I’m Thankful for You: My Son’s Therapists

(Editor’s Note: This article was provided by Judy Young and is part of Cooper’s, ‘I’m Thankful For You’ Campaign.) I would like to honor and thank my son’s speech therapist, Danielle Cupryk-Novascone and his occupational therapist, Julie Morrow.  I couldn’t pick just one of them.  They’re a team! A bit about our family and our autism journey. My name is Judy Young.  My husband, Bill Young, and I live in Independence, Missouri, with our six year old Billy.  Billy was diagnosed with Autism in April.  His social and language delays…

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Walking the Fine Line of Hope and Giving Up

When Cooper was little and his quirks were just starting to show I silently blamed myself. I’d tell people I didn’t but I really did. I never believed the whole autism and vaccination correlation. Cooper was different since the day he was born. Deep down I knew right away. At that time I silently doubted everything I had done while pregnant. Maybe I ate the wrong things. For a hot minute I thought maybe I used too much bug spray or even used to much hand sanitizer. And then when…

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The Right Side of Age 4

Lately, I have been getting involved with a lot with other Apraxia moms both through Facebook and blogs. I have seen an increase in questions having to do with kids being nonverbal for their whole lives. I know I’ve mentioned on here before that one of the hardest moments of my life was when I realized that some kids don’t talk. Click HERE to read that post. Cooper has always been so vocal and so loud it never crossed my mind that he wouldn’t talk. When I learned that nonverbal was a…

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Just A Little Ole 'H' Sound

I have some exciting news from yesterday. This is so subtle that I truly don’t believe anyone would have ever noticed it but me. And I made Cooper repeat the action so I could make sure it was real. We were reading book number 4 before bed last night. It was this big book about Sesame Street. Lots of colors and pictures and actions. Per the usual, I ask Cooper to point to different things. ‘Cooper, where is the red balloon? Where is the blue car? And so on.’ I…

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