Tag: Autism

  • “Pray To Whatever Deity You Look To…”

    I’m not going to say who left the cup of water by my laptop, or who knocked it over. Neither actions were done by me, but I don’t consider either of those actions to represent the biggest misfire in this chain of events. I will admit to swearing when I saw what happened, and for…

  • “Behind the Mask I Wear…”

    Perhaps some of you may not have thought about it, but some of you may have given your imaginations brief rein to fill in the largely unwritten subtext of last week’s post. What does it feel like to stay awake entirely for one night and for parts of multiple nights after that holding and gently…

  • When a Small Cut Becomes a Scary Scene

    “…last night while I was trimming Tony’s fingernails, he jerked and I cut his finger…took off the tip of it, actually. We were unable to control the bleeding at home because he was fighting so bad against it, it was just me and Hannah because Andy was at work, and ended up having to call…

  • Our Nasal Flu Vaccination Prep

    This was another week where I wanted to rip up the rails of a planned course and ride a different topic across the drought stricken plains into an ashen, hazy sunset. After all, those of us who may be vulnerable to more serious illness in this pandemic and aren’t in the incredibly privileged position of…

  • A Little Community Safety Creativity

    This summer has been serving up extra helpings of heat that just seem to keep coming. My patience has long past its fill of this weather, but these extra toasty temps just keep stretching up and on far higher than I want every time I look at the forecast. I have for many months felt…

  • Mask Tolerance and Tactile Defensiveness

    We are working on so many therapy targets right now I honestly struggled a bit to decide which one to lead in with this week. I decided that what made the most inherent sense to discuss is the work we are doing towards helping Tony gain increased tolerance for wearing a mask, as our ability…

  • “Rumor Has It”

    For several years now I have been hearing so many stories about habilitation therapy in Arizona. “Rumor has it,” some families of older kiddos who lost their habilitation (hab) therapists and couldn’t find a replacement quickly had their authorized hab hours taken away from them. Which then makes it much harder to find a replacement,…

  • Judging the Parents Shouldn’t be a Spectator Sport

    Many years ago, I had a friend with advanced degrees and the kindest heart. This person needed significant support with activities of daily living. I know the level of support required because I was trusted enough as a friend to be asked to help provide those services more than two decades ago so that the…

  • What These Eyes See

    When Tony and I have gone out into public spaces, eyes are almost always upon us. The eyes of those who saw our screaming son rip an earring out of my ear when I was putting him on my shoulders outside of a local Safeway a few years ago, and mutely watched as I squatted,…

  • On Ability, Access, and Representation

    Sometimes talking to anyone can be a tricky thing. I feel like an apology just as readily needs to grace my lips as anything else I could possibly say, because often when I have personally given offense, it was most certainly not intentional. What one person in a group finds offensive another does not, and…