As promised, I am over guest posting today on Amy Julia Becker's blog Thin Places about autism, invisible disability and acceptance. And here's your teaser... My son Austen* looks like most nine-year-olds, except perhaps a bit taller, with long legs that carry him swiftly across the ground as he races you to the car or [...]
Posts under ‘special needs children’
Carry that Weight
Image credit: Photo by Nena B. on Flickr Licensed under Creative Commons A few months ago, Mark and I took the kids to a "sensory friendly" movie showing. Autistic individuals, and others with sensory processing difficulties, can find a typical movie going experience overwhelming. Movies are loud. Theaters are dark and often crowded. The screen [...]
Worry Brain
Image credit: Art by hellvet2000 on Flickr Licensed under Creative Commons "Worry Brain, your mama's so ugly, she makes onions cry!" I found myself saying after I got off the phone with my husband. I had to hang up the phone because I'd burst into tears, and now I was trying to beat back the [...]
The Leisurely Life of a Stay-at-Home Mom
Image credit: Art by georgia.g on Flickr Licensed under Creative Commons When my son was first born, I actually spent some time doing that thing that we stay-at-home moms supposedly spend our lazy, bon-bon eating days doing: I watched television. Now, I know, folks who haven't actually been stay-at-home parents to a colicky infant -- [...]
Training Babysitters to Watch a Special Needs Child
Image credit: Photo by Swiv on Flickr Licensed under Creative Commons Just as we've found a method that works for us for finding childcare for our son Austen, who is autistic, we've (slowly) developed a method for training our sitters so that the visit goes as smoothly as possible both for our children and the [...]
Finding a Babysitter for a Special Needs Child
Image credit: Photo by kandyjaxx on Flickr Licensed under Creative Commons When my son Austen was two, my husband disclosed his addiction and spent a morning on the phone desperately looking for a marriage therapist willing to see us on a weekend. But once we had that appointment, having no family nearby, we had to [...]
Alex Barton’s Tie Dye Project
Image credit: Photo by mobilene on Flickr Licensed under Creative Commons It's been a while since I've posted an update about the case of Alex Barton. Alex, who has been diagnosed with Asperger's (a form of autism), was voted out of his kindergarten class last spring after his teacher, Wendy Portillo, became frustrated with his [...]
If Your Child Doesn’t Just Eat…
Image credit: Photo by Proggie on Flickr Licensed under Creative Commons I started my day off on Tuesday by reading Lisa Belkin's reflections on what she's learned in the eighteen years of parenting since her son's birth. I thought, "Wow, that was lovely and touching and resonated with me in so many ways, I can't [...]
Diversity, With or Without Wheels
Over the years, I've watched a lot of children's television (some of it educational and some not so much). Many of these shows have the admirable goal of helping children learn about the diverse people who make up our world. Unfortunately, I've noticed (in my informal, unscientific survey of what my kids enjoy watching) that [...]
The Missing Shoe
Image credit: Photo by malik ml williams on Flickr Licensed under Creative Commons We faced a major crisis recently: I couldn't find one of my son's shoes. And his shoe was not just missing, but missing at the worst possible time: moments before the bus was due to arrive. Now, it's not that Austen doesn't [...]
