Charlie. For you will start. To drive soon. Yes, Jack. That’s true. People ask me all the time what it’s like to have a child with autism. What is it like? To have a boy like my son Jack? I never, for one moment, forget he has it. Autism is the tympani of my background—the drumbeat […]
I wanted to hug you tonight. I saw you walk in the door and I tried my best to smile. But I just couldn’t bring myself to reach for you. I can’t explain why. After all, we embraced this morning. It was light, and easy. It suggested a good day ahead. The problem is, a […]
When my son Jack was eight, he was terrified of the wind chill factor. He worried about it constantly. He checked the weather on my phone, and obsessed about the temperature, and cried before school in the morning. You see, Jack has autism. He struggles with regulation and social inferences and filtering his thoughts. Also, […]
Hi. My name is Carrie. I have five kids. My second son has autism. His name is Jack. He is sixteen. My story is not a new story. It is neither original, nor untold. My story is, quite simply, an account of a bewildered mother trying to enjoy the moment in front of her, with […]
Every year, one out of fifty-nine children are diagnosed with autism. And behind each child—behind the meltdowns and the therapies and the meetings—stands an advocate. We stand in the shadows, you see. We are the social story-tellers, and the paperwork-doers, and the appointment-makers. My son Jack was diagnosed with autism in 2005. He was a […]
Editor’s note: As a mother raising a child with autism, I have spent countless hours trying to understand the way he thinks, learns, and communicates. I wrote this piece based on conversations with him. Here is me. I am Jack. Here is me, and here is my autism. I am a boy and a diagnosis […]
The other night my son Jack laughed out loud. It was the kind of laugh that takes up space, and fills the room. It makes you think of the color orange, or the first time you rode a roller coaster. At a glance, this probably doesn’t seem like a big deal. After all, Jack is […]
Hi. My name is Carrie. I am married to a man named Joe, and we have five kids. Our second child, Jack, is diagnosed with autism. He is sixteen years old. We spend a lot of time working on open-ended questions with Jack: who, what, where, when, and why. Who is your favorite teacher? What would you like for dinner? […]
Do you know who I am? I am funny-loud-big. At the same time, I am quiet. I am the month of April, and the favorite color blue. I am a number. A statistic. A stereotype. I am a slippery riddle—a puzzle piece on a car bumper, a black sentence upon white paper, a curious phenomenon. […]
My son Jack is diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder. He is sixteen. Jack’s had autism for his whole entire life. I believe he’ll have it forever. I have lived alongside autism for sixteen years now. For the most part, I’d say I have made peace with it. Yet lately, I have moments when I am […]