I’ve spent the last several hours sitting on my living room couch, pouring over photos of my children, my husband, my family and friends. My youngest son, Ian, turns 10 today, and nostalgia has filled up my heart and mind, as I struggle to accept how quickly time has passed, knowing it will continue to…
Even if He Asks for the Moon….
What do you do when your non-verbal special needs child uses his speech device (in Andrew’s case an iPad mini featuring Proloquo2Go) to make a very specific request first thing in the morning? Why, you change your plans, pack your crap, and reinforce the hell out of his amazing communication via miraculous technology! Yesterday morning…
Attitude Adjustment on Aisle 17
Trust me when I tell you that what came out of my mouth wasn’t at all what I truly wanted to say to her. But I was suspended in that fragile moment between trying to hold it together for the sake of my children and succumbing to the need to come apart at the seams,…
Hold On Mama. Hope is Here. (A Post Dedicated to an Autism Mommy “Desperate” to Hear Her Son’s Voice)
As a blogger, I like checking to see how people end up on my site using various search terms on Google (though some have me questioning topics I’ve covered here) but there’s one from today that particularly stands out and breaks my heart: “autism mommy desperate to hear child speak.” So, autism mommy, this one’s…
Thirty Seconds
The irony is not lost on me. Yesterday, while reading an AP article I was interviewed for about wandering and elopement among the autism community, I turned to my husband and asked that dreaded question: “Where’s Andrew?” We had been mere inches from him all morning, contained together in the close quarters of our living…
The Long Way is No Longer the Only Way
Until last Sunday afternoon, I hadn’t driven on a freeway in six years. Now, if I lived in rural Iowa, this wouldn’t be a big deal, or very surprising. But I happen to be a Southern California resident and around these parts our freeways are not unlike the veins in our bodies; we rely…
Outrunning Andrew: When Our Children with Autism Wander
Those beautiful eyes. That radiant smile. Hers could be his and as I stare at the photo of Mikaela Lynch, a beautiful little girl with autism who wandered from her family home on Mother’s Day last year and lost her life in a creek nearby, I think of all the near misses we’ve had with…