In a world where you can be anything BE KIND

Autism Awareness Month

April is autism awareness month. I ask you to take a moment to read how we can make a more inclusive community for children like my son. 

Emmett is 8 years old. He is non speaking. And amongst his Autism diagnosis he is also diagnosed with Fragile X Syndrome and Epilepsy. 

I ask that you take the time to be kind to him and us his family. We are trying our son is trying his hardest to fit in a world that was not design for his needs. 

Therefore, 

When you see him hitting us because he is overwhelmed by his environment and is sensory overloaded. 

Be kind. 

When you see him riding on the grocery cart and see his 8 year old body sit on the baby/toddler seat. Yes we know he is to big for it. But developmentally he doesn’t and it keeps him safe and makes it possible for us to get some food. 

Be Kind. 

When you see our van parked at the handicap parking. And wonder why we are parked there. There is very solid reasons why we are parked there. If Emmett has a meltdown we need to be in close access to our car so he can safely calm down, if he has a seizure and needs his emergency medication, or if he gets tired because he has low muscle tone and his legs can only take him so far without getting tired. Just know that this pass makes it possible for him to go out in the community.

Be Kind. 

When he is loud making grunting noises in a very quiet waiting area at doctors offices, clinics, or at a restaurants. The noises are part of his communication and they mean something. 

Be Kind. 

When he is spitting out food and making a mess and you are sitting next to us and wonder why an 8 year old is spiting food out of his mouth. Emmett has dysphasia and sensory issues which makes it difficult for him to swallow, which causes him to overstuff his mouth, which causes the spitting of food. He is trying not to do this but is a skill he has not yet succeeded. So please 

Be Kind. 

When he comes and sits next to you and gets extremely close to you invading your personal space. He has no awareness of personal space. We are working on it. Please. 

Be Kind. 

When he is covering his ears it means he is overwhelm with noises, people’s voices, or something in his surroundings and is trying his best to cope with this the only way he knows how. 

Be Kind. 

How can you Be Kind. 

Is simple just smile at us instead of commenting rude things, rude stares, or making assumptions that we are bad parents. We special needs parents just want our society to accept our kids and their differences and to be kind to them. Our hearts ache when they can't have access to their community because of peoples' s ignorance. 

 

April Autism Acceptance Month

 April is Autism Acceptance Month. 

So what does that mean for our sweet boy who has non speaking autism. 

It means that every year around this time everyone tries their best to raise awareness for Autism in hopes that one day our kids will be fully accepted. 

Over the past 7 years of my son’s life I have learned that acceptance doesn’t come easy and it takes years to obtain it. 

Sometimes it feels like pulling teeth. 

Is easy for people to say “oh yea I accept kids with autism”

But do they really? 

Because I still see parents pulling their kids away as my child walks in the playground making loud noises and jumping of excitement. I see your stares at the store when my big 7 year old still rides on a grocery cart because if he didn’t I probably wouldn’t be able to shop. I see you at the restaurant staring at me still feeding my big kid. I see your children the ones that you say you teach kindness too move away as my child tries to approach them ignoring him like he didn’t exist. 

Where is the acceptance then?

 As a parent of a child with autism I can honestly say it is in these circumstances that we need the most acceptance. We need you to see past the Autism label and see our child as a human being. 

Homeschooling with a twist of joy.

 Homeschooling was never something I envision myself doing. Last year when we decided to embark this new journey I thought that it was a short term kidda thing. Now that we are going on year two I find myself realizing that our homeschooling journey will consist of a lifelong journey. 

So how is homeschooling going? I often gets asked this. Honestly is going great. I love spending time with my kids. I enjoy looking up curriculum ideas and feeling in complete control of my kids teachings. I currently homeschool Emmett who is in1st grader, and a Amaya is in 5th grader. 

I love learning along side of them. I have learned more about the United States geography in the past 2 weeks than I ever learned in my lifetime in the public education system. Amaya has a love of learning that I treasure so much. 

I asked Amaya if she wanted to continue homeschooling this year and she immediately said yes! I have always been transparent with Amaya and I let her know that going back to school is always an option for her. Right now she wants to homeschool so that is what we are doing.

On the other hand, Emmett does not share the same joy for learning as Amaya. He loves to do things on his own terms. Emmett enjoys the freedom of homeschooling a bit to much and he is the king of not wanting to do things. It takes a lot of creativity on my part and research to get him to participate. 

