After the death of Sarah Burke and other skiers in Colorado, I can’t help but question the sensibility of extreme sports. With three boys training in freestyle I found it necessary to do some in depth research to find peace in all of the sadness. SOURCE: Aspen Real Life Read More →
Autism: Stem Cells Disappoint
My husband Richard and I began this blog in April, 2010 to document our daughter, Emma’s progress or lack of, specifically from stem cell treatments. I have always been a note taker, someone who sought a certain degree of solace in keeping a journal, so writing a blog didn’t seem like... Read more →
Autism: Emma’s New Food, Day 3
I didn’t have time yesterday to go into Emma’s response to being told she could no longer have her usual breakfast of the past six years – cheerios with milk and 2 slices of whole wheat toast with butter and raspberry jam or her weekend breakfast of pancakes (mix from William’s & Sonoma)... Read more →
Autism: On the Spectrum
I was asked recently why I am trying so desperately to overcome autism. It’s a valid question and it made me think about the challenge of writing about one’s child in a way that honestly captures that child with all their complexities. A week or so ago I wrote in my post entitled A Cure – “Emma... Read more →
Andrea Beard: Accepting the Facts
Today’s blog continues the journey of the birth of oursecond son Trey, who was diagnosed with a very rare disorder calledgastroschisis at our second ultrasound. To follow the full story please visit On A Serious Note. After the first trip to Denver to meet with the high riskpregnancy doctors there... Read more →
CON GAMES: Pitkin County, Colorado, Suicides A Way Of Life
In 2005, the death by suicide of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson Jr. at his home in Woody Creek, Pitkin County, Colorado, was literally the shotgun heard round the world, reverberating between and among political and literary types circumnavigating the planet. Nonetheless, the famous doctor’s death was not... Read more →
Is There A Cure For Autism?
One of the most difficult things for those of us who have a child on the autism spectrum is hearing the words “There is no cure.” It is something almost all of us have, at some point, had to hear. Yet, if one goes to the bookstore there are a number of books promising just that. A cure.... Read more →
Biting and Other Self-Injurious Behaviors – Autism
Yesterday Emma came home from school with her forearm covered in bite marks. I sat down next to Emma on her bed and gently touched her arm. “You bit!” She said sadly. “I can see that,” I said, stroking her arm. “I want to unlock it,” she said, twirling a scrap... Read more →
It’s a typical Monday, and I feel fine
9-12 I don’t know about you, but yesterday left me wondering if we are where we thought we would be or think we should be after ten years of an event that undeniably ended one way of life and began another? I hear echoes of an earlier time, strands of REM harmonizing “It’s the end of... Read more →
Emma’s Writing – Autism
I have posted before about the literacy program we embarked on with Emma this past January. Today was the first morning I’ve worked with Emma in a number of weeks, so it was particularly wonderful to see how far she’s come in a relatively short period of time. Emma’s handwritten answer... Read more →