Posts Tagged ‘ASD’
He Did His Best
Today was a big day for this kid and our family. We went to the Afton Apple Orchard. You know the kind with lots of noise and people and waiting and walking. And we went as a family. We invited our friends to come along as well. See in our world, we need help. We know that now. We know our strengths and our weaknesses. And our Cooper, he requires both mom and dad sometimes. We had a lot of wins today. Cooper petted his first llama, sheep, donkey and…
Read MoreWe Are More
You must be sad… I’ve heard that phrase a few times over the past couple weeks. You must be sad your son rides the shorter bus… You must be sad he’s not in the gen ed room at school… And the zinger, the one I felt like a shot was fired and received, you must be sad you will never have a normal life… These statements, they don’t necessarily come from a place of hate or anger. They come from a place of misunderstanding. They simply don’t understand. I am…
Read MoreDon’t Be Afraid of the Label
My son, Chase, started school a couple of weeks before his fifth birthday. He had never been in a school setting before. Had never been in a “structured” environment. That first year of school turned out to be, what I would say, just short of, a disaster. Chase was in trouble multiple times a week. I felt like I was getting a call at least once a day, and was in meetings every two to three weeks. I was told Chase had aggression and anger issues. Chase was throwing a…
Read MoreDid I Do Enough For Her?
When I found out my third baby was going to be a girl, I was really excited. I had two boys already and was curious how adding a little girl into the mix was going to be. I thought, and hoped, maybe my girl won’t have as many challenges that my boys had. I had a really good pregnancy with Grace. They didn’t find any anomalies in the womb like they did with her brother Daniel. She came on my scheduled due date unlike my son Nicholas who was born…
Read MoreFive Things I Wish I Knew Before An Autism Diagnosis
If you are new to this autism journey and are wondering how to process all the information out there, here are some things I wish I had known while going through the process. All autism characteristics do not all fit into a checklist. Many of the early signs of autism we recognized later in our son as he got older did not fit into the standard website search. Our son, at an early age, loved anything round. He carried around balls, round fruit, played with practically anything in the form…
Read MoreEvery Autism Mama
I’d like to take a moment, and introduce you to an autism mama. You’ve seen her before, pushing a cart in the grocery store, or holding hands with a teenager in the parking lot. She usually looks tired. Maybe her mouth is pressed into a thin line, her skin a papery white. This autism mama, she might come across as impatient, or abrupt at times. Try not to take it personally. She has formed a kind of shell, you see—a layer to protect herself against well-meaning comments about behavior and…
Read MoreAn Apology to My Children
To my children – my little marvels, I am writing you this letter to tell you how sorry I am. But first and foremost I want you to know that I love you. You may already know by the time you read this that I am not the best communicator. I am generally quite articulate, I use long words and I can talk about complex issues. However, I am not good at making general conversation and I do not find it easy to talk about my feelings. Both of these…
Read MoreLook For the Silver Lining
So many things could be said about the lack of “sunshine” surrounding a diagnosis such as Autism Spectrum Disorder. It’s labeled as rigid. And scary. And lonely. And most people (including us early on) are uneducated about ASD. Simply because it is thought to be almost “taboo”. In our case, we went through all the stages of grief (denial, anger, bargaining… all of them). Then you do yourself a favor, and you arm yourself with knowledge. Suddenly, the sky clears up, and you come around to the “acceptance” stage. I…
Read MoreSomewhere in the Middle Of Hope
Most days you can find me somewhere in the middle of hope at the intersection of not knowing what I’m doing nor where I’m going. This is the life I’ve grown accustomed to-the autism life. Covid-19 isn’t my first “new normal” receiving an autism spectrum disorder diagnosis for my son three years ago was. In an instant our priorities and responsibilities changed, our entire world was rocked as we knew it by autism. My son Stalen was diagnosed on the spectrum at twenty-one months. He is considered non-verbal. Today, he is a…
Read More“You Need To Calm Down”
Yesterday I decided we needed to get out for one last summer weekend…take a chance with masks, and take a chance with the world. Going out is never simple. Johnny’s mood, my mood, his little sister’s mood, are all factors. For Johnny it’s the hardest, he finds the world difficult. It’s uncomfortable and unpredictable. We went to an outdoor mall that has a farmers market in the summer. As always, there were ups and downs but it was good. We bought veggies and treats. We wandered and spent time together.…
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