Posts Tagged ‘Special Needs Parenting’
Love and Marriage and Our Son
I have been married for twenty-one years. My husband Joe and I have five kids. Our second son has autism. He is fifteen. Now, I may not know much, but I do know children exert an extraordinary amount of pressure upon a marriage. They like teeny-tiny constriction workers, yielding jackhammers If you add one in who never sleeps, smears soap on the walls, and screams all day, well, that’s when things get really interesting. You is righteous. You are never home on time. You have to take care of the…
Read MoreWhat They Don’t See
They don’t see how much you are struggling just to enter a room full of people. They don’t see your mom cringing and scanning the room immediately for triggers or danger. They don’t see how bright the lights are or how loud the conversations can be to your beautiful brain. They don’t understand why you cover your ears, bite your shirt, or self injure because the anxiety is too much to handle and your meltdown is not a typical toddler meltdown and you don’t know how to self soothe. They…
Read MorePlease Remember the Kids Like My Daughter
I can’t catch my breath. Not because I’m sick. But because I’m scared. I know that this is a difficult time for all of us. I’m especially scared though for my daughter Liz and for other kids with special needs. And for their families. Liz’s therapy center is now closed indefinitely. No ABA, no speech therapy, no occupational therapy. I am scared that she will regress and lose much of the progress that she has made without access to these therapies. She has worked too hard and come too far…
Read MoreThe Unspeakable Word
If you are a parent like me with a child on the spectrum, chances are we both have something very unique in common. Something that most would think is a very simple thing to do, something that is just a part of life. But for us, it’s not. Do I dare say this forbidden word? I don’t know if I can handle to even whisper it…but here it is: “HAIRCUT”. Yes, there, I said it. This word in the Autism world for most is a very, very bad word and…
Read MoreThe Battle of the Winter Festival
You don’t get to choose when it comes to Autism. A meltdown can happen at any time…be it in the privacy of our home or in the middle of a hallway at an elementary school crowded with people attending the annual winter festival. We can do everything within our power to prepare for each different situation, but variables beyond our control always seem to find a way to slide into our path, and cause us to stumble. As a parent of a child with Autism when I hear events…
Read MoreSomeone Will Always Have it Harder
Many times in my life I have felt guilty for complaining. You know, because someone else has it harder. This happened a lot when I was in a bad place going through something hard in my life. Like divorce, being a single mom, the struggle with school (when having a child with gifts or special needs) becoming a step parent and blending families, and so many other situations that broke me or made me crumble for an hour, for a day or maybe more. But it wasn’t until I had…
Read MoreMom Asks ‘AITA’ For Not Making Daughter Invite Autistic Child To Her Party
Hi. My name is Carrie. I have five kids, and my second son is diagnosed with autism. He is fifteen years old, and his name is Jack. I write a lot about autism—how is affects me, and my family, and my son. Yet I rarely write about current events or news stories, unless it’s about a complicated kid making a buzzer-beater to win a basketball game at the last minute—that’s the kind of inspiring thing I can get behind, you know? Jack will never shoot a buzzer-beater during a game.…
Read MoreThe Aftermath of Sensory Overload
Sometimes I forget our lives don’t look like others. It’s probably a survival mechanism, and thinking about it, I’m grateful I have these moments where our lives feel normal to me. But to others? It’s far from typical, or expected, or usual. My son has had a lot of excitement over the past couple weeks. His fourth birthday party went so well, but it came at the cost of the aftermath. He actually handles changes in routine pretty well in moments – we’ve figured out how to help him navigate…
Read MoreJoin Coop’s Troops
When my son’s was diagnosed with autism at age 3, neither my husband nor I knew a child with autism. My husband and I were alone. We would say all the time…where are the families like ours? The ones who can’t leave the house? Where are the kids like Cooper? Where are the siblings like Sawyer? I searched for 8 years and never found them. So I created it. I would love to invite you to join Coop’s Troops, an online subscription group for parents of children and adults with…
Read MoreI Know People Watch Us
I know people watch us. I know because I see their faces dart away when I meet there eyes. What they don’t know is if they kept looking, if they met my eyes, they’d see I was smiling. They’d see that I was inviting them in our secret world. Cooper and I just went for our first walk of the year. It’s 45 degrees today in Minnesota. That’s practically summer for us. And also a temperature that Cooper has deemed warm enough to venture outside. Typically, it’s like pulling teeth…
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