When I was approached about being involved with a new website called 5 Minutes for Special Needs, I was excited and a bit nervous. Now that the time has come for us to put ourselves out there, I am extremely excited and even more terrified nervous! So who am I and what brings me here? Well, my name is Trish and I am a 30-something woman who, like all of you, wears many different hats: I am a wife, a mom, a friend, a Christian, a part-time employee, a blogger, a reader, an advocate and cheerleader for my son. I was born and raised in the Midwest but, after meeting a guy from Pennsylvania in college and later marrying him, moved out east and ended up living in south central Pennsylvania.
I have been on this journey with special needs for over six years (since my son was born), although I didn’t know it until 3 1/2 years ago. My son was just 3 months shy of his 3rd birthday when he was diagnosed with autism by a developmental pediatrician. Up until that time, I had been pretty sure that I just wasn’t a very good mommy because it was so difficult to figure out what he wanted or to get him to communicate with me. In fact, I remember asking a few of my friends how they had taught their children to roll a ball back and forth or to play with a toy car or truck the right way. Of course, they had no idea how they had done it – it had just happened naturally.
A referral from our pediatrician to Early Intervention brought us to a place where we could receive some help for our son and some answers for us. We are so thankful for all the encouragement and support we have received, not only from our families, our friends and our church, but also from the many wonderful professionals and parents of special needs children we have met since then. In a few weeks, he will be starting kindergarten at our neighborhood school where he will be in a regular classroom with learning and behavioral support.
I began blogging in January of this year and quickly realized that I loved it. I have been especially blessed to find so many amazing parents and professionals from the special needs community online, and the opportunity to connect and share with others is why I am so thrilled to become a part of this team. While by no means an expert on disabilities, I sincerely hope my personal experiences will contribute to this site being a place where we can all come for support, insight and inspiration.
In addition to writing a general post on Fridays, I will be hosting a column called “Try This Tuesday.” This weekly meme will provide an opportunity for all of us to share the solutions we have found to make things go more smoothly for our kids and our families. I hope you will participate by posting your own ideas to try!
Please feel free to contact me at wheresthebox[at]gmail[dot]com or visit my blog, Another Piece of the Puzzle, anytime. I look forward to meeting you all!
