Posts Tagged ‘severe autism’
When Time Seems to Stand Still
I went for a walk tonight with my dogs. Like I try to do every night. It’s my sanity after long days. As I was walking I took note of four house being built down the road from mine. So much change. I let myself think about the house we moved into just a month ago and how I plan to live here the rest of my life. No joke. I’ve told Jamie he will have to carry my dead body out of here. I let myself think about our…
Read MoreTeaching Autistic Children to Read
We had our son Cooper’s ITP meeting on Thursday and this mama found out that her smart kid can spell hundreds of words. He’s even moved on from three letter words to four-five letter words. I about died of shock when he spelled green and blue. Looking back, I didn’t know if this would ever happen. And no one would look into their crystal ball and tell me if it was a possibility. If I could give advice to myself a year ago I would say don’t ever give up.…
Read MoreI am His Person and He is Mine
My son Cooper is always with me. Always in the same room. Always near me. We move throughout the house together. He’s my little shadow. Never doing what I’m doing. Just always near. He sits outside the bathroom door. He waits for my shower to be over. The kid that seems to be oblivious to almost everything knows where I am at all times. When I’m gone he asks for me. He waits on the porch. Or near the door. He asks for me with his speech device…’I want mom.’…
Read MoreThe Real Confessions of Special Needs Parents
Parenting is hard. I think we can all agree on that. You are raising a tiny little human from birth to adulthood without an instruction manual and silently praying they turn out sane and happy. Now imagine if that tiny little human has a diagnosis of some sort. Autism. Cerebral Palsy. Traumatic Brain Injury. The diagnosis could be physical, emotional or neurological. It could be obvious. Or maybe it’s invisible to the outside world. Scary right. You aren’t a doctor. Or a therapist or a physiologist. There is no instruction…
Read MoreA Letter to my Autistic Son
Dear sweet son, If you tell me why you fill my bathtub with stuff I will buy you a car. Or a real, life size, train car. Or all the Cheetos you could ever want. In fact, you name your price. I’ll buy it. I just need to know why emptying a shower of soap, shampoo and conditioner and walking it over to the bathtub makes so much sense to you. I want to know who you place each item so meticulously. I want to know why you are happiest…
Read MoreThe Power of an Extraordinary Mother
I had the honor of getting to know a family recently who has five adult children. The mother spoke in admiration as she told me that two of her son’s are doctors, one is a lawyer and one works in corporate finance. All four are married and have kids. And then there is Morgan. Their fifth. Their youngest. She is 27 and is autistic. She didn’t speak until she was five. She told me about the struggles early on. How she had to educate the schools. And navigate the system…
Read MoreSeeing the Words Severe Intellectual Disability
Intellectual Disability. Severe. With language impairment. Non-verbal. Limited functional language. It was a mouthful. We weren’t to the end of the meeting yet. You know the part where you learn the diagnosis. We had just started on the 25 page document. I skipped ahead though and read the words. I wanted to know the results of his IQ test. I saw the number. Suddenly, I felt a ringing in my ears. The therapist was talking. I could see her lips moving. However, I could not quite hear her. I was…
Read MoreMy Son Always Pointed
Last night Cooper requested that I sit on the front porch with him. Which I gladly agreed too. It’s not often that my little Energizer Bunny asks me to sit with him. As he meticulously lined up his treasures around us he noticed the trucks and bulldozers that were working in the field behind our house. He immediately squealed in delight, pointed, and turned my cheek. He was in awe. And felt that I should be just as excited as he was. He climbed up on my lap and snuggled…
Read MoreShielding My Autistic Son from Cruelty
My name is Amy and I live with my husband and son in Michigan. Our son Travis has severe autism with limited verbal ability. Travis is 11 and is very active! He is the center of the universe, and if you were unaware of this, he will use his super powers to convince you otherwise. Yesterday, we took him bowling. He was having so much fun. When he is excited and happy he squeals joyfully, and kind of side walks, very energetically. This is very typical behavior for him. It…
Read MoreLooking Past Autism
Funny how in 2005, the word hope became the name of our beautiful baby girl. The simple 4-letter word was selected by my husband. He thought “we hope she sleeps,” after our first-born son loved to dance the night fandango and keep us up throughout his 18-month existence prior to his sister being born. Hope back then was based on the fact we were both working parents and how would we survive on very little sleep and get through our days? Four children later and the word dope has many…
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