We have a unique family. At least I think we do. We have a teen and a tween and a little and a toddler and a super social dad and a tired mom. We have four that like to go and do and one that needs a little more encouragement. We have four that are extremely social and two that p … | Continue reading
Did you know there are some women out their who never whine? Or complain? Or even say it’s hard. I never knew that. I really didn’t. So when I stumbled across a post on Facebook bashing women for talking, or as they said whining, about the hard parts of life, I was shocked. Appar … | Continue reading
This morning, when I came out of my bedroom, far earlier than I would have liked, I knew my son Cooper was waiting on the stairs for me. For one I could hear train whistles and happy music coming from his ipad. We often hear him before we see him. And secondly, lately, he’s been … | Continue reading
"Based on the award-winning HBO documentary, HOW TO DANCE IN OHIO is a heart-filled new musical exploring the need to connect and the courage it takes to step out into the world."The show opens with the seven lead actors excitedly bounding onto the stage welcoming the audience to … | Continue reading
A few nights ago, my husband and I found ourselves driving around a picturesque town for 20 minutes or so…alone. We had no kids with us. There was no loud noise or fighting, endless questions, or voices from an iPad. It was just us, driving around looking at holiday lights, Chris … | Continue reading
When you have a child who communicates differently than most, you learn to listen with more than your ears. You learn to communicate with a look, a touch, a gesture. Words became less important. You read your child’s needs just by looking at their eyes. A simple look is all you n … | Continue reading
Tonight was one of those really special nights. Our family, along with 25 or so other families, spent an evening with Santa Pj and Sparkles the Elf. Some kids lined up chairs. Another watched an old 1950’s train docu-series on YouTube called Hobart and Cosmo. A few played tag. So … | Continue reading
Don’t judge. It’s everyone’s holiday season. With the holiday season upon us, I’ve been reflecting on my autism journey as a younger child. It looked much different than it does now as an adult. Whether it was during Christmas with the family or a holiday gathering, I’d often be … | Continue reading
I don’t know how you do it… Last night I shared a video on Instagram of my autistic son ripping paper and books. It’s a new behavior. It’s really loud. And messy. I shared it for a glimpse into the beauty and reality of our world. I could tell you why he does it. He wants to have … | Continue reading
There is a quote that says, ‘don’t ever save anything for a special occasion. Every day your alive is a special occasion.’ My son Cooper reminds me of that quote every single day. The reason I’m sharing it with you is because someone recently commented on one of my posts, pointin … | Continue reading
Nonverbal communication is a pretty amazing thing really. My son Cooper, the one in the middle, he communicates mostly with sounds: Think grunts and squeals and gasps. He points a lot. And brings things to us and brings us to things. He places his hands on ours and guides them in … | Continue reading
Recently we ventured to the store for a few things. Eggs. Milk. Nerf gun bullets. And 2 pieces of paper. The essentials. Obviously. Outings as a family are still relatively new for us. And while they are far from perfect, they are real. See, we have a kid who is just learning abo … | Continue reading
My son Cooper is nonspeaking. I know that’s a confusing classification. I even sometimes struggle to explain it. See when it comes to autism, and the spectrum you hear about, the waters are often muddy. He said his first word at age 8. It was mom. Now he says it no less than 50 t … | Continue reading
My son said the word balloon this morning. I didn’t catch it right away. I was packing his lunch and putting toothpaste on a toothbrush while simultaneously signing a form for his school. It was a chaotic morning to say the least. That’s when he said it the second time. BA – LL – … | Continue reading
Dear Standardized School Questionnaires, I could go on and on about how frustrated and sad I feel when I have to fit my child into all these boxes that he does not fit into. I could elaborate on how this questionnaire is unproductive in describing my son. Instead, I’ll tell you w … | Continue reading
I went into quite an uproar. I was not thinking about the person who had been up since five-thirty in the morning and couldn’t sleep. I only thought about myself, my needs, and how I didn’t want to do my homework. You see, due to my autism, I am incredibly literal, and that can m … | Continue reading
