I vividly remember arguing with our first ABA therapist in the middle of our living room. It was 7 years ago. The emotional scars of our diagnosis were still fresh. I was holding it together… barely. I didn’t have the first clue what I was doing, but the boring, disciplined, clinical approach she was using ...
Right now, somewhere out there a Mom or Dad is desperately trying to redirect their ASD child from a burdensome fixation or obsession. They may be at their rope’s end trying to curb that obsession and break through to that mystical, elusive land of “typical play” or “age-appropriate interests”. I want to share a story. ...
So I’ve been doing this blogging thing for a couple years now. I am so appreciative to everyone who has taken the time to read my stuff. And it has been humbling to hear that the things I have written have helped a few people. My proudest moments are when I am told that I ...
“What Do You Say?” A friend of mine recently announced that he and his wife were expecting their first child. He explained that his wife was “worried sick” about the prospects of Autism. Another friend recently confided in me that he and his wife were beginning to “have concerns” that there might be issues with ...
I won’t… demand perfection. I will… demand your best effort. I won’t… excuse your misbehavior. I will… defend and advocate for you until my last breath. I won’t… abandon or ignore you in rough times. I will… give you room to succeed or fail on your own. I won’t… fight every battle for you. I ...
365 days ago I wrote my first blog post about my family’s journey with Autism. Throughout this year I have done a lot of soul searching. I have also begun to ask myself, “What if my son reads these things some day?” What message am I sending to my adult son who one day delves ...
Some have asked… others have whispered to friends and family (they think I don’t know)… Why do I do this? Why do I choose to open my life to the public so willfully and… so freaking much? The answers change depending on the day: Sometimes I just need to vent. I’m a very introverted person ...
Sometimes I fantasize about moving away with my family to a cabin in the mountains of Montana. I drift off and dream about unplugging my son from the daily pressures of society and artificial milestones and expectations that we all place on him. I ponder how nice it would be to just live on a ...
We were in the middle of one of those grinding it out periods. Eric was doing OK… not much new to report. School had just started and he transitioned back into the groove pretty well. My daughter came down with a mild eye infection that made her eyes slightly swollen and red. The doctor prescribed ...
I make a concerted effort to keep my posts positive, upbeat… even inspirational. The risk in that approach is giving the false impression that I’ve got it all together and have it all figured out. I have bad moments, days and weeks too. Believe me. And like I mentioned in a previous post, it sneaks up ...
