Posts Tagged ‘coronavirus’
The Year We Were Normal
2020 has been a hard year for most. Filled with uncertainty, fear, confusion, sleepless nights, isolation and more. We call that a Tuesday in our house. Truthfully not too much has changed in 2020 for us. Yes, we have less appointments and therapies, but the fear, the isolation, the constant anxiety. That’s every day for us. Now there is talk of an end, a vaccine, a possible return to normal. People of course are debating it but the end goal of all of this, is a return to normal. Dinner…
Read MoreIn the Chaos, Don’t Forget About Special Needs Children
Mommas, that fear you’re feeling right now. That fear of the unknown and not knowing what is going to happen to your school-aged child. Of not knowing what is best or the right answer. Of not knowing how programs and best-laid plans are going to play out. That awful sinking feeling of dread. That feeling is the feeling most special need parents feel every year at the IEP meeting and every start of every new school year. That feeling is constant for special need parents. In addition, that feeling of…
Read MoreToday, Be A Tiny Bit Selfish
Have you had them yet? The days that are a little harder to get out of bed, maybe because there’s nowhere to be or maybe because you just don’t want to. Not yet. The hot showers interrupted by the yelling outside the door, quickly followed by the thought of “I just don’t want to parent today.” Or maybe it’s the little moments that hit hard. The Zoom birthday parties that are missing all the elements of an actual celebration. Or having to say no when your kid innocently asks to…
Read MoreMy Quarantine Hero
My wife and I are nurses and have been at work during this pandemic. With schools closed we contemplated who would care for Grayson, our 5-year old son with autism. In our pre-Covid life, he attended school for a full day and received OT, PT, Speech, Counseling, Music, Art and Yoga Therapy in addition to the core academics. School was followed by ABA at home for 3 hours/day Monday-Friday. You guys know the drill…it’s A LOT!! We also have Nicolas our 19-year old neurotypical son who is in his 2nd…
Read MoreIf He Get’s Sick
Here in New Hampshire, we are on day 6,382,091 of quarantine. Okay, okay. I’m exaggerating. Its only day 5,847,235 of quarantine. Either way, it’s been a long time. Hi. My name is Carrie. I have five kids. I live in New Hampshire. Our state has been under a shelter-in-place since March 13th. We are tired of it. We are tired of ourselves, and our house, and our yard. We are tired of walking around the neighborhood. Our dog, Wolfie, is especially tired of walking around the neighborhood. He runs to…
Read MoreThe Hidden Life We Live
Parenting Autism is hard. Parenting Autism during a world wide pandemic and quarantine is nearly impossible. But, first, I need to start with this. For all of my well meaning friends and family who will comment something along the lines of: “You’re amazing and so strong. I don’t know how you do it.” Please. Don’t. I appreciate it – more than you will ever know. But first, I’m far from amazing. Second, I didn’t pick this life. It was assigned to me by some universal random number life generator (that…
Read MoreThe Way He Did Today
Something happened today during our homeschooling session. It’s been five weeks since he last went to school. We have talked about the whole COVID 19 lockdown situation a couple of times since all this started. Today, his teacher sent a new social story and asked me to read it to him. The picture of the school building in the story looked a lot like the school he goes to. As I was reading it with him, I saw that he had started crying. There was no sound, just tears trickling…
Read MoreIsolation, Distancing, Learning: We’ve Been Here Before
The world has shut down. We’re under stay-at-home orders. Because of a new virus that can be fatal, we’re forced to stay home until it’s contained. We have to stand six feet away from other people if we go anywhere. We have to homeschool our children because schools are closed until further notice. Doctor appointments and therapy are held over telemedicine video calls. This all seems a little too familiar. I remember how hard it was being stuck inside for extended periods of time. I recall my kids having therapy…
Read MoreWelcome to Our World
Welcome to our world. I have said that a lot lately. While the world has stopped in its tracks not much has changed in our world. This is our life. Isolation. I was thinking about it yesterday and, the special needs community is far more prepared for this. We have been preparing for this for years. We are isolated all the time. For years, the only time we left our home was for work school or therapy. We worked hard on leaving our home. There was a time when Kya…
Read MoreBecause of the Lockdown, I Can’t See my Son
Yesterday was Autism Awareness Day. Autism awareness month is hitting our family hard this year, and frankly, my heart is broken. Many of you may know that my son Christopher is enrolled in a residential school for Autism, a school for kiddos with heightened behavioral challenges. We visit there every Wednesday, and bring him home on the weekends…every weekend, without fail. Until now. His school informed us that they are in lockdown. He has been there, hunkering down, with his peers, teachers, and therapists. We were told if we brought…
Read More