Tag: Autism
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Community Safety Progress Presents
Hannah and I put up the outside Christmas lights by ourselves this year, and so Tony needed to accompany us up front. Historically, any sort of outside task required multiple (you should read that as every couple of minutes at least) sprints chasing Tony down as he laughingly ran out of our yard. But when…
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When The Stress Won’t Stop
I had just fled my parents’ bedroom when I heard the click, and then my mother scream– “He’s got a gun, run!” My mother’s fourth (and current) husband, had flown into a rage, flinging and destroying items (a boombox became the first casualty) because I wouldn’t say I loved him when he asked if I…
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Navigating The Stress Of Allergies, POTS, And All Things Health & Being Needed On The Therapy Team
For nearly a year now, I have been bobbing up and down on the waves of life, trying not to get swamped or washed overboard as I navigated managing my health and maintaining the active role I must play in all of Tony’s therapy programs that transpire outside of our house. These programs are essential…
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The Gratitude of Healing: A Poem & Some Commentary
For me, there are times when I want a certain type of punctuation mark heralding the finality of a chapter in my life, and, in the ciphers of my heart, sometimes only a poem can suffice. In choosing to share this particular poem, I make no claims that it is the best I have written,…
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Our Current In-Home ABA Programs: A Brief Overview
Currently, our ABA programs are focused on skills that are being both practiced inside and outside of the home. This week, I am going to give a brief overview of the in-home therapy programs. Although everything we are working on matters, the bulk of our time is spent working on skills necessary for Tony to…
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Meetings: The Foundation of our ABA Programs
In Arizona, once a kiddo is diagnosed with a qualifying disability, they can apply for both the Arizona Long Term Care System (ALTCS) and Division of Developmental Disabilities (DDD) services. When Tony was diagnosed with level three Autism, we immediately applied for both services because the insurance we had at the time would not cover…
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The Nightmare of “No”
“He’s growing so tall! He’s doing so well! He’s being so patient!” We were finishing up a quick trip into a local grocery store this morning with a new ABA behavioral therapist that is working with Tony in the mornings, and those were the cashier’s comments to us. As I have explained before to those…
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“Bring Me [Back] To Life”
The past several years have felt like life coming at me as I stood, like Amy Lee in the video for Bring Me To Life, on one circumstantial ledge after another, trying to climb up from an effort to solve one problem to a solution for the next. And every time I get to that…
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French Fry Flexibility
About 3 years ago, I had just headed out on a walk with Tony and Hannah when Andy called me. The garage door had broken free from its rails and he was trapped inside the garage. Because I was strength training pretty heavily still at that time, I was physically the strongest person in our…
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Not This Year
I am often asked what my plans are for Tony in terms of public or private schooling, especially around this time of year when school age children are typically headed off to one classroom or another. In previous years, my answer was there were important behavioral concerns we were addressing in therapy at home that…