As you are looking at this picture, I don’t want you to ask yourself should our son have been up there on collapsed bleachers. I don’t want you to think about whether or not he can get down safely on his own. Those are, of course, valid questions, but there’s really only one thing I
When considering what will be the most successful way to increase Tony’s ability to tolerate or be successful in certain environments whether it be with crowds or for structured activities, I have to focus on multiple elements that need to be addressed at the same time. One of the things I have noticed in the
“…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
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
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
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,
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
Emily I know that there are plenty of people I still owe a gratitude note, and some of you may remember that Emily has already received one a little over two years ago. But that was way back when she was Tony’s music therapist, with a very different role and significantly less time and involvement
Neurologic Music Therapy (NMT) has had an important role in our son’s progress, helping him to acquire skills he was not able to gain with the other therapy modalities. Tony has been receiving services at NMTSA since July of 2015. In that time, he’s worked with 5 therapists, many of whom moved on to higher
If you don’t know our family or work with our son, at some points as you’ve read our story you may have asked yourself “how much of this is real?” While it adds another layer to the height of the emotional cliffs I’m ever scaling, logically I understand the need for that kind of skepticism
