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 […]
Today was a long day. Today, I felt the sting of tears more than once. Today, autism won. My son Jack was out of sorts all day, you see. He kept asking the same questions over and over about COVID and I tried everything—answering him, redirecting him, telling him we would be okay. When he […]
I have landed in a strange land. The people here are very odd. For starters, they won’t stop looking in my eyes when they talk to me. They connect their gaze with mine and hold it until I look away. It’s creepy. They touch my arm, and ask me many questions. Jack! Buddy! Are you […]
Season’s greetings, friends and family! I am happy to report that, despite the challenges 2020 handed us, the Cariello family had a wonderful year. My husband Joe and I are doing well, and all five kids are happy, and healthy. Quarantine was a great opportunity to spend some real quality time together. We played lots […]
Forever Mother [ for·ev·er moth·er ]: a mother who will spend the rest of her life taking care of her child’s day-to-day financial and health care needs. She will arrange appointments, oversee medical care, and manage bank accounts long into his adulthood. I’m not sure when I started to think of myself this way. I guess it was […]
My name is Carrie, and I am raising a son with autism. It is exactly nothing and everything I ever imagined. The truth is, I’ve wished for a crystal ball ever since my son Jack was a toddler. I desperately wanted to see into his future. Would he speak in sentences? Would he be able […]