Autism Speaks . . . but does it speak for me?

Autism has been in the news a lot lately. Some of it’s good and some of it’s bad. Sometimes I studiously avoid news about autism because it forces me to think about things and face some realities that maybe I’d rather not deal with right now. And celebrating my 39th birthday today, I like to [...]

You say tomato, I say tomato. . .

This will be short and sweet. I pretty much detest the use of the word “retarded”. I imagine that those who use the word either a) don’t know anyone who has experienced the pain or stigma of mental illness/impairment or b) Just don’t care. I probably used the word when I was in grade school, [...]

Healthcare Reform for Autism

Having not written in this space since April, I sat down at my keyboard today prepared to write about my doubts that meaningful healthcare reform legislation for people with autism could be passed in the current political climate. Indeed, judging from the media coverage, I was beginning to doubt any meaningful reform for healthcare could [...]

What the Future Holds. . .

Albert Einstein once said, “I never worry about the future. It comes soon enough.” Some believe Einstein, with his quirky genius, was somewhere on the autism spectrum. It seems to have worked out okay for him. Many events have converged recently, making me think in a more serious and cautious way about our family’s future. [...]

Struggling. . .

Although I’m learning a lot from teaching my kids at home, I continue to try and find suitable programs for them, whether as an educational supplement or for socializing with and meeting other kids. I keep thinking there is a little gem out there that I’ve yet to uncover where all the progressive parents of [...]

What my kids are teaching me. . .

Since my husband and I made the (very difficult) decision that I would homeschool, there haven’t been many free minutes in the day. I’ve always wanted to be a teacher and always respected the profession, so much so that I didn’t think I would be capable of educating my sons with their different ages, needs [...]

Professor Mom.

In the back of my mind I probably knew it would come to this, but that doesn’t make it any easier. Faced with some pretty grim options, my husband and I decided that I will, at least temporarily, homeschool our three sons.
I’m not one of those parents that feels supremely confident in my teaching ability [...]

Priorities.

On Tuesday, I visited our public middle school’s autism program. My son Robert was placed in “autism programs” (self-contained autism classrooms) from the time he was diagnosed in 2001 at age 4 until we moved to Vancouver, BC at age 9. While in Vancouver, he was mainstreamed in typical classrooms with a 1-1 special education [...]

What am I going to do about it?

Yesterday I had two IEP meetings for my sons in their new Florida school. I met the director of the autism program, a very impressive woman from Massachusetts who has a doctorate in exceptional education. She said all the right things about the school’s program – they have a speech therapist who visits each class [...]

‘Warm Fuzzies’ and ‘Cold Pricklies’

My oldest son had one of the best kindergarten teachers in the world and she had a saying that encouraged the kids to use nice words when speaking to each other – to give ‘warm fuzzies’ instead of ‘cold pricklies’. It’s stuck with me all these years so I’ve decided to write about the things [...]