Barbe’s Story – Part II

It was the holiday season of 1993 and Barbe was the single mother of 3 children, two daughters and a son, Christopher, who had Touretts, epilepsy, OCD, ADHD and Neurofibromatosis. Because of her son’s serious health care issues he received Social Security benefits and Medicaid. That was until 3 months after Barbe worked two hours…

Sensory Modulation & Santa

Smelling cookies baking in the oven. Hearing Christmas carols being sung. Seeing bright lights flicker and flash throughout the community. Everyone knows that it is time for the holiday season! However, for many children, the things that evoke warm holiday memories in many of us are overwhelming. In July 2014, 1% of children in the…

Barbe’s Story – Part I

So here I am pretending I know what I’m doing in writing a “blog”, and to be completely honest, I have no idea what I’m suppose to say. Nor have I ever written “outside-the-box” (well, there was a couple poems for the magazine “Seventeen” many moons ago). People often ask me, how I got in…

Today we celebrate!

Not so long ago, just a few short years , on the first day of school, I sat in the parking lot of my son’s school sobbing my heart out as he started school. He experiences autism, and needs a very high level of support.

My Journey to understanding respite…

Nearly three years ago, all at once, my spouse and I became parents to three children, two of whom experience FASD. During the first year, we lived in an absolute dichotomous reality. The day was either good or, more frequently, hellacious. Nothing in-between. On good days, activities were predictable, routines went undisturbed, modifications were simple,…

Graduation Day!

Graduation Day. It’s here. After more than 15 years of school. A day filled with pride, excitement, anticipation…and relief. A day we were never sure we would have the opportunity to celebrate. There were no guarantees he would graduate. And, as with most things concerning Connor, he kept us guessing until the very last assignment…

My Guilt and its Impact on Caregiving

Susan Tanori is a mother of a daughter with autism and a Stone Soup Group Parent Navigator in Fairbanks, Alaska. Below she describes how a recent training she provided “became a confessional.” Read on to see how she opened up about some of the most difficult aspects of being a caregiver. Recently, I presented a workshop on “Caring for…