Communications of Various Kinds
Friday morning Jim and I were to meet at 8am with the director of the big autism center. As we were running late, Jim dropped me off first at the center and took Charlie to school. While I waited with the director, the principal, and Charlie's case manager, I was able to take photographs of … Continue reading
More than “Side Effects”?
My son started taking Risperdal in the spring of 2004, when he was 7 1/2 years old, for self-injurious behaviors (head-banging). Charlie was already taking Zoloft for anxiety. (I went into more detail about the use of medication for autistic children here on Autism Vox; it's a topic that I was initially very hesitant to write about; … Continue reading
A Few Words From Yesterday
"Loose tooth. Stuck." Charlie himself said these words last night. We had been watching YouTube videos; he kept asking for another one and another one and I felt, heard, saw his agitation level rising to the roof and gently shut the lid of computer. At first I thought Charlie said "YouTube" and was asking for … Continue reading
Statement of Parental Concerns
Monday morning the school nurse called me to pick up Charlie. His neurologist has prescribed an anti-anxiety medication for him to take temporarily while he transitions to a new school placement and one of the side effects seems to be drowsiness. After Charlie was in our car (parked in front of the school), I went … Continue reading
It’s a Mystery
"It's a mystery" was what Jim said Sunday morning in answer to the EMT who had just taken Charlie's blood pressure, after Charlie had gotten very, very upset at the bagel store. Jim said this as he and I were trying to explain why we thought a major neurological storm had befallen Charlie. We talked … Continue reading
Sunday Was Rough
I'm not gonna hide anything. Sunday was difficult in a way that things haven't been for us at home with Charlie since early this summer; since all the way back to June. Charlie woke up smiling, smiled in the car en route to the bagel store, and completely fell apart when, not realizing how close … Continue reading
Once Upon A Very Unwild, Rainy, & Happy Saturday
Jim and I thought taking Charlie to see Where the Wild Things Are would be a good thing to do on a very, very rainy Saturday. We all slept in after a somewhat sleepless Thursday night. Charlie took awhile to wake up (and to transition out of sleeping mode), then got out the bikes while … Continue reading
Once Upon A Very Unwild, Rainy, & Happy Saturday
Jim and I thought taking Charlie to see Where the Wild Things Are would be a good thing to do on a very, very rainy Saturday. We all slept in after a somewhat sleepless Thursday night. Charlie took awhile to wake up (and to transition out of sleeping mode), then got out the bikes while … Continue reading
Life Does Go On
After Charlie was diagnosed with autism over 10 years ago, we thought everything had to be autism autism autism Charlie Charlie Charlie. In many ways, Jim’s and my life has been just that ever since; certainly when Charlie’s had trouble on the level of the past few months/past year at school, every last bit of … Continue reading
A Little Chirography*
I discovered a little big thing yesterday. Charlie can write the alphabet. Ok, if you look really closely (he doesn't press down so hard with the pencil) at the worksheet in the photo, you can see that a lot of the letters have vaguely lowercase a or s on its side shapes. Being a proud mother, … Continue reading
We Go With Him by kristina chew 