Posts Tagged ‘autism blog’
First Kisses from My Autistic Son
For years I longed for kisses and hugs from my autistic son. But, it never came. He’d gladly receive affection and even ate it up and yes, I was thankful for that. But before autism I just assumed affection came naturally. I had no idea that teaching a child to ‘give’ affection could be a challenge. Or even a skill that needed to be taught. On top of not willingly showing affection, Cooper simply didn’t know how to actually kiss or hug. Due to his Apraxia, his lips are unable…
Read MoreHigh Functioning Awesome-ism!
Note: This guest post is directly dictated. Including punctuation. My son literally stood beside me and told me where to use BIG words and “one of those lines with the dot at the bottom.” Enjoy his perspective. Hi, I’m Elijah and I have High Functionality! (That’s my name for High Functioning Autism. I like High Functionality better because it sounds like I’m highly functioning, like a robot!) I like Minecraft and Legos! And other things. I move from thing to thing and sometimes I’m into magic things, sometimes I’m into…
Read MoreDreams of my Autistic Nonverbal Son Speaking
Last night, I had a dream that my nonverbal son had a conversation with me. We were walking along a path, holding hands, laughing and smiling. He was pointing things out to me. For some reason it was really beautiful. The sky was colorful. The trees and grass were so bright and vivid. I remember noticing how calm we were. How he wasn’t flapping or running or screaming. I could hear mumbling but in my mind I knew that it couldn’t be Cooper speaking. My autistic son doesn’t speak. Then…
Read MoreIs God Still Building Cooper’s Voice?
My most favorite thing is having conversations with Sawyer. And typically, the best ones happen while I’m driving. Yesterday, on our way to a birthday party, he asked me if he will ever get to ride a dinosaur and who decides where the roads start and stop. He asked me if we were rich. When I told him no he asked me if he could get a job. He told me a fascinating story about how his dad ran out of gas and had to walk to the gas station…
Read MoreAutism is Not My Friend Today
Truthfully, autism is never my friend, but today was one of those days where I wanted to punch autism in the face. Triggers have always been a part of our autism world. As much as we try to avoid them, they rear their ugly little heads often, and all too often when we least expect it. Our eleven-year-old daughter Lilly was diagnosed just before she turned three, and over the last eleven years, we have seen triggers come and go. Most of her early triggers stemmed from her OCD. She…
Read MoreMy Autistic Son’s Peers
There is nothing I love more on this earth than my son. And I like to believe that Jamie and I are past the grieving that goes into having a disabled child. I truly do. We have two beautiful children. Wonderful lives. We are blessed and happy. We don’t think about how our lives are different because of autism. We don’t dwell on the fact that our son doesn’t speak. Or that he can’t really leave the house. He’s not our ‘autistic’ son. He’s just our son. Our lives are…
Read MoreThe Day We Drove our Autistic Son to Residential Treatment
I’ve gone round and round with deciding whether to share this part of our autism journey or not. I hope to share in a way that is always helpful as well as inspirational even though it definitely was a very low point. Everyone’s journey is going to be very different. Some are going to be filled with much more heartache and struggles but in the end we’re all striving to do our very best in learning how to navigate this world of autism. I hope you find something helpful in…
Read MoreAutism is Easier When I Take Care of Me
I screamed as loud as I could as the water from the shower head poured over me. I have no idea how long I was in there. I don’t know if anyone heard. Worst of all, I didn’t know if anyone cared. I had reached the end of my rope very quickly in raising a child with autism. With our extreme efforts and my sons lack of progress I told myself I was the problem. I started to consider removing myself from the picture. But the problem didn’t begin overnight. It…
Read MoreTo my Son, A Brother Who Simply Loves
To my son, I knew at a very young age I wanted to be a mother. I had to wait a long time for you to come but when you did I was so happy. You were so beautiful and I was finally a mother! I loved our perfect little family and loved watching you grow and become the person you are today. When I was ready to give you a little brother or a little sister I could picture our family doing many things and couldn’t wait for you…
Read MoreAdvice to Parents of Newly Diagnosed Children from a Veteran Autism Mom
“Put him in preschool and join a support group.” Those nine words changed my life forever. We had spent all summer at doctor and therapy appointments trying to get to the bottom of what was going on with Reece. I knew deep down in my mother heart that Reece had autism. I had known for awhile. But I didn’t know what to do, where to go, what should/could happen, nothing. I remember those words like it was yesterday, even though, now, it’s been almost 12 years ago. My first emotion…
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