First post, my life

I've been meaning to start up a blog and get my thoughts out, maybe help someone going through the same thing. Who knows but I think it's healthy to share stories and experiences. So here's my story...


I'm 38, single and a mother of two wonderful little girls both diagnosed with autism. E is 20 months, diagnosed at 15 months and S is 4 years old diagnosed at 2 1/2.

I'm gonna start out by saying, it's hard! It's constant work, filling out forms, faxing, making phone calls, emailing, therapy, if they happen to be in daycare or a program etc, constantly singing for my kids.
I sing all day everyday to make transitions easier.
For those that don't know what a transition is in the autism world, it's changing scenery or changing activity whatever they happen to be doing. For some people with autism transitions aren't a factor, although quite a few deal with this and my two girls do aswell. So singing while changing diapers, brushing teeth, waiting for the bus anything really or have their favourite music on. Music does WONDERS for us!! I cannot stress this enough.
They love nursery rhymes, not radio tunes and both will let you know fast if it's not what they want to hear by screaming at the top of their lungs, crying, kicking and flailing. I'm their mum obviously I know them best and even I don't always know what they want or need.

With my youngest who's non verbal right now she cries or bangs her head on the floor when she's frustrated. My oldest is just learning to say "frustrated" when she is but doesn't always say it. Sometimes we can work through it fast other times not so easily. When S is feeling overwhelmed and frustrated she will jump up in the air and land on her bum, run around the house back and forth, ping pong herself off of things, plug her ears and close her eyes (also does this when she's excited), she also hits her head on the floor.

Both of my girls seek out deep pressure touch. They don't "like" it, they need it. They find it calming. They also have a fascination with belly buttons :) My oldest S is sorta growing out of it but still does it and little E has no problem lifting up my shirt wherever we happen to be or lifting up other people's tops too. We co-sleep E and I and every night she'll lift up my top and squish my skin and stick that little finger in my belly button lol. She'll do this for about 5 minutes or so until she flops off me, lands beside me on her tummy with her fingers in her belly button. And thats how she falls asleep every night. If I'm wearing her in the carrier, she finds her button no problem, plays with it and passes out.

I'll go more into detail about their sensory needs in future posts.

Going to end this post here and hope my life can make you smile :)