“Our story” – This is the story of my son’s journey THROUGH autism…yes you heard me. My son is now 22 and autistic-free! My son has been obsessed with cars, driving, and traveling since he was 3 years old! It is no wonder – as he and I have been on a bumpy, windy-curvy-twisted path since his diagnosis of moderate to severe (no language) autism at age 3 1/2. This is a journal I kept throughout our journey.
To purchase on Amazon:
“The central struggle of parenthood is to let our
hopes for our children outweigh our fears.”
(Ellen Goodman)
All children are unique and special! But some children come to us with a host of special needs outside of the typical needs and demands of raising children. They become our teachers, our guides and little gurus from which we learn much about love, patience and not giving up…and a whole host of things we did not even know we were capable of! Going through years of living with a child diagnosed with autism, my perspective on things and life radically changed. For instance, buzzing lights in a store became a ticking time bomb, and wind that had never seemed so threatening before determined if we could go outside or not. Taking a different route home could send my son into major meltdown and God forbid we couldn’t find his “no 1” car. Funny story about that. My son when finally verbal (two years into intensive therapy with me…1 1/2 hours three times a day…yikes!) cried incessantly about his “no one” car. We searched every where in the house, it was a trauma of magnetic proportions (if you have a special needs’ child…you KNOW what I am talking about here!). Finally, my daughter found a car under the couch. It had on the side, “No. 1” (of course…my literal son – why had I not thought of that!?)
These little bundles of surprises, energy and all-out enigmas stretch us, challenge us and require us to go into the depths with them into the unknown. Having “been there – done that” I understand and feel your challenges as a mother. Coming very soon: Parent chat forum…where we can share thoughts, ideas and hopefully encourage and inspire one another. Keep checking back…
“There are two ways of meeting difficulties: you alter the difficulties or you
alter the way you meet them.”
(Phyllis Bottome)
I will continually update this section to include tips, links, tools, toys etc. If you have something you believe would be helpful, please send it to me at lisa@monsterproofyourchild.com. I would be happy to post it here. For now, here are some links to some great resources…more to come…
Incredible tools for children on the spectrum:
The hardest part of raising a child is teaching them to ride bicycles. A shaky child on a bicycle for the first time needs both support and freedom. The realization that this is what the child will always need can hit hard.
— Sloan Wilson