Ariana's Posts
343 posts
To Dr. Shane Hunt & Angelique…For Helping Some Sun to Shine As mentioned in last week’s post, the assessment recently requested by our local Division of Developmental Disabilities was completed by Dr. Shane Hunt, with assistance from one of his interns, Angelique. When I asked Dr. Hunt if he would be comfortable with me dedicating
The afternoon of April 20th started out calmly. Andy and Hannah had left the home earlier in the day for an overnight church daddy-daughter camping activity, packing the commotion of preparations and excitement neatly away in the car with them. I had been telling Tony that they would be sleeping out with the trees and
By November of 2016 we had reached the point where Tony was no longer vomiting if people got too close to him, but it was still extremely challenging to get him into most public places. There are a number of reasons for that, many related to the differences in his sensory systems, but our little
Mother’s day came just a few days before Andy and I got married. I was expecting him to pick me up so we could go to church together, but I did not anticipate him arriving with a gift. I remember telling him, “But…I’m not a mother yet.” He replied that some day I would be,
To Madi, For Her Kindness & Caring… As many of you know, there is another incredibly cool music therapist who works with Tony during one of his two weekly sessions with Emily. Madi has worked with Tony for over a year and a half now at NMTSA and, like Emily, has always believed in his
One post can not even begin to contain adequate explanations for all of the challenges Tony has faced and continues to face on a daily basis. I have very little spare time, so it is a story I will continue to unfold slowly as I share with you bits and pieces of our journey each
As reported in The Arizona Capital Times, Governor Ducey has proposed paying for teacher raises by sweeping funds from different agencies, including “$2 million in one-time funding for the developmentally disabled.” Some in our state have cast striking teachers as being difficult to satisfy. Here at the quiet crisis next door, we applaud them as
Some things changed for Tony on October 17th, the day Whispie died. He had done amazingly well in our vet’s office just 5 days earlier when Dickens, our beloved Catzilla, passed on. I think it was too soon for Tony to be back there after such an emotional scene, too soon for all of us,
There are individuals who think regressive Autism isn’t really a thing- that there must have been early signs and missed social milestones that parents failed to notice. As the parent of a child who has regressive Autism, I own a mountain of pictures and even some video that scream out just how real this has
To Candice, With Much Gratitude & Love… I love my son fiercely, but I have always understood when someone indicated babysitting him was not for them. Always. But I also cannot get around what it has been like to experience how infrequently we were able to find that kind of assistance…it is, like everything else, not
