift you with my innocent trust, my dependency upon you. I teach you giving. Most of all, I teach you hope and faith.
Read MoreThe Hitting Has Begun
I have been blogging about Cooper for a few years now. Since the beginning I’ve received more emails than I can count from autism parents who have teenagers. The emails always start the same way. They say they have a teenager who was just like Cooper. And they tell me about the diagnosis and the process and the where they are currently in the journey. And then they go onto tell me that their daughter or son started hitting and kicking and exhibiting really aggressive behaviors. I’ve read enough of…
Read MoreCooper Has The Kind Of Autism No One Talks About
I stumbled across a post today on Facebook titled, ‘My Son Has The Kind Of Autism No One Talks About-Term Life’. “Because for every boy with autism who manages his high school basketball team, there are 20 boys with autism who smear feces. And for every girl with autism who gets to be on the homecoming court, there are 30 girls with autism who pull out their hair and bite their arms until they bleed. And for every boy with autism who gets to go the prom, there are 50…
Read MoreI Am This Mom
This image has been going around Facebook for a few weeks now with the following caption: Disabled people in US: 19% Transgender people in US: 0.03% THIS is the bathroom issue I am more concerned about. Having a private place to change my beloved son with dignity, privacy, and cleanliness…not on a dirty bathroom floor with a large cot I have to carry everywhere with us. We consider ourselves “fortunate” when we can find large private family bathrooms like the one pictured…but most places are stalled restrooms where even the…
Read MoreCooper's Talking Device
Hi all, I wanted to share a video of Cooper’s talking device. Cooper has been using it at school for a little over 3 months and we are just starting to use it at home. Much like everything else I find it to be a little overwhelming. Sometimes I feel like it’s just ‘another’ thing we are trying. But in saying that his speech therapists are RAVING about his successes with it. He can say up to 6 word sentences. An example would be: ‘I want to eat yogurt please.’…
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