5 Comments

  1. Jes Grey-Haegler
    August 1, 2016 @ 12:46 pm

    With every entry I am inspired by your big soft heart, your love for you children and all that has come with being a mom. You are stronger than you think, you are wiser than you feel, and you will conquer every wall that is put up in front of you. To know you is to feel you words of honesty, compassion, and wisdom that come from each strike of a key. Thank you for allowing me to see the inside of the life of you. HUGS!

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  2. bethany Kays
    August 1, 2016 @ 12:51 pm

    This was so touching.

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  3. GP
    August 1, 2016 @ 1:09 pm

    At my child’s therapeutic summer camp, several children who are on the spectrum go to camp with their neurotypical siblings. Not sure if Jack’s siblings go to camp, but if they are not, you may want to consider sending them to camp as well, even if it is not the same camp and even if it is just one sibling at a time. I know I would have felt very, very left out if my siblings got to stay home with mom while I had to get up early and leave for camp every day.

    It also sounds like he has started to associate “autism” with negative emotions. I wonder if it would help him if you moved the emphasis on specific things he needs to learn or do because he is Jack and because well, everybody needs to learn and work on self-improvement, autism or not. A chart with a few self-improvement goals for siblings and parents may help him realize that we all have things to learn and room to grow. It may help take the focus off autism and redirect him towards moving forward. Charts like that are nice because they can be a great tool for teaching problem-solving skills and for empowering one’s children to take charge of their own challenges. It would be important to also list each person’s greatest strengths so that the children learn and internalize that they have many strengths to be proud off.

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  4. childshould
    August 1, 2016 @ 4:50 pm

    So this is beautiful and now I’m crying. I have blog-stalked you for a while, checking in to your posts now and then. I have always thought you were one of the best writers out there doing this autism-parent-blog thing. Now that I have finally started my own autism-mommy blog, I’m happy to connect with you. Thanks for writing! -Katie Read, http://www.childshould.com

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  5. Tammy McVey
    August 2, 2016 @ 1:21 am

    I loved this because….sometimes its hard to love our spouse when they are stumbling or are going a complete different direction because we look at autism differently. The other day Nash and I had a big stupid argument but still had to deal with each other because we had to go to a store. He was doing really well and while at the check out line I asked where he left autism. He smiled but didn’t answer because that is a question that takes more than he can give…except a smile. I said did you leave him in the produce department with Mark? Or the yogurt aisle with Steve? Or in the car so he can just deal with the heat? Nash then said….he stayed at home. I high fived him and thanked him for leaving autism in the car. And then we giggled…we hate autism.

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