The Fabulous Miss Whitney

I thought this would be easier to write than it is, but all I want to do is cry. Whitney, I love you and I will never be able to repay the role you have had in my life and in our family. For those of you who don’t know Whitney, she is an angel who came in to work with our son 10 hours a week as part of his ABA/Habilitation program and has become part of the family of my heart. She shows unconditional love and acceptance for my son that never flinches, and always treats him like he has worth and potential.

She has listened to me when my heart was breaking, and helped me mentally hold it together. She tells me when she thinks I need to change something. So many people are afraid to, and I love that she is not. She comes up with some pretty stinking cool ideas. Rigging up a set up for working on Tony’s terror of hand dryers in the home started with ideas from her, as did changing to colored paper to work on scribbling because maybe the white was reflecting too much light and hurting his eyes. I love that she’s not afraid to brainstorm with me that way.

I know someday she’ll move on to other things, that’s part of how life works and I would never want to hold her back. But Whitney will always have my deepest gratitude and a place at our table.

Reading To Consider

“The Reason I Jump: The Inner Voice of a Thirteen-Year-Old Boy With Autism,” by Naoki Higashida.

This book was originally recommended to me by Ms. E, Tony’s incredibly cool physical therapist, and is a short but powerful read. The author is non-verbal, like my son, though he is a bit older now then when he wrote this. I think this is a great book for providing a window into how Autism can manifest itself in an individual, and my son definitely has some things in common with the author. Tony dislikes visual schedules too 😉 and currently prefers to be told what is going to happen instead. This book also contains a short story written by the author that I found very insightful and heartbreaking at the same time. This book was an illumination of sorts into the things swirling in our little man’s heart that he can’t quite communicate yet about on his speech device, yet I see evidence for in the way he behaves. As such, it comes highly recommended by me to those I know and love.

“Chancer: How One Good Boy Saved Another,” by Donnie Kanter Winokur

Several of you have already had me recommend this book to you…for those of you who haven’t, this is the story of how their family worked to meet the needs of their adoptive son, who also has an FASD. One of the ways they did so was with a service dog. This book is also full of things I wish everyone who came in contact with my son understood, as well as being a compelling and beautifully written.

“How to be Human,” by Florida Frenz

This was the toe I stuck into the water of Kobo books (since Amazon and I no longer hablar). The Kobo water was just fine, btw 🙂 This book is written by a young woman on the Spectrum who is currently in a higher functioning place then our little man may get to. Don’t get my wrong, I live on hope like vintage Mary Lou Retton chucking down the Wheaties, but I also understand that Tony has 3 diagnoses that for sure come with intellectual disability and another one that also can, and in the end I’m just going to love him wherever he lands. I think this is a really cool book, though it is a shorter read, in which the author shares from her perspective what the world can look like to an individual with autism and some methods she’s used to adapt. She refers to herself as an alien in this world, and I think the better educated we all are on what the world looks like to one another, the less anyone will ever have to feel that way. Because no one should have to feel that way- ever- this is also a book I recommend.