April brings “Autism {fill in the blank}” day and month. Is it “Autism Awareness,” “Autism Acceptance,” or something else? I don’t have the time or energy to care. Each year, I rant about the month. Most people are “aware” of autism, though I question if that awareness helps anyone. My…
Category: Health
From diagnoses to “treatments” and everything in between, posts about health and autistic life.
It’s the last few days of April, with finals starting in a few days. Student project teams are submitting their final reports, videos, and interactive fiction projects. As with the entire semester, I’ll be swamped with grading for the next two weeks in a mad dash to file grades on…
Podcast 0112; Season 7, Episode 5; 3 March 2024 Note: Recorded 7 June 2023 Originally Scheduled for September 2023 From “Caregiver Chronicles” website: “Caregiver Chronicles” is the story of one caregiver’s personal and professional journey as a caregiver. The host, Sarah Stelmach-Brown, was a Certified Nursing Assistant for 17 years.…
February 2024 is almost over and I haven’t managed to release a podcast episode with a guest since October 2023, nearly four months ago. The best I could do was a quick podcast on how busy we are, which I recorded in December out of a sense of guilt and…
I spent Christmas 2023 at home alone. Susan, Leigh, and Anne are in California, visiting family. My anxiety spikes when I’m alone. I worry about all the things that might go wrong because, too often, things have gone wrong while Susan and I were apart. From flooding basements, kidney stones, and…
Podcast 0111; Season 07, Episode 04; 4 December 2023 Our family is tired — exhausted — but we are well. The first half of this school year has gone smoothly, though everyone is extremely busy. We’re so busy that the blog and podcast had to be set aside, much as…
Podcast 0110; Season 7, Episode 3; 25 October 2023 David Villec is the neurodiverse father of Tiger, a 10-year-old autistic savant. Dave discusses his personal challenges and those of Tiger. The Autistic Tiger is 10-year-old Tiger Villec and his namesake character, also known as “TAT.” Tiger is a world-renowned artist…
As we approach the last week of September 2023, I can reflect on the return to school for the girls and me, declaring that survival mode exhausts the entire family. Yes, we’re in survival mode, and it’s a lot like hanging on to a rope suspended above a dark, bottomless…
Podcast 0108; Season 7, Episode 1; 15 August 2023 As we start a new academic year and a new podcast season, I am trying to balance my health and my desire to be productive. At the end of every night, I complain that I haven’t done enough. I feel like…
Podcast Episode 0107; Season 6, Episode 17; 25 July 2023 Dr. Bibi Pirayesh is an educational therapist and learning rights advocate based in Los Angeles, CA. She has spent the last 15 years working with hundreds of children, parents, teachers, and schools to enhance the lives of children with learning…