Navigating life with a child on the autism spectrum often requires leaving outings and events after the bare minimum time spent. You see your child struggling — with the noise, the crowd, the group activity, with anything that falls outside their routine — and you exercise your predetermined escape plan. Sunday, Ryan and I left […]
Read more "A Day With Gang Green"One thing I’ve learned in a decade of parenting a child on the autism spectrum: You learn to anticipate, but you still never know what will throw your child off kilter. And nothing is ever truly in the past. I guess that’s more than one thing, but you get the point. You do your best […]
Read more "Wrenches – Big and Small"Ryan is a little over one month into a school year that has included some big changes: a new school, new teachers, new aide, switching classes for every subject, lockers, and the bus. Time for an update on a few things in school, and in life. Ryan has adjusted remarkably well. As we do every […]
Read more "Life – A Progress Report"Ryan engages in some quirky behaviors. These range from slightly odd to completely inappropriate. The latter call for a different response from me than the former, but they don’t always get one, and I find this one of the most vexing aspects of parenting a child on the autism spectrum. Here’s what makes it challenging: […]
Read more "For Him – Or for Me?"Sleep has never come easily for Ryan. To be more precise, staying asleep has never come easily. Over the years, we have figured out a routine — melatonin, bedtime reading, white noise, soothing music, weighted blanket — that usually gets Ryan to sleep rather quickly. But he wakes easily, and frequently (although much less often […]
Read more "Sleep, That Fickle Beast"
Pucks and Puzzle Pieces 