Eight years ago, I was diagnosed with Autism Level 1. For a while, that label fit. It made sense. It explained the parts of me I didn’t understand, the struggles I’d…
parenting
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5 Things I wish people understood about profound autism 1. Communication isn’t just words. Many individuals with profound autism are nonverbal, but that doesn’t mean they don’t have a voice. Communication…
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Welcome to the mind of the mother of a child with profound autism I’m scared I’m not good enough to parent a child with profound autism. I’m terrified I’m failing. Terrified…
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True ableism isn’t in sharing the struggles tied to autism; it’s in pretending those struggles don’t exist. Why the need to argue that a disabled person is only disabled because of…
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Dear Charlie, Today should have been your first day of 6th grade. The start of middle school—a big milestone. But for you, today is different. Not quite what most people imagine;…
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Two things we don’t talk about enough are the anxiety that comes with your nonverbal child being sick and the lack of autism training in healthcare providers. I don’t know when…
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A few days ago, I shared Charlie’s ABA center’s decision to discharge him from ABA Therapy for not meeting the 80% recommended hours of clinical recommendation. I had known about the…
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This is the story of how Charlie was, for lack of a better term, kicked out from ABA Therapy. I’m going to do something I rarely do and speak negatively about…
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I’m a mother on the autism spectrum raising two children with autism, one with Level 1 Autism and one with Level 3 Autism. I’ve been enjoying giving talks all over the…
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An article was recently published about ABA Therapy in The New Yorker, and though it attempted to be balanced, there were many issues with it. Who am I to speak on…
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When I was pregnant with my firstborn, Charlie, I daydreamed about motherhood. I pictured Charlie as a child sitting beside me outside at sunset, debating which Pokémon is a better starter…
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To the parents awaiting services or evaluations for their autistic kiddo…I’m thinking of you. To the mom, overwhelmed that health insurance went up again…you’re not alone. To the autistic person, drained…