“Is There Anything Else We Should Know?” is the title and refrain in B. E. Pinkham’s essay that tells the story of moving her fourteen-year old autistic son to a group home. It was also the final question on the forms needed to convince the state that this move was necessary for everyone’s safety. What [...]
Laura Shumaker’s wonderful, heartfelt and funny memoir, A Regular Guy, tells the story of raising her autistic son, Matthew, to young adulthood. Matthew, though aware of his disabilities, wants desperately to be a ‘regular guy’ like everyone else, especially his brothers.
In “The Visit”, Matthew is home from his residential school soon after his 16 year-old [...]
Lesley Quinn’s essay “100 Percent” perfectly and poignantly captures the moment every parent of a child on the spectrum has experienced–when a colleague or someone else from outside the sphere of our private lives asks the question: ”So. How’s the family?” They ask “innocently enough,” to “pass the time,” to “be polite.” Yet, there are times [...]
Christine Stephan’s moving essay, “Navigating Autism” speaks to an issue that every parent can relate to: the process of tuning into our intuition, to what our gut tells us is the right next thing. Often that’s all we can do–the next right thing, according to the wisdom gathered by our hearts and mind. Parenting kids [...]
Ann Douglas is a phenomenon, a passionate advocate of families–kids of all ages and their parents. Her essay, ”As Great as Trees” captures the period following her son’s dismissal from fifth grade just before he was diagnosed with Asperger’s.
Ian says goodbye to his classmates on a Wednesday afternoon,
three weeks into fifth grade. His classmates [...]
The essay, “No Pity,” by Maggie Kast tells the harrowing story of her 34-year-old son’s last days in the hospital. From the first words, I was gripped by the cascade of events told in Maggie’s spare, unflinching prose.
Day 1. For the last six months, my developmentally disabled
son, Stefan, has been trying to make himself throw [...]
One of the first submissions Vicki and I received was from Barbara Crooker. She sent three poems and they were all beautiful. When the decision was made to include only one poem per contributor, we had to choose. It was a tough call but “The Stone” won out.
THE STONE
was heavy.
The family carried it
with [...]
I vacillate between wanting to post poems in their entirety and wanting to post excerpts. I don’t want to dilute their full impact by not allowing you, the reader, to complete the whole journey, but I want to bring you closer to reading each poem in the context of the entire collection.
Yet, all the poetry [...]
Kristina Chew has been a powerful and steady presence in the autism blogging world for many years. Today, she writes about her essay, “The Wages of Autism”, weaving in themes of love, language, and life with Charlie with those from her work as a classics professor.
A couple of posts from my blog Autismland were revised to [...]
The essay, “Flood Plain” by Bruce Mills is taken from his memoir, An Archaeology of Yearning, a book that “explores memory, story, and desire in a home transformed by autism.” In this entry, Bruce moves us in and out of his own boyhood memories as he moves through his routines with his four-year old son Jacob:
At [...]
