The Messy Art of Parenting Autism

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

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  • autism,  special education

    What Happened Wednesday

    January 11, 2021 /

    Last Monday I wrote about moving slowly into the New Year and how, so far, it had been gentle. Two days later–six days into the New Year–well, that all changed. Wednesday afternoon, there were a lot of words flying around. On my screen, on the radio as I was driving the kids home from school. A lot of government words, a lot of politician’s names, a lot of procedures, all coming out as rapid fire descriptions and questions. Words with a lot of emotion behind them. For those of you who have never sat in the car with J, watched a movie with him, or tried to have any sort…

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    The 10K Gamble and Learning to Trust J

    May 22, 2017

    Concussions, autism, and processing

    August 22, 2016

    Road trippin’

    July 18, 2017
  • autism,  COVID life,  motherhood,  special education

    We are living a privileged autism experience

    June 8, 2020 /

    After the events of George Floyd, I feel like our little life events this month have been trivial in the importance of the national dialogue about race and privilege in North America (and across the world) and so I feel like maybe this week’s post should focus on more important voices that need to be heard that haven’t been heard. What I would like to do with this post is recognize our privilege as a white autism experience and share some voices and experiences of people of colour, specifically people of colour with autism. It’s an area of inequality that I should be more aware of, and I’m embarrassed to…

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    The Well Child

    February 8, 2016

    The Uneaten Bowl of Spaghettios

    January 27, 2020

    XC Recognition 2020

    November 2, 2020
  • anxiety,  autism,  COVID life,  high school,  mental health,  special education

    COVID Rules

    May 12, 2020 /

    Monday morning, J and I sit in front of his school-issued laptop while we chat with his special ed teacher, para, and speech therapist in our little “small talk” session and suddenly J bursts into a complete meltdown. Not just meltdown–I’m pretty sure it’s a panic attack because there’s hyperventilation and big ugly-cry sobs. We try to keep him on camera to help talk him through it–to assure him that things will not just be fine, things will be great, but he can’t do it and he needs to leave the room. It’s a very big reaction to (what we thought) was a pretty benign question: When is quarantine over?…

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    Let’s play a game

    April 29, 2019

    Making life hell on purpose

    July 18, 2016

    Sertraline

    July 13, 2020
  • autism,  COVID life,  high school,  home strategies,  IEP,  motherhood,  special education

    First Day of School Take 2

    April 6, 2020 /

    Wednesday Fargo Public Schools started their first day of school thanks to COVID-19. It seems like everyone I know across the US and across the ocean (in Saudi Arabia) has already been participating in virtual school for at least a week or two already. In general, I feel like North Dakota has been a few weeks behind everyone on everything COVID related (probably because we fall 47 out of 50 in population size in the United States). And that’s okay. I (personally) need that extra time to mental prepare for all the changes that are happening, and I appreciate watching and learning from everyone else who has started the “new…

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    Stories Between the Pictures

    September 23, 2019

    No, he’s not like Sheldon, Max, or Sam

    September 25, 2017

    Little Changes and a Step Closer to Empathy

    October 12, 2015
  • anxiety,  autism,  Early Intervention,  Education,  high school,  mental health,  middle school,  modifications,  special education

    Violence in the Classroom: From an Autism Mom’s Point of View

    May 6, 2019 /

    Violence in the classroom has become a really big issue. In Fargo, it’s been in the paper and on the news. And it’s something that’s been happening across the country. Here’s a news clip from a Utah TV station: This is a topic I have really struggled with over the last few years. I have a son who sometimes does those things. I have a daughter who witnesses those things in her classroom or in the hallway. I have teacher friends. My mum was a teacher. I’m a teacher (I’ve taught at the university level as an adjunct and at the preschool, elementary, middle, and high school levels as a…

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    The world keeps changing every 2 hours

    March 16, 2020

    Autism is my rabbit hole

    August 21, 2017

    Where do we go from here?

    October 10, 2016
  • autism,  Education,  IEP,  motherhood,  special education

    Ave Verum Corpus

    April 15, 2019 /

    When I was about eight or nine, I remember standing in the middle of my classroom choir on our first stop of our little elementary school musical tour, wanting to crawl in a corner and hide. I knew every single note of the song we were about to sing, but I didn’t know any of the Latin besides the first three words: Ave Verum Corpus. Being good little Canadian kids, this was about the same time we were also learning French. Boy did I love French–I was really, really good at French. I was the master of the weekly French dictee. Not only was I really good at learning language,…

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    January Was a Tough Year, But We Made It

    February 3, 2020

    J can do something most kids can’t

    February 27, 2017

    A Letter to My Younger (Mom) Self

    April 2, 2018
  • autism,  cross-country,  learning strategies,  special education,  strategies

    Using the Autism Toolbox to Make XC a Little Easier

    September 24, 2018 /

    J is the boy in the black and gold Brooks. Arms drooped around his neighbours’ backs. Pieces of masking tape bound around his fingers. The droopy arms and masking tape scream to me “autism,” although they probably don’t to you. I think that’s one of the funny things about autism. I’m always super aware of all the quirky or socially “different” parts of J that I don’t think a lot of people think twice about. J has gotten really good over the last couple of season of “looking like a XC runner.” J goes to practice all by himself now. J takes the bus to meets on his own. J…

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    Making the watch the boss

    November 11, 2019

    J won XC

    October 12, 2020

    Imagine Dragons Love

    November 19, 2018
  • autism,  Early Intervention,  sensory processing,  special education

    On Re-Finding Your People

    June 26, 2018 /

    Tuesday afternoons I sit in the visual therapy waiting room and watch moms give their son or daughter a quick shower of encouragement before their child goes back with their therapist. Almost always there is a sigh of momentary relief. Sometimes they’re alone and they pull out their book or phone and have a peaceful 45 minutes to themselves. Sometimes they’re multi-tasking their book or phone with their other children in the waiting room. Sometimes they’re out the door again to pick up their other children from an activity and ten minutes later they’re back again with another child in tow. It wasn’t until J gave me a very enthusiastic,…

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    J won XC

    October 12, 2020

    Why I’m thankful for autism

    November 20, 2017

    The injury

    July 11, 2016
  • autism,  screenings,  special education,  strategies

    Making Peace with the Body You’ve Got

    June 11, 2018 /

    Maybe it’s my autism parenting experience, maybe it’s my own personal journey, maybe it’s my years of people watching, but I am thoroughly convinced that every single person, regardless of age or gender, has a continuous personal battle to make peace with they body they’ve got. I am 100% confident if I asked everyone I knew the question, “If you could change one thing about your body, what would it be?” every single person would be able to come up with an answer. Height, weight, hair colour, eye colour, physical features like noses and ears and toes and fingers, that sagging mommy pouch you tuck into your pants–I know every…

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    sarahwbeck 0 Comments

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    Little Changes and a Step Closer to Empathy

    October 12, 2015

    Boys and men

    June 20, 2016

    The Minneapolis Trip That Didn’t Happen

    September 4, 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…

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    The Cat Job

    July 1, 2019

    J won XC

    October 12, 2020

    Let’s talk behaviours

    May 8, 2017
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