The Messy Art of Parenting Autism

Adventures with autism, musings on parenting, and seeing the world in a new way

  • Home
  • Autism
    • milestones
    • early intervention
    • social skills
    • teen years
    • medication
  • About Anxiety
    • anxiety
    • sensory processing
    • mindfulness
    • mental health
  • School Front
    • middle school
    • math
    • reading
    • learning strategies
      • handwriting
      • study skills
      • apps
    • The IEP
  • Home Front
    • family
    • siblings and autism
    • motherhood
    • home strategies
    • travel
  • Running Bits
    • track
    • cross-country
    • exercise
  • About Me
  • Home
  • Autism
    • milestones
    • early intervention
    • social skills
    • teen years
    • medication
  • About Anxiety
    • anxiety
    • sensory processing
    • mindfulness
    • mental health
  • School Front
    • middle school
    • math
    • reading
    • learning strategies
      • handwriting
      • study skills
      • apps
    • The IEP
  • Home Front
    • family
    • siblings and autism
    • motherhood
    • home strategies
    • travel
  • Running Bits
    • track
    • cross-country
    • exercise
  • About Me

No Widgets found in the Sidebar Alt!

  • autism,  high school,  home strategies,  learning strategies,  math,  sensory processing

    My Black is Your Navy

    November 5, 2018 /

    For as long as I can remember, my dad has struggled with colour.  I remember him rushing out the door to get to work, asking my mom one last time, “is this shirt blue or grey?’ or “does this shirt match this tie?” There were a lot of questions about socks too. “Are these socks black or navy?” and the guaranteed followup question: “Are you sure they’re navy? They look black to me.” My dad is red green colourblind, but he also has a hard time sorting out cool greens and light greys; light blues and light greys, light pink and light greys, brown and greens.  When he was dating…

    read more
    sarahwbeck Comments Off on My Black is Your Navy

    You May Also Like

    The Cat Job

    July 1, 2019

    COVID Rules

    May 12, 2020

    J’s First Track Meet

    April 25, 2016
  • autism,  helps,  home strategies,  math,  strategies

    Reality VS Perception

    July 16, 2018 /

      One of my professor friends posted this picture on facebook the other day with the caption:  “For my friends in academe.” Every teacher I know feels the same way about the summer “decline.” Once the fourth of July comes around it seems like the first day of school is around the corner, which means all of my grand ideas for working with J hit a reality check. I realize that I haven’t come even close to doing all of the “catch up” things I’ve planned with him. This time around, I haven’t been close to even starting half of the things on my list: summer running, J’s weight training…

    read more
    sarahwbeck Comments Off on Reality VS Perception

    You May Also Like

    “Here at the end of all things”

    June 21, 2021

    Firsts are hard: Part 1

    August 29, 2016

    That’s evolution, folks

    August 27, 2018
  • autism,  Education,  helps,  high school,  home strategies,  learning strategies,  math,  sensory processing,  special education,  strategies

    Two Incredible Surprises that Emerged from Finals Week

    January 15, 2018 /

    Like all things autism, the strategies for finals week were thought out long in advance. Back in December, J’s teachers sent home various forms of “study guides” the last few days before break so we could get a head start on studying for January finals, and we took FULL advantage of that. Over the break, J and I read all the short stories again. I made DOZENS of flash cards for English vocab, Foods vocab. I made picture cards for the short stories and we worked on those every single day of the break. No rest for the wicked, I guess. When J returned after the break, J’s special ed…

    read more
    sarahwbeck Comments Off on Two Incredible Surprises that Emerged from Finals Week

    You May Also Like

    Still so much to learn

    November 5, 2019

    A New Label

    June 18, 2018

    Character development

    October 24, 2016
  • autism,  Education,  handwriting,  helps,  high school,  home strategies,  learning strategies,  math,  modifications,  special education,  study skills

    When You’re Not a Hermione Granger Student

    September 18, 2017 /

    The fact that one of my kids needs accommodations or modifications for homework and tests is still a hard concept for me. I was the Hermione Granger student. I sat in the front of the class. I did all the questions on every assignment. I got uber nervous–sick to my stomach sometimes–over getting tests back because I needed at least a 90% to feel good about myself. Not that I always got an “A” on everything. But if I didn’t, I felt like I had to do some major re-evaluations about my life. And then I have J. J is a kid that needs all of the accommodations and modifications.…

    read more
    sarahwbeck Comments Off on When You’re Not a Hermione Granger Student

    You May Also Like

    The power of mindfulness

    June 13, 2016

    Knowing how much to push

    April 24, 2017

    Just relax and shake out

    August 31, 2020
  • autism,  Education,  home strategies,  math,  middle school,  modifications,  strategies,  study skills

