Such Progress, So Quickly, Makes a Parent Wonder
November 20, 2007 Last spring, I had a troubling conversation with my adolescent son who is on the autism spectrum. He had taken a mainstream class for the first time in years, having been in mostly small special education classes since third grade. I asked him which classroom felt right for him. “The kids in…
Time to Visit the Void
October 22, 2007 All around me, parents fight the October blues that set in after their high school grad officially becomes a college freshman, leaving an empty spot in their hearts and their homes. Phone calls, e-mails, and visits help families make the transition so by the time the autumn leaves have stopped swirling and…
The Latest Leap of Faith
September 24, 2007 I remember the conversation with my brother as if it was yesterday. We were grousing about the fact that obstetricians deliver babies without a parenting manual. As new parents, we felt ill-equipped for this momentous journey with our spouses. Since then, I’ve made thousands of decisions, ridiculously unimportant and overwhelmingly significant ones,…
Family Planning for the Worst Case Scenario
August 10, 2007 I had been ruminating about death for days before I saw the images of the I-35W bridge jutting out of the mighty Mississippi at grotesque angles. Just two weeks earlier, I had experienced my own close encounter, having T-boned a vehicle whose driver was also chatting on her cell, then striking a…
Words Matter
July 30, 2007 In the school of hard knocks, I’ve learned that words that describe people can have lasting and unintended consequences. In years past, I happily embraced several designations: wife, stepmother, and lawyer. All was well until late 1993, when I was pummeled with a most unwelcome label: “refrigerator mother.” This new term attributed…
Autism and the Promise of Less Isolation
July 7, 2012 I can’t pinpoint the person who first spoke the word “autism.” I do recall with great certainty that I could not repeat the word for months after I first heard it. I didn’t really know what it meant; I just knew that it was not good. I now know that it is…
Autism and Vigilance
June 24, 2007 Driving through central Wisconsin this past week, I battled the melancholy that crawls into my heart each year at this time, around the birth date of my first-born — my son, whose needs have driven me to near exhaustion and stretched my limits of patience; my son, who is clever and sweet…
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