I've heard it said that people with autism love rules.  What they don't mention is that it's their rules they like.  Not necessarily yours.  If a rule doesn't make sense or he doesn't want to follow it, it's hard for Brother to do so.   For a long time, we had to have lunch at…

Today Brother spoke to me about himself.  He asked me if I read books in my mind.  Or watch movies.  I told him no.  He told me that he can read books by closing his eyes.  He can then see the words.  I'm sure he has a somewhat photographic mind.  He also said the last…

My son had a total of 4 hours of therapy each week.  He has 2 half hour sessions of speech therapy, 2 one hour sessions of occupational therapy and one hour of ABA therapy.  We spend many hours waiting for him every week.  Add in the travel time (25 minutes to ABA therapy) and our…

My son's life has always been unpredictable.  His father left for a Korea deployment 2 weeks after his birth.  We lived with my family for two years while Ben was away with a few visits in between.  Upon Ben's return, we moved to Missouri.  Less than two years later, we moved to Virginia.  Finally, we…

My son has some wonderful and not so wonderful quirks: He can taste different foods when he says certain words.  Most have absolutely nothing to do with the food except pizza.  How cool is it that when you say the word pizza, you taste pizza, but don't get all those extra calories? My son is…

Or would that be the lack thereof. When Brother was little, he would plop himself down as if he fell to start a conversation with someone.  It was painful to watch.  I just thought he was weird.  It turns out he was trying to communicate and that was the only way he could.  It was…

When my son was diagnosed with autism, I had just found out the day before I was pregnant with Pumpkin.  It was a very bittersweet time for me.  I felt overwhelmed by many emotions.  I was riding a high from the positive pregnancy test and then I crashed with the news that Brother did indeed…

  My son has autism. He remembers everyone's birthdays.  It's nice having a walking calendar. He struggles with comprehension when he reads. He plays house unceasingly with his youngest sister. He retreats into himself when there is too much sensory stimulation. He doesn't understand sarcasm, jokes, or idioms. He has a great sense of humor.…