Posts Tagged ‘nonverbal autism’
The Gift of Communication
I fell this morning. Like a legit fall. I bounced back up quick but I knew I had hurt my knee. I pulled up my pant leg and sure enough a huge bruise was already forming. I’ll also admit my ego was a bit bruised too. Falling. So embarrassing! Thankfully, no one saw me. Or so I thought. Minutes ago I heard a familiar sound coming from my son’s iPad. The Daniel Tiger episode where Miss Elaina gets hurt. I watched Cooper, sitting cross legged on the ground, move his…
Read MoreI Needed to Change
Excerpt from the final chapter (my favorite) of Forever Boy: The words from the professionals ran through my head. ‘Your child will never talk, ride a bike or make a friend.’ ‘Your child has the most severe case of autism I have ever seen.’ ‘If a child doesn’t speak by age four then game over.’ When we reached the end of the road, which happened way earlier than I thought it ever would have, I said no more. The world, society, me…we were all trying to make Cooper into something…
Read MoreThe Story of Us
There is no better photo to share 2 days before Forever Boy is available for everyone. Because it’s a story of a boy. Of a family. Of me. And it’s about autism. But it’s so much more. It’s a story of hope. Hard work. Resilience. Dedication. Love. The story starts before Cooper was diagnosed. The beginning of us. Our marriage. Miscarriage. And then our blonde haired boy. And the confusing years. Then the hard years. Years where we couldn’t leave our house. And we didn’t sleep. And we felt alone…
Read MoreOur Autism Life
Let me tell you about a boy I know…His name is Cooper. He’s the one on the right. Today, we celebrated him. And we also celebrated his brothers. And our family. And how autism is woven throughout all of us. Impacting each of us in different ways. We had a party too. We had ice cream and sprinkles and chocolate syrup and cupcakes. And we celebrated this boy. The one who was born seeing and hearing and feeling and thinking in his own unique way. Some people tried to tell…
Read MoreMy Son, Thank You for Teaching Me
My son, On this eve of April, Autism Awareness and Acceptance month, I want to tell you how proud I am of you. I want to thank you for teaching me, our family, and even the world about autism. I want to thank you for being patient with me as I settled into this unique life. I want to thank you for being brave, determined and for being yourself. You are more yourself than any other person I have ever met. I want to thank you for trying. For letting…
Read MoreA few Simple Ways to Support Autistic Individuals and Their Families
April is Autism Awareness/Acceptance month. Here are a few simple ways to support autistic individuals and their families: 6. Reach out – Whether it to be a friend or family member or neighbor who lives down the street. Reach out. Say hi. Get to know them. And even if right now you say you don’t know anyone who has a child on the spectrum, you do. Family member, friend, neighbor, co-worker, school peer. We are out here. Get to know us. Ask questions. 5. Invite – I don’t know why…
Read MoreSeeing Autism Through Your Eyes
I don’t think about autism really. Not anymore. Or about my son being different than his peers. He doesn’t have a label at home. Or even a diagnosis. We don’t speak in clinical talk or point out how he is different from other 11 year old kids. He is Cooper. He is not autistic Cooper. He is not nonverbal Cooper. He is himself. Perfectly made and one of my four kids. I think that’s the beautiful part that comes with settling into a lifelong diagnosis. In the beginning, the differences…
Read MoreWe are Celebrating Our Kids
A few days ago, someone said to a friend of mine, who has an autistic son so similar to Cooper that you’d think they were brothers, that her posts about her son were negative. She was upset of course. She didn’t feel like she was being negative. She thought she was just sharing their life. And him. And in fact, she celebrates her son much like I do Coops. I told her my hunch. That people looking in ‘think’ we are being negative when we share because our kids do…
Read MoreIs He Happy?
‘Everyone has a different idea of what happiness looks like.’ Is my son happy? I think about that a lot. As do many parents of children who struggle to communicate. Who can’t show us. For a lot of years I honestly didn’t know the answer to that question. At age 5 my son didn’t laugh or smile much. He didn’t enjoy leaving our house. At home, he isolated himself a lot. He didn’t play or interact really. He was full of anxiety, only we didn’t know because anytime we asked…
Read MoreLoving Him Through His Hard
My sweet boy is having a sad night and he is unable to tell us why. We are doing everything we can to figure out the why and the what but no luck so far. It’s the hardest part of nonverbal/nonspeaking for me as a parent so I can’t even imagine how hard it is for him. Does he not feel well? Does something hurt? Is he getting sick? Is he scared? Worried? Sad? Does he miss someone? Was someone mean to him? There are a million and one questions…
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