Mom typing here… Everything my son had written before this was just a stream-of-consciousness exercise, followed by a few hours of editing. In an effort to get through the end of a homeschooling book on Middle School English at the beginning of summer, I found a chapter on composition, and used it to help him…
Category: Autism Treatments
Learning to Spell: Piecing Myself Together
The year spent working on the letterboard with my mom has been the best year of my life. I have allowed myself to be known. I have also gotten to know my mother as well. Before this journey began, I was locked up inside my head, looking for a way to show the world I…
How I Learned to Break Out of My Shell: an Autistic Boy’s Perspective on Communication
I learned to communicate on a letter board this year and it has changed my life in immeasurable ways. A letter board is a plastic stencil board with the alphabet on it that I touch to spell out my thoughts. Before this year, I was locked inside. I couldn’t express myself at all. I didn’t…
2021 is the Year I’m Getting to Know My 13 Year Old Son
TL;DR. My autistic son can now communicate with us while using a stenciled “letter board”. But we’re not at a Lifetime movie happy ending quite yet. Some people learned how to bake bread or grow their own food during the pandemic. Having given up city life to launch a farm in 2014, I had already…
The Treatment Conundrum
When autism parents meet each other for the first time, it’s pretty common to sniff each other’s butts–conversationally speaking–to determine what kind of autism parent the other one is. What treatments has the other pursued? Where do they fall on the vaccine debate? What do they think caused their child’s autism? Or do they not…
Our Time at the Horse Boy Ranch
Over Spring Break of this year, we went on an “epic road trip” (the use of the word epic usually makes me cringe, but in this case, I’m going to declare that it applies). To save money and to hit various spots along the way (including Birmingham, AL and New Orleans, LA), we drove from Washington,…
From the Autism SOP: Getting an EEG
I love my little boy. So much. He was UNBELIEVABLY tolerant and patient when he spent 24 hours at the hospital while enduring an overnight EEG test. This poor kid had to walk around with his head wrapped up like a mummy and weighted down by a box of EEG “shtuff”, while his entire body…
Different. But Equal?
I’m about to work out some thoughts on the Interwebs that I should probably just keep to myself. Because I’m sure that if anyone stumbles across these, I will surely receive a slew of comments accusing me of being “ableist” or “hateful” towards my son and all other Autistics out there. The fact is that…
Photojournalism Project – What Autism Looks Like in My Home
A lot of photographers participate in 365/52 projects, where somebody establishes a theme, and each participant then hunts around for images in their lives that illustrate what that theme means to them. I briefly thought about signing up for one of these projects. And then I thought about how crazy my life is, and how…
Unpredictability is the Worst Part
So I haven’t written much on here lately. The fact is, I’ve been incredibly depressed. Often angry. Sometimes in a rage that only somebody else with an autistic child could understand. And then back to being depressed. I’ve had nothing particularly incisive, witty or mind-blowing to write here. I don’t expect to always have unique…