Tag: anxiety
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A Year of Gifts
So much of the gift giving in our communities is concentrated and condensed into days of prescribed celebration. But some of the best presents have trickled in bit by bit this past year, oft ill-wrapped by other circumstances and generally unannounced by fanfare, tags, or cards. Perhaps they are small compared to what some would…
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Awareness is Our Every Day
At the beginning of this month, I was opening up our front door around 5pm for the extremely patient Ms. C, who does ABA in the evenings with Tony three days a week. She opened the conversation with comments about Autism Awareness month, and I gave her what I know must have been an incredibly…
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“Comparison…the Thief of Joy”
Several months ago, Tony, the Fabulous Miss Whitney, and I had just strolled a few feet into our local Costco. I was wearing an Autism shirt I had recently purchased from a vendor on Etsy. A woman we were passing looked up, read my shirt, and fired off the following: “Lucky. I can’t even get…
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And Then, The Stuff Will Crush You
This year, I finally got everything I wanted underneath our petite living room Christmas tree- not a single gift addressed to me. Somehow a gift for every occasion has become such a culturally ingrained tradition it is almost reflexive. I find that people often don’t understand why my preferred present is a hug or a…
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Whitney Flashback
When Whitney first started working with our family, Tony would scream, cry, and hide for most of the two hours each day she was coming in. This lasted for nearly a month. Gradually, he began to respond to her patient and gentle way of working with him. This picture is from the early fall of…
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Tony’s Physical Therapy Walk Through
I am going to begin this week with a note that mostly applies to those of you who have signed up to receive my posts via e-mail. Thank you for taking time to read with us each week, by the way 🙂 As I’m sure some of you have noticed, the plugin that converts my…
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The Doctor
Hey, peeps! Its Hannah. Again. Now, I would like you to imagine that you and your sibling are at the doctor’s office. Suddenly…. Your sibling starts crying and trying to run away from the doctor’s office. You are watching peoples’ uncomfortable stares. This is me. Tony HATES going to the doctor. What can I say?…
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Public Therapy Here, There, & Everywhere
As I have mentioned previously, when it comes to successfully working with Tony, his bond with a person matters. Evidence of this can be seen in many areas, and currently he is at his most cooperative only with the people he has more trust in. This is something that always has to be respected when…