EVERY MOMent COUNTS!
It was as if I was watching a Polaroid photo develop. First, a vague figure appeared. “You know, we have a family history of ADD.” Then, the shape took on more definition: “Is he a ‘young’ five? He has a hard time paying attention. And he got so frustrated when we were practicing handwriting.” And [...]
Yesterday morning I dropped Rachel off at a new school. Again. I find it ironic that my child with high anxiety, autism, and apraxia—and the host of communication problems that come along with those needs—has switched schools several times in the past few years. Last year she started kindergarten in a public school. Leaving her [...]
How do you define a home? What images come to your mind? Hot meals on a table? Decorating in that style? Stepping over a pile of laundry, dogs, and toys to crawl into bed with a good book? Recently I left my home, and I don’t have another one in sight. I knew this would [...]
Yesterday I pulled into the driveway and eldest burst into tears. Why? The realtor had put a sign in our yard. It was official. We are moving back to Texas. The past few weeks have been an exhausting combination of cleaning, painting, packing, moving boxes, and telling people goodbye. I shipped the dog off to [...]
Sundays are always interesting in the Dyer house. And by interesting, I don’t mean fun. When Rachel’s routine is disrupted, she becomes anxious. Anxiety prevents her from sleeping. Saturdays are a deviation from our school routine, which means Rachel doesn’t sleep well on Saturday nights. There are weeks when Rachel doesn’t go to sleep until [...]
It’s summertime! And that means pool time. … I’m not a huge fan of water. Watching it from a quiet beach? Yes! Taking my autistic daughter to a crowded swimming pool filled with splashing and screaming children? Not so much. But life is not about me, so to the pool we must go. … The [...]
And don’t forget your loved one with autism doesn’t. The first day of summer snuck up on me. School came and went in a blink. The first summer morning started the same as most others. Rachel woke up, and the demands began. She grabbed her iPad and told me to put her blankies and other [...]
I’m sure many of you have been through severe weather lately. It probably went something like this; you sit down for dinner only to be serenaded by tornado sirens and emergency broadcast beeps. You drop your fork and herd the kids into your chosen shelter area. Then you wait out the storm. At least that [...]
Ah, spring. The start of vacation season. It begins with spring break and continues until August. Not that we do much traveling besides a few trips to Grandma’s, but I find with each trip, we see Rachel accomplish something more: potty training, overcoming her fear of toilets, overcoming her fear of public restrooms, and even [...]
I’m not certain who came up with the idea of daylight saving time, although I know they had many good reasons for it. One thing I am fairly certain about, though, is that those people had not tried to get an autistic child ready for school the day after the fact. Fun? No. … The [...]
