“What’s the big deal? He can come home and work for the summer,” she said breezily. The room was noisy. I was trying to balance a plate in my hand. Bon Jovi played weakly over the speakers. I’d just confided in this woman—a stranger, really—that my son Jack is struggling in his college program. He […]
What did you think when he walked in for his appointment? Maybe you saw a tall boy with glasses and thought nothing about it at all. Then he rubbed his hands together fast, like he’s warming up at a campfire. Or he hopped from one foot to the other, trying to regulate his nervous system. […]
Just be normal. Have fun. Make friends. Laugh at other people’s jokes. What if I can’t, he asked. Try harder, they answered. Try bigger. Try with everything you have. I am trying. I am all the time trying. Be like us. Say hello when someone talks to you. Shake hands. Hug people good-bye. What if hugging […]
I had the son who bit the teacher. I had the son who couldn’t wait in line at the zoo, or sit through a meal in a restaurant, or play tag at recess. I had the son who slept fitfully and woke at dawn. I had the son people stared at in the grocery store. […]
Lately, when it comes to our son and his autism, we are not, as they say, on the same page. I mean, it’s not like we haven’t been here before. Typically I latch onto an idea—integrated preschool, music therapy—and you don’t say much. You nod your head and I take that as agreement. Except we aren’t […]
My son Jack has autism. He is seventeen years old. Autism affects the way he eats, sleeps, thinks, and learns. He gets agitated if there’s too much static on the radio and he doesn’t like hugs and he hates the beach. When it comes to what causes autism, I’m pretty sure I have heard it […]
It’s late autumn in New Hampshire right now. The leaves are alive with color, but slowly, over the coming weeks, they will drift to the earth’s floor, and the trees will stand bare and empty. It’s late autumn, yet all I can think about is a green and tender May. You see, my son Jack […]
Let me tell you about my son. His name is Jack. He is seventeen years old. He wears glasses and he likes the color blue. He almost always orders a cheeseburger when we go out to eat and he is very, very specific about no lettuce or tomato. He has autism. Autism affects the way […]
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 […]
To be clear, I did not go to medical school. I am not a doctor. I’ve never even played one on television. I am not educated in the world of neuroscience, or brain development, or psychology. Hi. My name is Carrie. I am a forty-five-almost-forty-six year old housewife with five kids. My husband Joe is […]