Posts Tagged ‘autism’
The Day I Found out my Child had Autism
Being a mom of three is hard work, especially when you are a mom of a very special little boy who happens to have Autism. As of now Connor is almost 3 years old. It doesn’t seem very long ago when we were at his 18 month well child. My world turned upside down as his MCHAT scored him high risk for Autism. I don’t typically cry and part of me is really embarrassed that I cried, especially since I had a feeling anyway. He showed all of the signs.…
Read MoreCousins Really do make the Best Friends
My husband and I are parents to an amazing, energetic, mischievous, almost three year old boy, Logan. We started to notice speech regression around 20 months, and I brought it up to his pediatrician at our next routine visit. I remember her saying that speech regression is related to autism, but she didn’t really see any other “red flags” that alarmed her. She referred us to Early Steps to see if he would qualify for speech therapy, and then we would see if he started to make any progress and…
Read MoreHow do I Change the World for my Son?
Lately, my son has been having some pretty huge wins. Ginormous actually. He went down his first waterslide. He laughed and flapped the whole way down. And then went five more times. He bowled. All ten frames. I had no idea he even knew what a bowling ball was! He went to an arcade for the first time. He’s never set foot in one before. He never melted down. Or bolted. He just wandered ‘closely’ by while his brother played games. It was amazing. He went to a sit-down restaurant.…
Read MoreMy Son will Grow up to be….
There are moments we experience, which follow us, entering our thoughts when we least expect, and weaving together with other pieces of our journey to shape us, give us pause, make us think…evolve…and create purpose as we move forward. When I was pregnant with Leo, I went for a 3D ultrasound session at 27 weeks, hoping to get a sneak peek of the sweet baby I would soon be holding in my arms. Everything about that day remains vivid and clearly outlined in my memory. Watching my boy on the…
Read MoreBeauty in the Smallest Things
It’s hard to put into words what it is like to give your everything and more to a little person who cannot call you Mom. I do know it is a lesson in unconditional love to the highest degree. I have this little boy. He has autism, but he is so much more than that. He is a living breathing example of all that is pure and all that is good in this world. He has taught me that the smallest things truly do take up the most space in…
Read MoreStates Require Cameras in Special Education Classrooms
In February I shared a very disturbing story with you about a parent’s worst nightmare. You can read the full story HERE. Amber Pack, a West Virginia mother, sent her 8-year-old severely autistic daughter to class with a recording device after her child didn’t want to go back to school. What Amber heard on the recording was sickening. The tapes uncovered verbal, emotional, and possible physical abuse. Here are a few of the recordings. Instructor #1: “This one I could punch her right in her face.” A different instructor in the…
Read MoreSomewhere Along the Way it got Easier
Somewhere along the way it got easier. I can’t tell you exactly when it happened either. I sometimes try to figure out when we let the breath out that we’d been holding for so long. But I can’t pinpoint it. I remember it being hard. New baby hard. No sleep and nursing hard. And then toddler hard. And then really hard. Nonverbal autism hard. I remember trying to live our lives the way we always had. And failing. Everything was hard. And I mean everything. We couldn’t win. No matter…
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…
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