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 […]
Editor’s note: I wrote this post after talking with my son about his anxiety during this complicated time. Now You Know Do you try and go to bed, but your brain is making small fast circles and you stare at the ceiling while your heart beats wildly? You chase sleep like the wind, but you […]
You and I, we are about to begin a short journey together. A journey where you read what I’ve typed and I sit back on my heels, all folded hands and closed eyes, and hope you find a piece of yourself inside my words. Let’s start with the details, shall we? My name is Carrie. […]