This is our autism, day 12

During the month of April in honor of Autism Awareness/Acceptance Month I am going to post a picture showing our autism. Autism is a spectrum. When you know one child with autism you know one child with autism. This is our autism.

The energizer bunny…I think a picture of the energizer says enough. Courtney keeps going and going and going….So this exhausted mom is going to leave it at that. This is our autism!

This is our autism, day 11

Therapy…Courtney has had a very full therapy schedule since the age of 3. She received ABA, Speech, feeding, OT and Physical therapy. I actually lose count when trying to total up the amount of hours of therapy. I have struggled over the years wondering if we load her with too much. It never fails that the moment I consider reducing her therapy some, she shows me some sort of sign that no only can she handle the busy schedule, but she actually does need it and thrives on it. Just the other day when she actually had a completely free day she used her talker repeatedly asking for her therapist and was mad when we told her not today. Our therapists are very much an important part of our village. This is our autism!

This is our autism, day 10

Sibling…in honor of National Sibling Day today my picture showing our autism is of Courtney and Alyssa because Alyssa is very much a HUGE part of our autism.

Alyssa is so much more than Courtney’s little sister. She is her hand to rub. She is Courtney’s peer who will teach her how to play. She is Courtney’s model. She is Courtney’s mini therapist. She is Courtney’s person to giggle with. She is the person that will make Courtney laugh when she is struggling. She is her number one cheerleader. She is her person! Alyssa is probably the most important part of our autism. This is our autism!

This is our autism, day 9

Milk cup…I was so proud of myself for getting Courtney off the baby bottle early on. I needed to find a cup that she didn’t need to tip because she couldn’t get the hand of holding and tipping bottle so she can feed herself. After trying several different type of straw cups that didn’t need tipping, we found one. 6 years later and she will still only drink her milk out of one type of cup. Put her milk in any other type of cup and she won’t drink it. So when you see my 7 year old drinking out of a “baby cup” know that this is literally the only way we get fluids in her. This is our autism.

This is our autism, day 8

Picky eater…Courtney has a very limited diet. This is probably half of the items she will eat on a regular basis. She’s been in feeding therapy for years to work on this. This is her lunch for school. Yes, a bunch of snack items. This is our autism.

This is our autism, day 7

Her feet…Courtney loves to be barefoot. She won’t wear shoes in the house, she won’t wear them out to eat. She won’t wear them in school she loves to have bare feet! This is our autism!

This is our autism, day 6

The talker…Courtney is considered non-verbal with apraxia. We are starting to hear verbal language but she is very difficult to understand. She uses a talker to communicate her wants and needs. She has made some amazing gains with her talker and it has been beautiful to watch. This is our autism.

This is our autism, day 5

Car rides…Courtney has been soothed by car rides since day 1. That is as long as the car was moving at a decent speed. If she is in distress it is one of our strategies to calm her down. There have been many of nights where we have put her in the car to put her to sleep. This is our autism.

This is our autism, day 4

Oral sensory seeker…Courtney puts EVERYTHING and ANYTHING in her mouth. That is except most foods. She doesn’t do it to eat these items. She either chews or licks them. Alyssa will some day have to tell her teacher that her sister ate her homework. This is our autism.