Autism and developmental disabilities Archives - Page 2 of 5

Autism, Superpowers, Dogs and Love

Winter is treadmill running season for me, and given my nerdy, guilt-driven personality, I can’t just watch Netflix series for entertainment. I also must watch educational type content -you know,...Read More →

Birthdays and Autism: National Diego’s Birthday Awareness Day

If you’ve read anything about Diego, you know he’s keen on birthdays, all birthdays, but especially his own. Diego's birthday fixation is unusual, not only in its intensity but also given his autism. ...Read More →

Making Sense of an Autism Diagnosis

Remember when autism used to be the rarest of conditions? When it would conjure up either Rain Man or the one autistic person you’d ever met in your life? For me, it was the boy at the beach who walked...Read More →

Seven Big Ideas on the Astounding Benefits of Tiny Habits

I was reading the book Atomic Habits by James Clear, and suddenly it hit me: the person I know with the best habits is autistic and intellectually disabled. He reads at a first-grade level and his myriad...Read More →

Autistic Ingenuity: 6 Highly Effective Strategies to Get What You Want

It takes Diego’s cousin Eugenia (who’s the same age as him) a few text messages to arrange an outing to a bar with friends in Manhattan. Should Eugenia decide to work remotely from Mexico City for a...Read More →

The Power of Prayer: It’s Not What You Think!

I’m too skeptical or lacking in faith to believe God intercedes when we invoke him in prayer. I mean, if I were to ask God, “Please, God, don’t let my son be one of the unnamed casualties from this...Read More →

Dear Mother of an Autistic Child: There’s No Need to Panic

Hi there fellow mom, I too have an autistic child, except he’s not a child anymore. His name’s Diego and he’s 27. You’ll go through various stages when it comes to how you view your child and his autism....Read More →

3 Reasons to Never Say ‘I Didn’t Have Time’

Diego, my 27-year-old autistic son, is the only person I know who never uses “I didn’t have time” as an excuse or explanation for what he does or does not do. Come to think of it, I’ve never even heard...Read More →

Autism Life: NEVER a Dull Moment

‍“God created autism to help offset the excessive number of boring people on earth.” Or so I read on my Linkedin feed the other day. Wish I could credit the quote, but my research led to no particular...Read More →

Mother’s Day Letter: You’ve Been a Good Mom and I Have Proof!

Hi there Dani!Thank goodness for the video cam your husband, Cesar, bought back when the kids were toddlers. There’s your proof you weren’t a bad mother. In fact, from what I can see, you were actually...Read More →