Let me set the scene for you… My husband and I and two of our boys plus baby get on the elevator. We are loud and busy. Our youngest is trying to push all the buttons. I am using my hip to block him. Cooper, our 12-year-old is autistic and adores elevators. So he is happy flappin … | Continue reading
Anywhere between 5:30 am and 7 am, my door bursts open with a sleepy “morning mom” and a barrel roll into bed next to me. Autism rises with the sun, sometimes before. I’m usually halfway through my cup of coffee, brewed 3 feet from my bed, with almond milk creamer from my tiny in … | Continue reading
This boy and I are connected. Mother and son. I am his person. He holds me now mostly out in public. A hand in mine or on my shoulder, me leading him. Always touching me. And if he does pull his hand away for a second, I see a bit of panic in his eyes before he reaches out again. … | Continue reading
I’ve spent a lot of time recently reflecting on our journey living alongside autism. The road has been far from easy, but through the challenges, I learned some invaluable lessons. This is my son Jordan. He is 27 and on the autism spectrum. I am his guardian and full-time caregiv … | Continue reading
Let me show you the beauty of my son’s world. And how my perspective has greatly changed over the years. A while back, my son Cooper, who is now 12, began showing me a still frame of Dora the Explorer on his iPad. Dora happened to be wearing a purple pirate outfit. She was with h … | Continue reading
The comment said…It’s always about the special needs kids. You parents are always whining for them to get everything.” That comment was from a while back and it was in response to a post about how children with special needs/disabilities were forgotten during covid. A bold statem … | Continue reading
My sweet Olivia, I am writing this as a love letter to you. I have so many hopes for you as you walk your path in this life. I hope you know that, although we were surprised to find out we were having you, from the moment you took your first breath, I said aloud, “I am so happy w … | Continue reading
‘It feels like everyone is staring at us mom.’ That’s what my 10-year-old son said to me a few days ago. First, I’ll tell you he wasn’t wrong. Everyone was staring at us. A member of our family has a disability and while it’s not physical, meaning, you don’t ‘see’ it…. everyone s … | Continue reading
‘Thanks for coming to my conferences mama.’ Of course buddy. ‘Did you like my owl? They are nocturnal. There is a girl I like. I’m going to ask her on a date on the last day of school. Then if she says no I won’t have to see her for the whole summer.’ That’s seriously genius. But … | Continue reading
Being a confident mother to a child with a disability didn’t always come natural to me. Even though it may appear that way. On social media. Or if you see me sitting on the ground in Target next to my son while his hands dance as he takes it all in. I may appear fearless. As I si … | Continue reading
Self-Care You’ve probably heard a lot about the importance of it lately. It is important for everyone to do this, not to mention necessary. This is especially true for those of us who are caregivers. Many caregivers are what we call forever parents. This means that we have a chil … | Continue reading
Today can be one of those days that can cause parents of children with special needs to take pause. To lose their breath for a second. To take notice of differences. To feel slighted. To wish it could be easier. To give up for a second. To skip it all. Halloween. For me, in those … | Continue reading
Dear high school seniors, I want to talk to you about a group of individuals I wasn’t thinking about at your age. A group of individuals like my son, who need compassionate, patient individuals, just like you, who make a huge difference in their life and the lives of their caregi … | Continue reading
When it comes to Halloween and autism….whew, there is a lot of advice out there. And have you noticed a lot of it is really intense? Like almost intimidating. A lot of it makes me feel like I’m doing something wrong as a parent. Blue buckets. Signs. Saying trick-or-treat. Everyon … | Continue reading
See these two boys? They are brothers. One is 12 and the other is 10. They both have birthdays coming up and at least once a day I hear… ‘First Halloween, then Thanksgiving, then Cooper’s birthday and then mine!’ This family loves their birthdays. This photo may look like no big … | Continue reading
A while ago a newspaper article showed up in my Facebook newsfeed about a petition to ban drive thrus in a neighboring city. It had thousands of comments. And hearts. And angry faces. I was so confused. How could anyone feel that strongly one way or another about drive thrus. Wha … | Continue reading
