For the most part the child’s language seems pretty typical now, but every once in a while something pops up that just highlights how differently she processes words. The exchange yesterday between the child (age 7) and her little sister (age 3) went something like this… 7 yo: “You Dare!” 3 yo: “I’m not a…
Category Archives: PDD
Complacent?
I scrambled up the hill to my daughter’s “old school” to pick up my son from his “new class.” My daughter attended this school from Early Intervention through Kindergarten before being moved to our neighborhood school for first grade. I know most of the Early Intervention staff pretty well, and I know the IEP process…
Friendship Road
Since we’re walking through another season of learning curve, this time related to my mother-in-law’s needs, I have been realizing again the importance of friends…and not just any friends, but friends who really know what you are going through. For us, this is not just people who have taken care of an aging parent, but…
How to Handle a Fluke…
I arrived a few minutes before the bell that ends the school day. I realized that one of my friends was trying to get my attention and directing my gaze down the outdoor corridor outside my daughter’s classroom. I saw my daughter walking toward me with another friend of mine – fortunately one that has…
Mildly Concerned
I’ve just about decided I don’t like the word mild – except as it relates to cheddar cheese and salsa. Mild should come with a warning label… I believe I recognized the signs of “mild” cognitive decline due to dementia in my mother-in-law a couple of years ago. Although I did what I could to…
Just Venting…
For the first time since writing for 5 Minutes for Special Needs I am at a bit of a loss of what to write. Often I know days in advance what I will write, and it becomes a finely crafted piece before I hit publish. Usually at some point on Tuesday inspiration will strike and…
My Angel
I knew that my body was giving everything to this little person growing inside me. I knew my life would never be the same; that our lives would never be the same. There were no words to express the happiness I knew my belly contained. I knew that this little being was my angel; my…
Are Autism Adocates Doing It Right?
Is it possible that many parents NOT involved with Autism know that April is Autism Awareness? Do the circles run so wide as to pass ramblings of projects, awareness, the push for understanding and acceptance for those living with Autism or the discontent with influential sources’ lack of attention to the month trickle into groups…
Autism Superpowers
When Luke was first learning to understand his autism (and his, brother’s) he came up with his own explanation of how it worked. We explained to him that everyone had sensory issues, or had something they were afraid of or something that bothered them. He decided that everyone had autism, except that some people had…
Reports from Inside the Sandwich
It’s hard to say when, exactly, we became members of the “sandwich generation.” If I had to guess I would say it started around the time that my husband flew to his mother’s home in order to drive her back to our home so that she could meet our twins. This was about six months…