Coping with Autism

Our youngest, Nathan, was diagnosed very early and has grown by leaps and bounds. If you had asked me over a decade ago which was the worse of the two boys, I would have said that it was Nathan. He was pokey from day one and wasn't interested in a lot things other children were into. He cried at nearly everything, didn't like being held by strangers, didn't like men (including his own father) and did not transition well (at all) and was that way nearly from birth. My poor husband kept saying it was because he hated him or didn't like his skin color (my husband has brown skin). I told him Nathan was too young to know what hate was and there was no reason for him to dislike his father's skin color any more than he could hate someone when he was only a year old. His diagnosis came shortly after his brother's but he was diagnosed early (19 months) and was placed into therapy almost immediately. Nathan has come a long way. Next year, he enters high school and w

And we're back... I moved everything over to WordPress but then our desktop had severe issues, Peter broke a brand new laptop (insert crying, tears, and lamentations here) and I couldn't really update anything for almost a year. In the process, I somehow lost my rights to the copingwithautism.com URL and now if I want it, I'll have to pay a ridiculous amount of money for it. No, thank you. I'm back to Blogger. A number of things have happened in the last year. Last year, our daughter graduated from high school and we have discovered since that she really should be looked at again by a professional. There are suggestions that she may have mild Asperger's (which I have always suspected but didn't think was necessary to diagnose). It has been an issue since graduation (and her attempt at college last semester) and just "adulting" in general. The boys are doing well. Peter is now in high school and Nathan is set to finish this year mainstreamed and en