Posts Tagged ‘autism’
Disney World’s Snow White Soothes an Autistic Boy
Lauren Bergner spent months preparing her 6-year-old son Brody for a family trip to Disney World. Like my son, and many of our children, Brody has autism and communicating with him about trips before they happen helps him to adjust more easily. Even though she did everything she could to prepare her son, Bergner knew a meltdown would probably happen at some point because Brody is sensitive to noise and crowds. And I will add as a mom to a little boy like Brody, I know that heat and any…
Read MoreAge is just a Number in our World
‘You prepare yourself as a parent for siblings to pass your disabled child by. But wait until your grandkids do too. That one will take your breath away.’ That comment. It was said to me, with love, from a mom that had been doing this for 57 years. Her son is 22. He’s like my amazing Cooper. Nonverbal. Severe. Smart. Funny. Loving. He will need lifelong care. He will forever need help bathing and brushing his teeth. He will never pay taxes or have a job. He will never get…
Read MoreAcknowledging the Forever
I am a ‘take it one day at a time’ kind of mom. And some days, when my kids aren’t sleeping or I feel like I am losing my mind, I’m a ‘take it one hour at a time’ mom. Just make it through the day. To bedtime. Or through the night. The sun will surely rise. This mothering thing will be easier tomorrow. It’s a new day. But I want you to know that I didn’t start to truly accept my son’s special needs until I began to feel…
Read MoreI Saw You Today
I saw you today. In fact I saw several of you. I was the mom picking up some groceries with my son. My autistic son, that’s all he is. No need to walk on eggshells around us, we were just fine. But I’m not sure you were. When he made unusual noises as I stood at the deli counter you were allowed to smile at me and say hello. It would’ve gone a long way to put me at ease. It wasn’t necessary to look past us as if we…
Read MoreMy Boyfriend, My Love, is Autistic
I’ve been sitting on this for a long time. I never wrote it into words because I didn’t feel I had the adequate vocabulary to do. I still don’t but I think that’s the point. Seven years ago I met my now boyfriend. He was weird. Everyone was weird to me, including myself. We never really spoke until 2 years ago. It started when I reached out because I was worried about him. He talked to me in a way I knew he didn’t talk to anyone else. I didn’t…
Read MoreMissing the Me I Might Have Been
On the way home from a special needs event I was actually able to talk my daughter into attending, we stopped at Starbucks drive through. As I waited in line, I watched people getting out of their cars and going inside. Families laughing and enjoying the Florida sunshine. Most were probably tourists, since I was about 15 min from the gates of Disney World. We got our drinks and then I hopped on the interstate to head home. We had a really good day today. Casadee attended the special rodeo…
Read MoreTo my Son’s Teacher
Tomorrow my son will start in your classroom. It will be our first real time spent apart since he was born. I worry you won’t like him. I’m afraid he’ll be too much for you to handle. Everyone tells me this will be good for him…good for me. I hope you love him like your own. Chances are, my little guy will have no idea I’ve even dropped him off because he lives in his own world. He will probably grab your hand and happily go with you because he…
Read MoreTo the Mom who is Trying to Figure out who She is After Special Needs:
I thought I would be a boy mom. A baseball mom. A hockey mom. A social mom. A mom with a lot of friends. A cool mom. A successful mom. Autism challenged every one of those titles for me. I am brave enough to say that. The role of special needs mom overpowered it all. It turned my whole world completely upside down. And inside out. And backwards. It demanded I slow down. And move faster at the same time. It demanded I speak out and yet learn to hold…
Read MoreWhat Happens When We Are Gone?
The company where I work does a job for a regular customer a couple times a year. She has a child who’s somewhere on the autism spectrum. From the few times that I have actually seen her, she seems to be fairly verbal, and smart. But, she has also been in the same school as Amelia for most of her life. Although, I think, its been off and on for the last few years. The mother is an older lady. In her eighties, I believe. The daughter is somewhere in…
Read MoreThank you to Those who Don’t Give Up
He had just turned three years old. It was Mother’s Day weekend. My third one. I picked him up from daycare and she said…’He refused to put his hand in paint and I don’t do art projects for kids. You don’t care about my work.’ I remember watching all the kids toddle up to their moms carrying little messily wrapped packages. Huge smiles from the kids, so excited to show off their homemade gift. My son was sitting in the dirt driveway. Picking up the sand, sifting it through his…
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