Hope Rises: A story about Autism

Watching my son Ryder’s journey unfold over the past year has been a source of immeasurable inspiration, joy, and pride.  This time last year, he was struggling to enter new buildings even with the aid of his wheelchair. The only places he was comfortable going to were his therapy center, and our church. He was…

We Can Be Heroes: A Different Perspective on Neurodiversity

Image from the Netflix movie "We Can Be Heroes" A couple of months ago, over Thanksgiving break, I was scrolling Netflix with my six-year-old daughter, and we came across a kid's movie called We Can Be Heroes. We were having a lazy day at home, plus I was catching up on some online projects, so…

Leave A Message And I’ll Call You Back: Thoughts On The Traditional Approach To Nonverbal Autism

Button from Etsy store "PawsitivePins" In recent years, I have been reading a lot online about how parents of autistic children should not try to push them to use verbal communication if it is not their preferred way to talk. I didn't really understand this or think much about it because like many other SN…

Autism On The Go: Overcoming “New Place” Anxiety

We made a little more progress at church today!  Ry is getting used to the lights being on in the halls and classrooms. (On Wednesday night, we went after most everyone was gone so they were dark or only half lit up--which he prefers.) I have had a few people inquire about the walker, so…

Bathtime Fun with Water Tubes: A Review for Boon Building Bath Pipes

The kiddos love this super-versitile bath set!!! It is especially great for kiddos with high sensory needs!

Technology, Autism, and Communication: Bridging the Gap

Last week (as special guest contributor to the West Texas Tribune), I had a moment to visit with a friend of mine, Tamara Wood who is also on an Autism journey as well. She is working on a new and innovative app that I believe will completely revolutionize the way that parents are able to…

Belly Laughs at 6am: Autism and Scripting

So one thing that could be considered a blessing about having a pre-conversational child with autism is that you never take the little things for granted, especially where speech is concerned. Something hilarious happened this morning, and I hope it makes you laugh too, lol... Some context first: So Ryder does what is called "scripting"…

Autism: Weather Woes

So most days doing lessons with Ry is super easy. Honestly the only real challenge other than him not being conversational yet is that it can sometimes take him awhile to write an answer (his handwriting is improving though) or read, which is also improving, but it can take so long that someone not used…

Back to (Home)School: A Day in the Life

Whoop! So after weeks of planning and anticipation, Day 1 has been a success! I now have a second grader and a (modified) AUsome fifth grader! We did some math, talked about George Washington Carver, (which opened up a really great discussion with Asher about slavery and current race relations) talked about atoms, listened to…

The Clearing of Clutter: A Special Needs Parent’s Bucket List

This was by far the absolute scariest day of my life, and while traumatic, it definitely gave me instant clarity on what matters most in my life and what I absolutely must do before God feels my work is done on Earth (hopefully a very long time from now, lol.) I was given laser-focus on…