Back From the Brink

Ryan was on the brink of a meltdown last night. The Florida Panthers had only two shots on goal after the first period of their game against the New York Rangers, putting them on pace for fewer than 10 total in the game, one of Ryan’s triggers. Unbeknownst to us, Ryan was in his room, […]

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The Kindness of Strangers

Sometimes, when you’re in the thick of it, the smallest gestures mean the most. We got Ryan in to see the psychiatrist Friday, to discuss his recent extreme anxiety over hockey stats. Because it was an emergency appointment, we went to a different office 45 minutes away. We were thrilled to get in to see […]

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Alphabet Soup

Ryan picked up a new diagnosis on Friday when we got in to see his psychiatrist after a week of struggling with terrible anxiety over hockey statistics. The new label — OCD — is not a surprise. We have seen evidence before of compulsive behaviors that become an anxiety-producing chore and not something he enjoys. […]

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Autism Something Month

I was going to avoid writing about Autism Awareness/Acceptance Month and World Autism Awareness Day altogether. I didn’t think I had anything worthwhile to add to the discourse, a lot of which disappoints me. I understand some of the divide in the autism community. When you have a disorder under a single umbrella that covers […]

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IEP Week

It was IEP week for Team Ryan this week. And though these are emotionally draining affairs, over the years ours have tended to be quite cordial with mutually agreed upon outcomes. The emphasis is on “ours” in that sentence, of course. We recognize this is not everyone’s experience. Maybe we are just incredibly fortunate. Our […]

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