I am very excited to tell you that Caleb is successfully making the transition from his magnetic choice board to a basic communication app! Just like with the physical choice board, I was skeptical of what Caleb would be capable of learning, but did not want to limit his potential by not even trying it. Thank God I did, because…
Caleb had his 6 month IFSP (individualized family service plan) meeting on April 9th. This is where his early intervention “team” meets to discuss goals and changes that will take place over the next 6 months. The meeting consisted of myself, Caleb’s service coordinator, speech therapist, occupational therapist and his teacher. He was approved for an increase in every…
First and foremost, let me be clear that I do not want my child to be diagnosed with Autism, but rather, I need him to be. I know that he is somewhere on the Autism spectrum, as does everyone that is involved with his treatment, but his developmental evaluation team chose to wait another 12-18 months before making it official….
I could have never seen us as a “YMCA family” before, being that we’re not exactly “indoor sports” people, but I have to say that I am absolutely thrilled with our membership. I’m so happy with it that I held off on writing this entry for two months because I thought it was too good to be true! We joined…
The following is an extremely accurate (in my opinion) list of female Asperger traits from author Rudy Simone’s website “help4aspergers“. If you haven’t already, I would highly recommend reading her book “Aspergirls”. It’s perfect for any female who has AS (or suspects she might) or for anyone who knows a female with AS that they would like to understand better….
Before I move onto the topic of communication, I just want to update everyone on the status of Caleb’s developmental evaluation appointment. Finally, after 5 months of trying, we managed to get it scheduled for March 14th. The waiting list at the developmental evaluation center is currently a year or longer (Caleb’s pediatrician initially referred him at his 12 month…
We recently requested a new early intervention service coordinator. The last one was very friendly and bubbly, but not very good at uh, coordinating. We’re pleased with the new one. She took the time to come to our house and meet Caleb and go over the things that we need but were not getting from our first coordinator. One of…
The following is a Ted Talk featuring Temple Grandin. I know that she’s been around for awhile, and that some people are starting to get sick of hearing about her…but she’s new to me. All of this is new to me, and I’m so fascinated because for the first time, I’m finding people that I can relate to. “Temple Grandin,…
I’m so thrilled to report that Caleb’s OT (occupational therapist) got him to speak today! She was blowing bubbles for him and trying to get him to sign for “more” when he wanted her to blow again. To my shock and amazement he SAID “bubble” very clearly. Then right after that he said “more bubble”! This is the first time…
I was recently introduced to “TED Talks” through a friend of mine from the “CNY Asperger’s Women” group that I joined. I’m finding TED Talks to be fantastic, so you can expect to see more of them shared here. This particular talk is by Dr. John Hall who was originally diagnosed as being slightly mentally retarded and having low functioning…
Hello and welcome to our blog! I’m Donna Winrow. My husband Bryan and I met back in 2007 in a crowded church basement in Kingston, NY. We had to be the two most awkward people in the room, and at the time, we had no idea that there was actually a reason for that. 
