Posts Tagged ‘OCD’
Why Can’t You Be Normal?
Why can’t you be more, well, normal? Have fun for a change! Blow bubbles in the summer breeze and chase waves in the ocean and jump into big piles of autumn leaves. Make friends. Go to birthday parties and sleepovers and on camping trips. What if I can’t, he asked. Try harder, they answered. Try bigger. Try with everything you have. I am trying. I am all the time trying. Be a normal kid. Say hello when someone talks to you. Shake hands. Hug people good-bye. What if hugging makes…
Read MoreEverything I Prayed For
I’ve been called negative. Depressing. Dark. I’ve been accused of not loving my child. Of being weak. Of being a bad mom. All for saying severe autism is hard. And scary at times. I’ve spoke up. Spoke out. And refused to give up. And I’m here to say it’s paying off. This kid. This amazing, funny, smart, kid. He’s thriving people. Anti-anxiety medication and an amazing ABA team have helped him more than I can even put into words. But I’ll try. Because that’s what I do. He’s so happy.…
Read MoreI Feel Helpless at Times
I feel so helpless at times. I wasn’t prepared for that I guess. I am a strong mom. I know that for sure. I am a firm believer that all things can be fixed. If we just work hard enough. Never give up. No situation is helpless. That is what I preach. My son has autism. Or he is autistic. Whichever one you want me to say. I am also supposed to say it makes up who he is. He wouldn’t be him without autism. I think I am supposed…
Read MoreA Normal Breath
I was finally sitting on the couch with a cup of tea when my oldest daughter came downstairs. “Um, Mom, I just walked in on Ellie in the bathroom and she was holding poop in her hand.” Shit. Literally. So this is it, this is going to be the “next thing”. Our new challenge. A new behavior. A new reason to hold my breath. It is the day after Christmas and I feel as though I haven’t exhaled in the last 72 hours. I thought I could finally breathe normally.…
Read MoreWhere are you Christmas?
It’s the holiday season again. The time where we find the most perfect gifts for each other, bake and cook way too much food, and get to see the Christmas spirit through our children’s eyes. Except for some of us that Christmas spirit isn’t there. For some of us you see a social media update that looks “Christmasy” (is that a word?) but what it took to get that photo is another story. My son was diagnosed two years ago, almost three now. He has never understood the holiday but…
Read MoreControlling the Hoarding
A few days ago, Jamie and I spent the day, 10 hours to be exact, going through our son’s hoarding piles. We were absolutely shocked by the amount of stuff we found. Honestly, we had no idea it had gotten so out of control. We found piles under every bed, in every closet, under dressers, couches, bookshelves, entertainment centers and even the fridge. Almost every item was damaged and couldn’t be salvaged. By the time we were done we had thrown four garbage bags. In this video I touch on…
Read MoreLiving with Hoarding, OCD and Anxiety
Lately the stress of being home is wearing Jamie and I down. Our autistic son’s most challenging behaviors have really ramped up again. He is stimming on his Kindle, lining up objects, hoarding favorite items, tearing apart beds, destroying rooms, screaming, etc. T hese behaviors stem from anxiety. They also cause anxiety for everyone around him. I know this will pass. I know it will pass because it has before. But I also know that it will return. If we let our guard down for one second, leave doors unlocked,…
Read MoreHoarding and My Autistic Son (VIDEO)
Hoarding. It’s a very real behavior in our autism world. Take a peek at what our son hoards and the sheer amount. I have a feeling a lot of parents will relate, smile (and cry) at this one. Photos, DVD cases, DVD’s, VHS tapes, books, receipts, pieces of paper, etc. He gathers them all up and visually stims on them. And then once done, he chooses his favorite few, and the rest get stuffed behind dressers, entertainment centers and under beds and couches. Every Saturday I clean up his piles.…
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