The Autism Mom and Motherless Daughter

When I think of the art of raising children, I think of how hard it is to make sure that on a day to day basis, my children are ok.  But aside from that constant worry is the beauty of my children.  Their quirks, their mishaps and the way they remind me of myself as a child. Quirks are a funny thing. We all have them.  But in the autism world it is called stimming.  " Stimming  is a repetitive body movement, such as hand flapping, that is hypothesized to stimulate one or more senses. The term is shorthand for self- stimulation." Stimming is an action that a child does in order to self soothe.  Daniel's stims range from month to month, so I never know what he'll do next. But I want to mention my quirk or "stim."  My quirk dates back to when I was 12 years old.  And anyone in my family can tell you what it is if they think hard enough.  My mom introduced it to me without her even knowing.  I remember watching her thinking so was crazy.  But there she w

I never thought that being a special needs parent would make me into a better person.  I can't even imagine my life if I weren't one.  I remember seeing parents with special needs children and feeling so sorry for them.  To me, they looked so sad and alone.  But that was foolish thinking. Becoming one has opened my eyes to the world.  It's almost like having an epiphany or seeing the world in night vision goggles.  You put into perspective what your life should look like and who should share it with you.  You learn to rid your life of negativity and people that don't support you.  Unfortunately, there are a lot of judgemental parents out there, even in this autism community.  How does the saying go, "when you meet one child with autism, you've met one child with autism?"  I've said it before, please educate yourself first. I've learned that life is too short to be taken for granted.  I love that I have such wonderful people by my side that unders

A couple of weeks ago I got Daniel recent IEP. For me, it wasn't good.  At almost 4 years old, he is functioning at a level of a 13 month old.  That means in speech, self help skills and overall physical development.  He's been in school since September 2011 and that's all I got. It's so difficult to see your child not developing the way he should.  It is completely and utterly heartbreaking.  I think back to when I was pregnant and there were 7 other people I knew that were having sons and were born around the time Daniel would be born.  Those soon to be 4 year olds are all developed 4 year olds.  I don't want to be one of those mothers that longingly looks at my friends' 4 year old sons and wonders what went wrong with me. What did I do wrong during my pregnancy or afterwards to allow my child to be a 13 month old at 4 years old? I'm so overwhelmed by information on how to help him advance.  There is so much out there ranging from diets, vaccines, ther