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Concrete Thinking Meets Current Events
A few weeks ago, and NHL player was arrested and charged with domestic violence. I debated whether to tell Ryan about it because I didn’t know how he would react. But ultimately I decided it was better...
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Fall Break
Schools were closed here Thursday and Friday for fall break. Unlike some past years, we didn’t have any elaborate plans. Veronica took off work on Thursday and I took off Friday and we mostly spent...
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Living, Not Existing
This is not a post that I look forward to writing. When it comes to the controversy in the autism community surrounding Autism Speaks, I have found the best policy for me has been to avoid the...
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This Is How We Should Talk About Autism
I am amazed. I am humbled. I am wiser and more connected. This little corner of the Internet has seen over 2,000 visitors and over 3,000 page views since my last post, “Living, Not Existing,” in...
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Shelter in the Storm
Self-advocacy. Self-awareness. Verbal tools to express both. The willingness to do so, unprompted. These are among the silver linings we found ourselves recounting this weekend, after Ryan opened up...
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Back On the Horse
Watching Ryan play hockey has given me a lot of proud moments. The first time he attended a hockey clinic, the first time he scored a goal in a three-on-three, cross-ice, no-goalie scrimmage (and...
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A Break in Routine
Routines are very important in our house. Ryan is most definitely a creature of habit, and whatever routines he has at the moment are repeated daily. The thing is, sometimes the routines change, and...
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Thankful
So this has been kind of a crappy week. Bullying issues at hockey and at school. Or water heater broke on and flooded the basement on Tuesday. I had to run out and buy a new dryer on Friday. Michigan …...
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Scenes From a Long Weekend
I hope your Thanksgiving weekend was as full of food, family and football (or hockey) as our was. A late-night adult league hockey game, combined with a bout of insomnia, have left we with precious...
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There’s Two of You Now
Sunday afternoon, our house. Ryan has decided to watch the Jets game. He knows it’s a key contest for the Jets if they have any hope of making the playoffs. It doesn’t go well. The next two-plus hours,...
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The Bet, Take Two
In the midst of our airport saga last week, there were moments. Moments of happiness. Of pure joy. Moments that came of Ryan’s mind, his unique imagination, his passion and focus. Moments that only he...
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We’re Talking About Practice
Ryan was ambivalent about going to his regular weekly hockey practice on Tuesday. To discover why required a bit of parental detective work. Ryan was originally supposed to miss the practice for his...
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Show Me a Good Loser
“Show me a good loser, and I’ll show you a loser.” It’s a quote famously attributed to legendary Green Bay Packers coach Vince Lombardi. Thankfully, Mr. Lombardi wasn’t speaking of youth sports. He was...
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To Protect, or Stand Down?
A few weeks back, Ryan came to us with an idea for a school storytelling assignment. He was really excited about his idea. His parents? Not so much. We tried everything we could think of to persuade...
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Merry Stress-mas
As I write this post, I’m sitting out my third major commuter train delay of the week. Happy holidays! This is always a stressful time of year. It seems like we manage to turn what should be a quiet...
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Motivation
Ryan and I have not played ball hockey in the backyard since our last series concluded more than a month ago. There are several reasons for that, weather and business travel among them. There’s also a...
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Reading for Pleasure
If Las Vegas had odds on Ryan’s most successful Christmas gift being a book, they would have been in the thousands-to-one range. But among his Sharks gear (a new Joe Pavelski jersey!) and Jets gear...
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Memory, In Microcosm
My son has a remarkable memory. When applied to the subjects that interest him, its power can be breathtaking. His ability to recall the dates and scores of thousands of NHL games is so stunning that...
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Awareness: Still Needed
There has been much debate in the autism community whether “awareness” is still a worthwhile goal. I very much believe that, no matter how tiresome, frustrating, or potentially divisive, these debates...
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This Moment, Brought to You by Technology
Ryan is going through a rough stretch with one school subject, which has ramped up his anxiety to a very high level. Homework and study sessions have become an exercise in frustration. Ryan becomes a...
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