Who We Are

We are a family.  Mom, Dad, and two sons.  We work, we go to school, we study, we play, we laugh, we cry.  We are the face of autism. 

Our oldest child began showing atypical behaviors before we even knew what they were.  He was our first baby, and despite being educated, motivated parents, we just didn't know that our life, our baby, was different from any other's.  It wasn't until he was about 18 months old that it became clear, at least to us, that something wasn't as expected.  We began looking differently at the children around us, began asking different questions of friends, family, doctors.  We had, and have, the infinite good fortune to have a truly exceptional pediatrician, who took the first steps with us into our brave new world:  a referral to Early Childhood Intervention - assessments with speech diagnosticians, psychologists, occupational therapists.  Throughout the process, we heard the same refrain: "we've never met anyone quite like him."  This wasn't a surprise to us - neither had we!  He is spectacular, beautiful, amazing; but bewildering, frustrating, frightening.  Around this time our second son came into the world with an enormous splash that has not yet ceased.  Our younger son is sensitive, dramatic, enthusiastic, and coping with a world unlike many of his peers'.  We brought him home and proceeded to look for the balance between giving our special boy all of the interventions that he needed to find his place in the world and giving our precious new boy his fair share of time and energy.  
That quest for balance defines our world.  We walk the tightrope of public school and special education; we swing on the trapeze of emotions that come from all sides, often without warning; we tame the lions of our challenges; we run and tumble and act the clowns, checking our pride at the door.  We are The Huggable Circus.

We are the face of autism, but we are also so much more.