Posts Tagged ‘Special Needs Parenting’
This is Our Autism
Some kids never follow the beaten path… Whether it’s from birth or from a later date, some kids don’t follow the beaten path. They don’t meet milestones on time. They don’t follow the norm. They don’t do what every other kids is seemingly doing. My son Cooper is that way. He takes note of what he is ‘supposed’ to do and does the opposite. Some people call him a free spirit. Some call him stubborn. Even challenging. Autistic, disabled, special needs…all words thrown in. It’s hard sometimes. I won’t lie…
Read MoreMy Favorite Thing About You
My son, Today is the first day of summer vacation for you. You are 9 and yesterday was your last day of third grade. On the walk to the car after your day, not one minute into summer, you said, I’m a fourth grader now. You have always wanted to be older. Bigger. Faster. You have never had time for little kid stuff. I’ve noticed as we’ve entered these in-between years, parenting is getting a bit more confusing. I find myself questioning myself a lot. Wondering if I’m doing the…
Read MoreTeachers, Thank You and I’m Sorry
I saw a post this morning shared by the amazing Jacalyn Wetzel that said something like… ‘Almost zero active shooter drills take into account disabled children.’ I paused when I saw it. I read it again and again. I don’t know if it’s true or not. I guess I’ve never researched the subject. But what I do know is that my son could not hide. Or stay quiet. He could not play dead. He would not be able to think to cover his body with blood from a peer. He…
Read MoreHolidays are Hard for a Family Like Ours
I want to acknowledge how hard holidays like this one can be on a family with a member who has a disability. It’s important that we talk about it. Share what we need. Let the world know that we are trying but so often we just can’t. We try. We may fail. We don’t try. We feel left out. Sad. It’s hard. If we do go to the bbq, beach or party, we are usually near but far. We wander the perimeter. We sit in the car. We hide in…
Read MoreDiscover the Gift
If you’ve never met anyone like my son, you’re missing out. Discover the gift of knowing someone who has special needs or a disability or who is different. Do it today. They will open your eyes to a whole other world. One that looks like your own but isn’t. I promise you the word pity will vanish from your vocabulary too. And it will be exchanged with joy, resilience, and triumph. Get out of your bubble. Your comfort zone. Meet new people. See others unlike yourself. Different can feel scary.…
Read MoreLove Your Children
Today is my daughter’s first birthday. One year ago today, right about now, she decided to very dramatically and quickly join this world. A head full of white hair. So white that her whole birth team said they had never seen hair so white. She was perfect. She is perfect. Last night, as I watched the news I held her a little bit longer than usual before I laid her down. I pretended not to notice the time when my 9 year old snuck down to sit beside us. And…
Read MoreHe was Born Autistic
People ask me all the time about my son’s first signs of autism. For some children, it’s textbook. A quick google search returns a lack of or loss of words, struggles with eye contact, or lack of imaginative play. For other kids, the diagnosis doesn’t come so easy. It’s more complicated. Pages full of questions and checkboxes that parents agonize over. Waiting. Worrying. Wondering. I call it the in between space. For us, our sweet boy was born autistic. From the second he was placed in my arms I knew.…
Read MoreStand Still
I used to avoid feeling the worries and fears in my life. For a long time actually. I would run from them. And if they found me, I’d shove them way down deep inside. I’d do everything in my power to not feel them. Or to even stand still because that is when the feelings would find me. I made myself constantly busy. I never sat. I rarely slept. My showers were 2 minutes long. I’d blast the radio in the car. There was far too much too do. And…
Read MoreGrief is Love
Having a child with a disability is a million things. It’s unbelievable joy. It’s seeing and experiencing every single milestone. It’s happiness. It’s feeling the gut wrenching pain of watching them suffer. It’s finding your voice of advocacy. It’s seeing firsthand that bullying exists. It’s seeing resilience. It’s being turned inside out. It’s carrying a weight that most cannot see. It’s wanting to fight. And run. And hurt. And protect. And scream. It’s a million things. It’s so much. So much more. And tonight. For me. It was being 11…
Read MoreThe Best Things Take Time
I get asked a lot about the sibling dynamic in our autism world. It’s honestly probably one of the topics I am asked about the most. It’s also one of my favorites to share about. When Sawyer was 9 months old I watched him fall completely in love with his older brother Cooper. When he was 2, I watched him chase behind him, following as closely as he could only to be ignored. When he was 3 he asked me why his brother didn’t talk. When he was 4 he…
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