How I Became the Strong Woman, I Am Today My name is Jennie Logan. I am twenty-five years old and on the autism spectrum, and I was diagnosed when I was thirteen years old. My mom knew I had Autism as early as I was six months old. I didn’t like to be held by anyone but her. I di … | Continue reading
To not always believe what the professionals told me. That no one has a crystal ball about his future. That what I am feeling is grief. And grief is love. To let go of the guilt. To focus on self-care earlier. And my marriage. To make finding peace a priority. To not judge my beg … | Continue reading
I think that social media has led us to believe that a lot of families are perfect. I know I follow a few pages that make me feel that way. And sometimes it hurts me heart. My family isn’t perfect. We aren’t even close. We are loud and messy and probably even a little bit annoyin … | Continue reading
When my second son Sawyer was three he asked me if we could go to a fair. I of course said…’yes, but we have to wait until summer.’ Per the usual he said to me…’can my brother Cooper go?’ I told him no. His face immediately fell. ‘Cooper can’t go with us, buddy.’ I went onto expl … | Continue reading
Today I went on a walk with my son. That sounds like such an ordinary thing to do. However, to me it was really special. My son is 18 years old. He is busy with all the things that teenager’s do. Getting him to stop long enough to utter more than a few words to me is rare. My you … | Continue reading
Last night we brought our four kids to a greenhouse to pick out pumpkins. Our middle son was very excited. He loves all things holidays. He also loves overdoing things, much like his mama. 17 pumpkins seems totally reasonable to us. And the little ones, they were in heaven too. O … | Continue reading
Hi there. My name is Kate. I am a mother to four children. I share that because my life is full. Fuller than full. There is very little quiet. There is never a day without laundry. And I get no less than a hundred hugs a day. I am an expert in putting bandaids on owies, blowing o … | Continue reading
Dear Autism, I never wanted you, yet here you are. Over the years we’ve grown to have a love-hate-love relationship. You’re always at the forefront of our lives. You and all your comorbidity friends; ADHD, anxiety, ticks, eating struggles, language delays, epilepsy and intellectu … | Continue reading
“Keep an eye on your brother.” I blurted it out without much consideration, absorbed in the chaos of managing my children on my own. The words were meant for my 5-year-old daughter regarding her 8-year-old brother. Their dynamic is far from typical because my son is autistic. He … | Continue reading
This morning, while drinking my coffee, I saw a commercial. It was for some insurance company. Perfect family, house and kids. The oldest graduating from high school. The tag line said something like…”these are the moments we prepare for. The only moments that matter.” I’ve been … | Continue reading
My daughter, Alyssa has autism. She has severe non verbal autism. This means her autism comes with all the bells and whistles. She has severe anxiety, apraxia, limited diet, OCD like behaviors, weak receptive language, difficulty communicating, regulating emotions, and a hard tim … | Continue reading
My son has been in school for a little over a month now. He is a 7th grader at our local middle school. Except it looks a little different than most. He doesn’t switch classes. Or have a locker combination. And we’ve never had to worry about the cell phone policy. I have no idea … | Continue reading
Last night something monumental happened in our little world. Our middle son Sawyer had a gaggle of friends over playing and as they ran from room to room, crashing and bashing and giggling about farts and butts, our oldest son Cooper ran behind. He was the oldest of the whole gr … | Continue reading
When my son Cooper was first diagnosed with autism, and in the years that followed, I spent a lot of time secretly wondering what our relationship would be like. I was told he would never be able to talk. Or live independently. And a whole lot of other things as well. And I’d won … | Continue reading
For years, I’ve been on a mission to change perceptions about autism as an advocate and professional speaker. From my own experiences during my autism journey, I’ve realized that autistic individuals aren’t just capable of working in traditional jobs but can soar to leadership ro … | Continue reading
My daughter, Olivia, is 14 years old. She is autistic, she has Sensory Processing Disorder, and anxiety. These photos were taken in 2009, during my daughter’s first year of life. Look at her amazing joint attention. She is always looking directly at me with a smile as bright as t … | Continue reading