It’s not easy to find an AAC consultant in this country. Anyone who’s looking for one knows this. AAC stands for “Adaptive and Augmentative Communication,” and it’s precisely what Fiona uses when she tells me (with her talker) that she wants … Continue reading
Every few weeks I stumble across an article arguing that parents shouldn’t publicly write about their kids. Some of these articles are written by parents who once wrote about their kids but have since changed their minds. Some of these … Continue reading
There’s a small town in Belgium named Geel (pronounced hale with a throaty, Germanic H). By 1930, a quarter of its residents were mentally ill. If you know about Geel, you know this was not because something lurked in the … Continue reading
I’ve always loved nouns. As a kid, I loved the Richard Scarry books that name every freaking noun on a page. I loved putting my finger on the objects—comb, brush, bowl—and saying the nouns. I love the lines in Genesis where … Continue reading
Almost five years have passed since the day I labored in a hospital tub and birthed the tiny baby that a midwife immediately called Peanut. We named that baby Fiona and we cradled her unfathomably small, four-pound-twelve-ounce body. In the … Continue reading
Today, after my husband got Fiona dressed for school, she plopped herself on the living room floor and flipped through a book. “Time to eat, Fee,” my husband said. He’s the one who usually fries her eggs, and she’s usually … Continue reading
The vast, bright main floor of Dartmouth-Hitchcock Hospital is covered by an atrium. The hospital is infused with natural light, occasionally adorned with ficus trees and other foliage, and busily occupied by all kinds of people in suits, scrubs, dresses, … Continue reading
Dear Wolf-Hirschhorn Syndrome, I’ve known you about four and a half years. You came three months after my daughter, or at least my knowledge of you did. In truth, I’d carried you just as I’d carried her, a fact that … Continue reading
The first glimmer comes out of nowhere. I knew it would come, and yet I didn’t expect it so soon. It comes at the tail end of a Saturday lunch, as my husband and I look at the dirty … Continue reading
It occurred to me yesterday that if my children were my friends, I would probably have to break up with them. Not because I do not love them boundlessly. My love for them is like the universe: infinite and ever … Continue reading
Hard as in the hardwood floors always coated with Cheerio crumbs and unrecognizable dried sticky stuff (because toddlers). Hard as in waking three times in one night because your kid’s lightweight immune system has yet to receive its boxing gloves … Continue reading
It’s not like jeans shopping. First, rather than piling into your arms several pairs, in the end you can only pick one. Second, and more importantly, rather than selecting from a wall of fancy cuts and colors—the skinny jean and … Continue reading
The online conversation went like this: A woman on Facebook posted an article about how a Monsanto chemical might be contributing to the rise in autism. Another woman, self-disclosing as autistic, said the article was fear-mongering and unfairly demonizing … Continue reading
![[Image: The backs of Fiona and Petra, who are in the swings.]](https://starinhereye.files.wordpress.com/2015/11/img_9247.jpg?w=150)
It was 3 pm but it felt like 4 pm, and we live in Vermont, so the low-hanging sun made it look like 5 pm. Fiona, Petra, and I cast long shadows on the ground. My shadow was in the … Continue reading
