spectrumom

When Sam started acquiring unprompted language, through our careful programming, I wrote each one down in one of those blank books you get at Barnes and Nobles .  I started with 'ice cream' when he was around 3 and stopped when he got to word #300 at about age four.  It started with a trickle.  And turned, if not into a waterfall, into a (dare I say it) babbling brook.  I stopped when I realized I just couldn't keep up. Nathan was never like that. He has rarely had unprompted language.  Around age 10 we realized he had language stored in his brain.  Words he could read.  Words he could understand receptively.  Words he could use prompted (Do you want cheese sandwich or chicken?  Chicken.)  Words he could be prompted into using on Proloquo2Go - 'I want to eat...Chicken'). A few years ago we were in a craft store and he saw a restroom.  "Toilet!"  He had to go.  I was so hopeful.  But still he requires scheduled b...

'You are so strong.' As if I had a choice. As if letting my kids drift into adulthood without fighting for their rights and their future was an option. I have been strong for 17 years.  Plus 14 years.  Plus 9 years. Unless you subtract the times I wasn't. The times when I hated myself for how I parented. The times I steal for myself. The times I am lazy. The times I don't really like my kids. The times I am an asshole to my kids. Those times are probably counted at time and a half. I think I must have a negative balance.

With the commonplace use of the 'triple test' we have become a society of eugenicists.  The test that gives warning of an increased risk of Down Syndrome and neural tube defects (spina bifida) is supposed to allow us to plan.  I rarely hear of anyone using it to plan, but instead hear people say "If it's positive, I'll have an abortion." I am pro-choice.  I will fiercely defend the right of a woman to decide when she wishes to carry a pregnancy, and when she doesn't.  If she would have chosen to not have gotten pregnant in the first place, she has the right to choose not to carry the pregnancy. Also, I cannot know all of the reasons that go into termination.  Perhaps she already has as much as she can handle, or perhaps she would be in danger if she had a child with a disability. But the most common use of the triple test, to have a 'perfect' child, is a symptom of a larger problem in society:               -The fear of...