Autism Awareness month is in full swing and it’s 30 days of representation in media. Movies, shows, and everything in between are set to spotlight how autism isn’t really that different from those who aren’t on the spectrum. You know the shows I mean. Someone with autism seems to be socially isolated only to come around in the last 20 minutes and do something amazing in the traditional sense. The happy ending has a kid catching a football, getting the prom crown, or saving the roller rink by solving a math problem. The moral is that those with autism are really just like us. So what’s my issue ..read more

When your child shows signs of delay, there are many things to worry about. I thought about the possible scenarios and diagnosises that could play out. I also thought of all the people I was going to have to fight. Yes. Fight. Throwdowns in the food court with starin’ Karens and dilweed dads who would dare to judge my wonderful son. I was in a constant dream world of fighting people who gawked at my boy. It was like Walter Mitty meets Steven Segal. Daydreams with spin kicks. That sort of thing. Keep in mind, I can’t even do a spin kick. Still, I had a feeling I’d need to break one out at some ..read more

Having a non-verbal son with autism puts an ironic twist on the fact that I spend so much time thinking about wording when writing about him. I say he “has autism”. To some he’s autistic. Does it mean the same thing? Pretty much, but still, the debate rages on. Of course, we do the same thing with Autism Awareness Month…or is it Acceptance Month?  Awareness or acceptance? I guess I never really thought about what any of that meant before having Lucas. Autism affects my boy in its own way. It is the cause behind a lot of his challenges and delays in life skills. Given the nature of these o ..read more

When my non-verbal son was little, I used to hold his hands. If you’re reading that and saying, “aww”, you’re reading it wrong. It’s not nice. It’s something that I am now, ten years on, embarrassed to admit. I didn’t hold his hands out of love or assistance. I held his hands to stop him from clapping or stimming. I’d watch as he’d do things that resembled the traditional signs of autism. I tried to stop him from being who he was and who he would become. The fear of autism was real and I didn’t know what it would look like for him or for our family. My thought was that if someone saw him doing ..read more

In 2017, I began writing about my then-six-year-old non-verbal son. Many of the posts I came across during his earlier years didn’t share the enthusiasm and excitement I came to experience when raising him. Their tone seemed a bit downtrodden and worried me for a future that I so desperately wanted to be excited about, so I set out to make my own. Fast forward to today and my 13-year-old son is still non-verbal. He still has autism and still struggles with many of the life skills that other parents of kids his age take for granted. Arriving at a destination requires an extra five minutes to pu ..read more

The biggest fear I had when my son was first showing signs of delay wasn’t the lack of speech that would eventually be a part of his life. It wasn’t anything tangible that I could put a name to. It was the future. More than anything, imagining him as a teenager felt like peering into an unfathomable abyss, filled with unknown challenges and silent fears. That sounds like a silly concept to anyone who gives it more than a passing thought. After all, we’re all afraid of the future. I don’t know what tomorrow looks like for me. I don’t even know if there is a tomorrow for me. I’m just rolling for ..read more

One of my main goals in writing about my son is to show the world the realities of raising a non-verbal child with autism. Lucas’s challenges may be unique when compared to another 12-year-old. However, the positives that come with a loving boy like him are immeasurable. Writing about my son’s great qualities comes easily to me. The special ways in which autism affects his personality create a person unlike any other I’ve ever known. Sure, his obstacles are unique, but so are his wonderful characteristics. But beyond sharing these traits, my mission is to help others see Lucas through my eyes ..read more

One of my main goals in writing about my son is to show the world the realities of raising a non-verbal child with autism. Lucas’s challenges may be unique when compared to another 12-year-old. However, the positives that come with a loving boy like him are immeasurable. Writing about my son’s great qualities comes easily to me. The special ways in which autism affects his personality create a person unlike any other I’ve ever known. Sure, his obstacles are unique, but so are his wonderful characteristics. But beyond sharing these traits, my mission is to help others see Lucas through my eyes ..read more

I want to be happy. I want my kids to be happy too. That’s it. That’s life in a nutshell. If this blog could be twenty words, I’d end it there with Bugs Bunny in a circle smiling. But there are more reasons to write further outside of mere word count. There are people who don’t fully understand what that means. This isn’t an assumption. It’s knowledge I have from seeing it play out firsthand. This simple way of thinking needs to be explained to some as if it was somehow deep. It’s not. It’s exactly as it reads. I want my family to be happy. You may say I’m a dreamer and I’m not the only one. T ..read more

There’s a reason why the posts I write about my non-verbal child are positive. The entire idea behind autism appreciation and putting our best foot forward comes from a very real place. The darkest times I’ve ever lived through were the times when I was just finding out about my son’s diagnosis. The initial worries that came from having a baby showing delays in sitting and rolling were in full swing just as we were on the verge of answers. At first, I was apprehensive to even say “autism” out loud. Whether I thought that voicing my concerns would make them come true or if it was just one final ..read more