“Thomas has always played with socks. He’d put one sock into the other and swing them around his fingers for hours. Some children get comfort from a teddy bear or a doll. With Thomas, it was always the socks.”
‘Dad, I want a job.’ I got to researching. The answer was staring me right in the face.’: Family launches sock business for son with Down syndrome
‘My husband looked at me, eyes full of tears. ‘No more planning her death. She’s alive!’: Mom births miracle baby with Trisomy 18
“In a dizzy haze, I followed her to a small room. ‘Our staff has an ethical dilemma treating your child.’ I felt my heart drop. That was the day I took charge.”
‘I heard loud honking and a gruff, ‘COME ON!’ He refused to make eye contact with me.’: Mom to children with autism shares upsetting bus stop moment
“I yelled how proud I was so they could hear me through the window and made ‘I love you’ in sign language. I didn’t need him to get in trouble. I needed him to simply UNDERSTAND.”
‘We won’t call you unless there’s bad news.’ I’ll never forget hearing the phone ring.’: Mom shares daughter’s Down syndrome diagnosis, ‘My eyes see beauty so differently’
“I grieved the baby I thought I was going to have. I grieved the baby I thought I wanted. I felt not fit for this.”
‘Somewhere along the way we became angry. We put up walls, we stopped holding hands.’: Special needs parent urges ‘never stop fighting for each other’
“We poured so much of ourselves into our children, we forgot marriage needs attention and work, too. We advocated for our children, but we forgot to advocate for each other.”
‘The 4-year-olds were BULLIES. He couldn’t tell us what was wrong.’: Mom urges ‘teach kindness’ for Autism Acceptance Month
“They were taking his device and hiding it, and when the teacher wasn’t looking, they’d push him down. I was floored.”
5 Things You Can Do To Support Your Friends Who Are Parenting Autism
“You’re not alone.”
‘My mind is always racing, and I can’t turn it off.’: Special needs mom gets candid about mental health, urges ‘find the joy’
“I know immediately when someone is being genuine with me, and when someone is just ‘getting along to get along.'”
‘4 months into our marriage, we were in total isolation. I realized I knew very little.’: Special needs stepmom shares journey during lockdown, ‘I will forever cherish our bond’
“What we thought would be a two-week stay turned into months. I cried lots of tears. I was new to parenting, new to special needs. This. Was. Hard.”
‘There will be days you will hit rock bottom.’ I wish they asked about our support system. But I wish they would’ve finished with, ‘It WILL be okay.’: Mom to sons with autism says, ‘It’s challenging, but beautiful’
“Now, as we prepare for the third time around, I realize all I wish they had told us was, ‘It will be okay.'”
