“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.”
‘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
‘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.'”
‘DON’T let it hurt him like it did your brother.’ I can still smell the hospital and hear him cry. My son would be SUCCESSFUL.’: Sister of brother with autism becomes single mom to special needs son
“I had a front-row seat to how the world treated my brother. I knew how cruel the system could be. He was constantly told he could not achieve his goals and desires, but he told the world, ‘Just watch me.’”
‘I have two toddlers that need a place to stay.’ He was nonverbal, drug-exposed, and had a brain lesion. We were terrified.’: Military family adopts brothers from foster care, ‘Miracles happen every day’
“We decided to put our YES out there and let God take care of the rest. The social workers started bringing in medical equipment, trash bags full of belongings. It was magical and heartbreaking all at the same time.”
