Life after loss with autism, preemies and a rainbow baby
Today is the official day of the End the R word campaign. There is a story I could share about how this word was directed towards someone I love dearly. But I won’t. I heard what was muttered and the person it was directed towards did not. Putting it in print will not help either […]
I have been worried about this day for a long time. I have watched the bagger at our local grocery store and complained to the store manager when the cashier barked at him to move faster. I’ve talked to the ticket-taker at our movie theater about her nail polish and waited as she told me […]
I remember the day I found out she was not sitting on The Story Mat. Inhaling deeply and channeling patience, concentrating on not pounding the floor as I marched to confront an inflexible kindergarten teacher. The “classroom rule” stated that you could only sit on The Story Mat “if you were able to put on […]
Today I am over at Practical Parenting discussing the basics of autism and how to engage with individuals with special needs. We’ve all been there on one side or the other. Either we have a special needs child and are worried about how the rest of the world will react to their behaviors, or we […]
Lately it seems that I have been surrounded by people whose children are newly diagnosed with autism. Talking them through the days ahead brings back memories of what it was like for us. Autism is an all-consuming disorder and when your children are young and you are dredging your way through those early years, wondering […]
Right now? A piece of Ashlyn’s journey through autism is posted here at Parents.com. I am overwhelmed at the thought that so many are reading about my daughter today. If this is your first time visiting, here are a few other posts about our life with autism: My One– an interview with Ashlyn about what […]
April is Autism Awareness month. I could not be more honored to share a very special interview here today. My daughter, an amazing, beautiful teenager, who just so happens to have autism, shares her thoughts… What does it feel like to have autism? Strange. It feels like you can’t do everything that you want to […]
They knocked on her door. She let them in. Little eyes peering through the crack, they knew what was in there. All four feet of its ghastly ugliness, screaming when’s the next trash day? Ribbons of sea water blue twisted with dingy pale and streaks of salmon. Together with eyes of, well, of a gigantic […]
I still struggle with my decision to let Ashlyn be manager of the girls’ high school soccer team. I pick her up every afternoon from practice, still holding my breath a bit, hoping that practice went well and that the girls were kind. Kind and teenager girls do not normally go together. After practice the […]
Dear Mom Clique at Library Story Time, Did you notice we were not there today? Probably not. Actually maybe you did since last week I happened to be the only parent holding the markers, meant for name tags, over my head and out of my three year old’s reach, while simultaneously blocking the doorway with […]
