Valentine’s Day is just around the corner! Start preparing now to help your child have the most social success with this love-filled day. Love is an abstract concept that isn’t learned overnight. Start incorporating a variety of Valentine’s Day activities with friends and families such as books, music, food and songs and their understanding will begin to naturally increase. Check out a couple of our past blogs for ideas on how to make Valentine’s Day a social language learning opportunity and how to help your child show their love towards their family and friends:

With Mother’s Day around the corner, I have been busy preparing gifts and cards to send off to my absolutely wonderful mother, my grandmother and my mother-in-law. I’ve also been contemplating what I thought “motherhood” would be about before Ethan came into our lives…and, before Autism came into our world. I knew that parenthood would be difficult and fraught with emotion, yet I didn’t fully understand how deeply that emotion would run.
“Making a decision to have a child - it's momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body.” ~Elizabeth Stone
When our kids are joyful, we revel in the beauty of the world through their eyes; when our children hurt, we feel their pain and desperately wish to wipe it away. When our children hit a brick wall, we do everything in our power to help them knock it down.
“Mother love is the fuel that enables a normal human being to do the impossible.” ~Marion C. Garretty
In our journey with Autism, I have met countless mothers who astound me in various ways.

Growing up in special education, I endured what felt like endless years of bullying. I've been called names, tossed in lockers and closets, and had my head shoved in toilets. I've been kicked, tripped, spat on, and had gum slapped on my head I can't tell you how many times, only for my friend to cut it out with a pocket knife. And, yes, that hurt.

Its only 5 pm, and already the food has been eaten, the company has left, and most of my family is napping with full bellies.
I have so much to be thankful for in my life. Health, home, employment, a partner who loves and respects me, children that I laugh with daily, and God who gives me all of this.
I am particularly thankful tonight for an encouraging, understanding support system. The teachers, caregivers, family, friends and even strangers who help me keep my chin up when the going gets tough.

We can not travel the autism journey alone. Some say it takes a village to raise a child. When it comes to raising a child with autism, it takes a small army. Our children are unique, different, special, and require a different set of tools that we often pick up along the way. As a community, we share from our bag of tricks and ideas. After a few years of being involved in the autism community, you quickly get past the awareness phase because you're dealing with much more immediate, bigger, and pressing matters.

I had an article published on a parenting website this week. Nothing about autism is included, but being a mom in general and how we can be better. I'm so excited to share it!
TOGETHER TIME
It's hard for a mom to catch a break during any point in her life. In the early years of parenting, constant demands are heaped on us from babies and young children who rely on us for their every need. There are months, oftentimes years, when a mom's much needed sleep is interrupted by a child who wants something, even if it's just a sip of water or a kiss goodnight.

Shock + Fear = News?
A few weeks ago I was honored to play a role on a Fatherhood Panel at the 41st National ASA Conference. The gentlemen that participated were extraordinary. Fathers. Sons. Fathers and Sons. It was a very special time for all of us. Each panel member had the floor for a short bit and shared their personal story about the relationship with their father, what is was like raising a child on the Autism Spectrum, and what it was like having Autism. Each participant played one or multiple of those roles and this gave the panel a great deal of depth in my opinion.

“Please don’t be afraid. He’s just a little boy.”