I have learned a few things in the past year of homeschooling two kids that are the complete opposite of each other. 

I learned that

You need a whole lot of patience.

You do not need to know shit.

You do not need to stick with one curriculum.

Their are so many curriculum choices.

Do what works for your family. 

You will doubt yourself and your decision to homeschool at least once a week. 

Homeschooling is hard work and it takes dedication. 

Take days off. 

Have fun I mean it. 

Play with your kids, smile at them, have lots of cuddle times. 

My kids love cuddling on the bed and doing some reading in the comfort of mommy's arms. 

Their is no greater joy than spending time with your children, and to see the spark of joy on their eyes as they learn something new.

Welcome Back Update

It has been a while since I wrote anything.

Primarily because this last year has been a crazy, and hectic. Right?

We have bought and move to our new home, a new town, and of course COVID19all happen at the same time.

 

But as our life's get back to some normalcy I'm feeling better and I am feeling motivated.

I want to share it all with you guys my loyal followers.

Today I logged back into the blog to my surprise I check the STATs and you all still checking out the blog. It made me a bit sad to have left it this long and to not have kept up with it. My dearest apologies. 

This year our family made the decision to homeschool both Emmett and Amaya. 

Emmett is now finishing up Kindergarten and Amaya is finishing up fourth grade.

I am so excited to share our homeschool journey with you all. 

I have spent the last year figuring out the best way to teach our kids at home.

As we finish this year I find myself feeling so accomplished.

I have learned so much in the last year teaching my kids. I have learned what works and what does not. 

Our family has decided to continue our homeschool journey and the kids are very excited to have mommy as a teacher this upcoming year. 

Welcome Back!! Love always Erika 

Accepting the Unacceptable

I am a special needs parent and I accept that my child has a disability.

I hate that fact that this is our reality.
I don't like to spend my days in therapies, doctor appointments or constantly researching about my child's disability.
I hate telling people that my child is different my heart aches every time.
I hate thinking about my child's future because I know that I can never die.
I hate knowing that my child will probably never have a "typical life" whatever this means.
I hate having to explain my child's disability to people over and over again.
When you have a typical child you don't walk around explaining your child’s  behaviors to people.
I hate it all.
I could probably go on and on about all the things I hate about my child having a disability. 

But.

I accept it. 

I accept the Unacceptable.

You don't have to be OK with the difficult things that come with your child's disability. 
You can hate the fact that your child can't do this or that.
But please don't get stuck there.
As a special needs parent you are allowed to hate it all.
We do have to learn to accept the Unacceptable.
The only way we can help our child is to accept their unique world.
We have to embrace all their differences.
Learn to love their world.
Join their world so they can come to ours.
We have to be willing to change the world for our child.
Today and everyday.

I accept you Autism.

I accept you Epilepsy.

I accept you Fragile X Syndrome.

You are Unacceptable because you make it so hard for me to connect with my child, but you also make him unique.

You have taught me to love all the differences, and to never take the little things for granted. 

You have taught me that consistency is key.

You have taught me to celebrate every milestone no matter how small.

You have taught me that different is not less.

You have taught me that is okay not to fit in when you were born to stand out.

You have taught me to see the able not the label.

You have taught me patience.

You have taught me to see the world from a different angle.

Most of all you have taught me that love needs no words.

So today and everyday I accept it all. Yes is Unacceptable.It's difficult and is not fair. We don't know why were chosen to live this way, but maybe just maybe we were chosen so we can change the world one piece at a time. 

Find us on Youtube:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-AsQEIpZ-s&t=53s

This amazing Template that I am sharing with you all can help parents create a profile that they can share with their child's educators, and therapists. It can help educators get a glimpse of the child's personality as well as their diagnosis, needs, and strengths. Also established a positive form of collaboration between parent and educator. IEPs and assessments are huge and full of so much information that not all the staff working with your child might get a chance to understand your child's needs, or personality.  Therefore printing this sheet out and handing it out to the people working with your child can benefit tremendously.

 I have attached the link below feel free to add your child's own unique needs and share with your child's educators, therapist, bus drivers, paras etc.  

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ZA3g6yH3mYb6DanIKRPNmqz7cwCqqpxgldwQU36vymQ/edit?usp=sharing