The first time I went to an IEP meeting was in 2006. My son Jack had just been diagnosed with autism. He was barely two years old. I sat in a folding chair. I remember feeling nervous. I wasn’t sure where to put my hands. The room was stuffy. We flipped through the reports. We […]
Hi. My name is Carrie. I am married to a man named Joe and we have five children. Our second son, Jack, is diagnosed with autism. For as long as I can remember, I’ve cooked dinner. I cooked with small kids at my feet and babies on my hip. I stirred tomato sauce while toddlers […]
My son Jack has autism. He is seventeen. He doesn’t have the television kind of autism. He doesn’t know how to count cards in Vegas or solve medical mysteries in a busy hospital. He doesn’t paint masterpieces or write concertos. He has the regular old kind of autism with delayed communication, limited eye contact, rigidity, […]
Dear Jack, we regret to inform you that you are not a good fit for our program at this time. My son Jack was diagnosed with autism in 2005. He was eighteen months old. Aside from a documentary I’d once watched, and the movie Rain Man with Dustin Hoffman, I knew nothing about autism. Yet I had […]
I know I should have apologized today for my son Jack. I should have apologized for the way he didn’t answer when you asked him how old he is, or look up when you commented on his height. Still you packed our bags cheerfully—the new placemats and the scented candle. But I felt a tension […]
I have a son with autism. His name is Jack. He is seventeen. Every morning, I make Jack’s bed. I pull the sheets up tight. I smooth the blue plaid quilt and stack the pillows. I do it even though he is perfectly capable of doing it himself. I’m not even sure he notices, to […]
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 […]
Can you tell? When you see me ordering coffee, or mailing a package, or paying for gas, can you tell I’m a mother? I have five kids, ranging in ages twelve to eighteen. I have teenagers and one tween, and each one of them is funny and interesting and smart. Still, I miss my little […]
My son Jack has autism. He is seventeen years old. This May, Jack will wear a cap and gown, and graduate from high school. Life alongside autism is like a thrilling rollercoaster ride—heart soaring one moment, a pit in your stomach the next. I am so proud of him I could burst. And yet I […]