Autism happens daily Autism happens dailyIt never goes away.Ten years have passed soDon't tell me It'll leave.That you got no right to say. For I see itI live itI breathe itEvery single day. With my sonHis toy road humpsSprawled on this floor Or that tableEvery which way. Autism happens dailyIt never goes away.We're still learning … Continue reading My Monday Metrical Musings #16
Tag: Autism
“Dad, is my ‘exile’ into the land of autism eternal?”
This is potentially the "mother" of all autism questions! And were you to ask me if there was another more frightening one for a parent, I honestly can't think of it right now. All I know is that this question never crossed my mind before. Not until I came across it recently in an account … Continue reading “Dad, is my ‘exile’ into the land of autism eternal?”
“An Englishman in Bedok” – Letter to C as he turns 10
Dear C Earlier this week, on the way to school, you started humming along to Sting's "An Englishman in New York" on Spotify. But instead of "New York", you later replaced it with "Bedok", a town twice removed from where we live, and at least two million times removed from the Big Apple herself! When … Continue reading “An Englishman in Bedok” – Letter to C as he turns 10
To “get” my son’s autism, I must go “small”
"BUT WHAT CAN I HOLD?!!" My peaceful early morning was shattered by those five words, belted out at the top of my son's lungs. They were followed by a mumbo-jumbo of incoherence that I couldn't quite catch. Not from where I was comfortably seated in my morning "throne room" anyway. But I needn't strain too … Continue reading To “get” my son’s autism, I must go “small”
Connecting Caregivers – finally meeting a very special & overdue need
A small speck in the universe Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com Being part of something bigger is what everyone's experienced at least once in our lives, whether we recognise it then or not. In fact, I would go so far as to say that it's part of every human's DNA that we aspire towards being … Continue reading Connecting Caregivers – finally meeting a very special & overdue need
Three more months and Caleb will be 10. But really, my son with autism is more like 5!
There's something that happens to a parent when his child turns from a single-digit birthday to a double. At least it does for this parent. I'm finding out that as January 2021 approaches, when Caleb turns 10, I seem to be caught up with a feeling of increasing anxiety that I can't quite explain. All … Continue reading Three more months and Caleb will be 10. But really, my son with autism is more like 5!
Staying home for my son with autism – one dad’s life outside of a job title
Looking back, I guess we always suspected Caleb had special needs, which we later found out to be autism. This was a suspicion that we already sensed when he was a baby. He didn't sleep easily, drank milk with great difficulty, ate little, but cried a lot. Everyone we knew assured us a second child … Continue reading Staying home for my son with autism – one dad’s life outside of a job title
“Three Wrongs Do Not An Essay Make” – How one memory derailed my writing plan
An editor approached me a couple of months back, asking if I would share with her readers my journey as a dad with a special needs child; in particular the period following my son's official ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder) diagnosis. My first thought was: "Ok, sure. That diagnosis happened more than two years ago so … Continue reading “Three Wrongs Do Not An Essay Make” – How one memory derailed my writing plan
ASD Book Review #2 – How To Be Autistic
In July 2019, I started what was supposed to be a regular series to review books written about ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder), a topic close to my heart. That July post also included useful information I put together about different categories of autism books (you can check it out here). Since then, life kinda got in … Continue reading ASD Book Review #2 – How To Be Autistic
To a child, LOVE’s not only spelled “T-I-M-E”; it’s also spelled….
As parents, we've all heard this adage more times than we care to count: For kids, LOVE is spelled T-I-M-E. Cos spending time with them is the best sign that we the parents care and love them. Many have even gone on to qualify that it's not just about Quality time; it's also about Quantity … Continue reading To a child, LOVE’s not only spelled “T-I-M-E”; it’s also spelled….