This week Lia tried to bite me, scratch me, and blow raspberries in my face. This week she also gave me lots of hugs, laughed at my jokes, blew me kisses, and cried when I had to leave at the end of my shift. On Monday I’ll go back for more. Good Lord willing, I’ll […]
I guess the subtitle of this piece should be “Or the Lack Thereof…” We all suffer from a lack of impulse control on occasion. I will admit that I have been known to squeeze a pillow or two when I cruise through the home goods aisle of department stores. I am driven to find out […]
When children have experienced a life threatening event there’s a tendency for those who care about them to become overly lenient in their expectations, and to indulge them more than they normally would. Sick kids get away with doing, or not doing, a lot of the things that would never fly prior to their down […]
My inspiration for writing on this site has returned! And by inspiration I am, of course, referring to Lia. After spending many weeks in the hospital on life support and in a medically induced coma, she is back. It is an answer to prayer, and thank you all for praying with us. Although her recovery […]
I met a very articulate young man recently who has one of those invisible life threatening medical conditions, and also happens to have Asperger’s. I was working with him because of the aforementioned medical condition, not because of the autism. Mom was going to be out of the home for a while and I had […]
What could these three women possibly have in common? I fancy the idea that when it comes to taking care of Lia, it requires a bit of these three personalities all rolled up in one. Well, maybe not the personalities per se, but they are the muses and role models that I call on to […]
I’m writing this post from a dual perspective: as a parent and as a healthcare professional. It is inspired by a tweet from @AutismScenes that appeared in my Twitter feed several weeks ago, a tweet about “the gap” and the intense feelings that gap often evokes. The gap in question is that difference between the […]
I can remember as kids my siblings and I would get into a lot of trouble when we imitated something an adult said or did. The grown-ups called it mocking or “copy-catting”. Regardless of the name, it was a no-no. From a child’s perspective, it was actually pretty funny… until we got caught. Babies tended […]
I feel this post should PROBABLY come with a warning and flashing lights because it is motivated by a hearsay comment – one that was reportedly made by a psychiatrist in our area who promotes himself as the local authority on pediatric autism. According to the hearsay, this psychiatrist is of the opinion that for […]
I know, that title makes your head spin a little – especially if you’re a grammarian. But, that’s a pretty good description of the way I felt during my early days of trying to navigate the “language of the spectrum”. During my travels, I was reminded that language is fluid and ever-changing. Words that originate […]
Lia's Nurse 