    The Virtues of Algebra

    July 31, 2017 /

    J’s academic strength has always been math. It has been his “language”—the one he has always understood the best ever since he was a toddler.  Math is predictable, math is rote calculation, math is fact families. It’s predictable. 3X4 always equals 12. He has always been phenomenal at it. And then came Algebra in middle school math, and all of a sudden, J was no longer good at math. This type of math requires decisions. You need to look at an equation and decide what like terms need to be combined. You need to be able to look at the equation and figure out how to get x by itself.…

    read more
    sarahwbeck Comments Off on The Virtues of Algebra

    You May Also Like

    The Cross Culture Kid

    April 16, 2018

    Reconciling the Present with the Future

    February 15, 2016

    Autism Doesn’t Exist in a Vacuum

    March 12, 2018
  • autism,  empathy,  home strategies,  math,  middle school,  motherhood,  siblings and autism

    Character development

    October 24, 2016 /

    I feel like I’m hitting that phase in parenting where all of a sudden, I’m connecting with my kids on a different, more mature level. Some of it (unfortunately) has been because of what’s been going on in the news lately. I’m finding myself having discussions about words like “groping” and “sexual assault” during afternoon pickup times. Usually it’s not a problem having NPR in the car when I have the kids around, but even as unflashy and unsensational public radio usually is, there’s just no way getting around quotes sometimes used by recent public figures. Most of these types of conversations I’m having are with W. But J was…

    read more
    sarahwbeck Comments Off on Character development

    You May Also Like

    J can do something most kids can’t

    February 27, 2017

    Knowing how much to push

    April 24, 2017

    Retrofitting

    December 20, 2016
  • cross-country,  handwriting,  home strategies,  math,  modifications,  study skills

    Evolutions and adjustments

    September 19, 2016 /

    Even though we’ve settled into our school routine, there are always those unexpected “bumps” along the way. Those “bumps” aren’t always bad things. Sometimes they’re just added adjustments to the regular routine to make things smoother. Since J’s been going (and participating!) in his team’s XC meets, we’ve had to figure out how to make up for that school time and study time lost while attending meets. We live in Fargo, North Dakota, and do a lot of traveling to nearby small towns for meets (because there’s just not a lot of people who live in North Dakota outside of Fargo!). J’s had meets in Jamestown (which is about 2 hrs by bus there and…

    read more
    sarahwbeck 2 Comments

    You May Also Like

    Faking it so everyone makes it

    August 24, 2020

    XC Recognition 2020

    November 2, 2020

    The blessing and curse of a long weekend

    October 23, 2017
  • home strategies,  math,  social skills,  strategies

    Transfer Skills

    May 16, 2016 /

    Once, as a little girl, I remember standing in line with my mom at a Zellers checkout and my mom asking the cashier for change in quarters, nickels, and dimes. In school teacher fashion, that summer, she taught me and my sister how to make change—with real money. Not paper cut outs of coins or plastic coins, but real coins. Even back when I was 6 or 7 years old, I hated math, but I remember my mom telling me, “This is important. You’re going to have to know how to do this. This is a type of math I guarantee you’ll need to know.” And I believed her. Because I…

    read more
    sarahwbeck Comments Off on Transfer Skills

    You May Also Like

    Evolutions and adjustments

    September 19, 2016

    Reality VS Perception

    July 16, 2018

    The power of mindfulness

    June 13, 2016
  • family,  learning strategies,  math,  middle school,  social skills

    Staying Inside the Lines

    November 10, 2015 /

    I feel like when you’re doing the autism gig, you’re constantly keeping your kid within the lines, corralling them into the spaces society creates. There’s personal boundaries, ethical boundaries, social boundaries. As a society I think that’s how we make sense of the world. Autistic kids are always seeking these lines and laws and boundaries too. Except they have their own lines and boundaries and many times they don’t match up with everyone else’s. Of course, “staying inside the figurative lines” has always been sort of an enigma to J. Figurative lines are more nuanced. You can’t see someone’s personal bubble–and everybody’s is different. You can tell a joke but sometimes it backfires…

    read more
    sarahwbeck 2 Comments

    You May Also Like

    A little Christmas story

    December 27, 2016

    My sister is flying solo because her family is separated by COVID-19

    March 23, 2020

    There’s no place like home

    July 24, 2017
Photo Credit: SimplyKPhotos

Search

Archives

Categories

  • Instagram
  • Facebook
  • Twitter

Check out J’s Running Journey in the Fargo Forum

Ashe Theme by WP Royal.