Lord, do I complain. I throw myself pity parties. I wish life was a bit different for all of us. I’m not a saint. But then, there are moments when he’s crawled into my bed and wrapped his arm around my neck and is twirling my hair and muttering, “Mom. Mom. Mom”. And I know […]
I was actually able to ask the evaluator years later, why she had diagnosed him with PDD-NOS instead of Autism and she said it was because how connected he was to me. Because he cuddled with me, made eye contact with me, craved my social presence, and shared his world with me she didn’t think he met the textbook diagnosis of Autism.
Here’s the thing. That is a myth.
Last Friday, I sat in the DMV with my ticket in one hand and the form filled out by Brian’s doctor in November for a handicap placard in the other. Two months ago I was sitting in the pediatrician’s office, recapping Brian’s recent behavioral aggression. I told him how he had tried to bolt in […]
The Occupational Therapy Framework, which I had to memorize by heart as a college student, breaks down our lives into seven occupations. The goal at mind is to find happiness, independence, and balance between the seven occupations: Activities of Daily Living (ADLs) Instruments of Daily Living (IADLs) Rest & Sleep Education Work Play Leisure Social […]
We had a whole slew of errands to get through this morning and it’s not always easy to make a lot of stops with Brian in tow as transitions are very tricky for him. He started fussing after the third stop so like any great Mom, I bribed him and his brother with some fast food […]
It’s hard to explain Brian’s language capabilities to people who don’t know him or know autism. You can’t hold a conversation with him very often and he usually can’t answer most questions. The professionals label him “functionally nonverbal”, as he has a huge vocabulary of words but he doesn’t communicate with them. However, he […]
This week my son got a hold of a huge bottle of hair spray. And I mean HUGE. Mama is trying to grow out her bangs so hair spray has become a necessity. He sprayed it all over the bathroom until it was empty. It was a wonderful thing to come home to a sticky, hard […]
As it goes with these ugly truth posts, I wrote this in an emotional fever. Not even going back to edit it. And then it sat in my drafts, me too scared to hit “Publish”, too scared to really share the emotions that go with this gig. Me going back and rereading it over and over again- can I share this? Can I put myself out there? And then I always get that nagging thought- “You are not alone. There’s so many families out there in this same exact position. 1 in freaking 45 families according to the newest data. Other people need to know they are not alone too. That’s why you started blogging.” So here it is. Straight from my diary.
Today was a terrible, no-good autism day. I had my emotional breakdown this morning so I’m not going to relive it and write about it. Plus, I’ve done that before. But, I did leave work early to be home with my boy, as he did not seem to be in a place to be able […]
Last night, Brian had a Code Red meltdown in the middle of the middle school lobby. Lots of people saw it. They probably saw a Mom looking incredibly cool under a ton of pressure. A mom that stayed quiet and calm and who helped him work through it. And after I got asked the inevitable, […]
