​It's been a while since I've posted but I wanted to quickly share how this summer went compared to previous years and how my son's Autism diagnosis last fall helped me craft a better experience for both of us. I enrolled him in ONE single day camp—solely for kids with special needs—called Camp Sunnyside / Easter Seals. Well, actually, he went to one cooking camp somewhere else in the first week of summer but as expected, it was fresh hell. So I was crossing my fingers that Camp Sunnyside would work out because I had no plan B.
​

The journey to become an advocate for your child is daunting but you're not alone. In the last month I've been to a couple of events aimed at networking and spreading information about local resources for parents and teachers. This is a whole new world for me and I want to share some lessons I'm learning as I navigate the various support systems of this exciting grassroots movement of parents, and slowly learn to speak up for my son in a more assertive way. I know some parents are already in that zone but I've always been shy about advocating at school in addition to being discouraged by the former principal and teachers from pursuing an IEP or a 504 due to my son's ADHD. Now that he's officially diagnosed with ASD and his academic performance is at a low point, I've mustered up the courage to pursue an IEP at school, and I also want to know the available resources for my son.

My kid is not unlike many other kids that are diagnosed in piecemeal fashion: first with ADHD, then Sensory Processing Disorder (SPD), and now Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). I affectionally call the timeline of his diagnoses: the Summer of (age) 5, the Summer of (age) 7, and the Summer of (age) 9.

My son has struggled from an early age emotionally, socially, and academically. His father died when he was 23 months old and grief seemed to be the obvious explanation for his puzzling behaviors at first. Grief in children can take on many forms and go on for many years. He was often misunderstood as misbehaving because he "looks" neurotypical, but as he grew, something was clearly amiss and I began seeking professional help.