I just read a fantastic article in the Advocate, about a group of teens with autism who marched in a Mardi Gras parade in New Orleans this past Saturday. If you’ve ever been to New Orleans during Mardi Gras, then you know what an overwhelming experience it can be for anybody, let alone somebody with […]
Special needs parents know how difficult it can be to take their child to so many places that other parents don’t think twice about going to with their kids. This mom of James, a 10-year-old who’s been diagnosed with Down’s Syndrome and Autism, recently posted on her Facebook page the story of an outing with […]
I hate running. Although I was an athlete in my younger days, I always participated in sports where running, if present, was a secondary activity—i.e., in field hockey I could focus on keeping the ball away from the goal (I was defense), and not on the running involved to do it. I also swam, so […]
My children had a kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Lotano, who paraphrased Maya Angelou to us parents at every annual school Open House. She reminded us that, “Children will forget what you said, children will forget what you did, but children will never forget how you made them feel.” It’s a thought that has stuck with me […]
The recent disturbance by a child with autism at a play on Broadway has brought something to the public’s attention that many of us have known for years. It is difficult to take our children to cultural places and performances. Engagement with art and theater is important, however, as research shows. The ongoing addition of […]
Lana loves her brother Jack. After all, she taught him all about tickling. She learned from him that autism can be hard and “being different can mean you need a friend even more. As you can see from this fantastic video that 9 year-old Lana made, Jack may have autism but he isn’t alone. Crank […]
There’s this thing. It’s driving you crazy. It’s different for every child, of course, but whatever it is your child is fixated on it. Maybe it’s a favorite TV character or show, watched over and over and over. Maybe she just won’t…stop…sucking…her…hair… Maybe he keeps asking whywhywhywhywhywhywhy? You wake up each morning, ready to start […]
I am less than perfect. I have no difficulty admitting that although, I confess, it wasn’t always so easy. But parenting does that to you. Among other things, it continually smacks you in the face with the fact that there is so much you just don’t know (and never knew that you’d need to know), […]
Planning a special needs birthday party is really not that much different than planning a birthday party for a child without special needs. For either child you should take into account all of their likes and dislikes, with the goal of having as many of their favorite things and as few (if any) of the […]
Scrolling through my Twitter feed with a cup of coffee firmly in hand is the usual way I start my mornings (a benefit of working from home). This morning I stopped short at a tweet from @HopeandHaven in answer to somebody else. The other person appears to have a wide spectrum of disorders, including autism, […]