There are so many of us trudging on this road that takes us places beyond our wildest dreams. Sending you love, support and strength one day at a time.
My recent post Rethinking Unhappiness

Thanks so much for reaching out. I I hear you. Your daughters have a different neurology than the majority of the population and that neurology will help them do some things far more easily than their non-autistic peers and it may also cause some things to be harder and to take longer.

There are some terrific resources available, many I've listed. Keep reading, keep reaching out. Find a network of people you can relate to, who can provide you with the support you need, but do not ever believe people when they try to tell you how limited your daughters are. The limitations are in the way we think about autism, not in the autism itself.

If you'd like to email me (emmashopeblog@gmail.com) please do not hesitate to.

Thank you so much Alyssa. As one of those parents whose life was literally changed as a result of finding and reading blogs written by Autistic people, I have never looked back and only wish I'd found all of you sooner. The change in my thinking, in the way I interact with my daughter, the way I view the world, society, education, all of it, has changed.

Love this Ibby. Thank you so much for sharing it!

Diana, I received a comment from a bus driver who had a child aboard their bus who wore a helmut and began banging her head. The driver eventually had to pull over and without touching the child created a barrier with his own arms around the child's head so that he received the blows. After a few minutes the child calmed and the driver was able to continue on his route. He reached out to me saying that he and his manager were trying to understand and find better ways to help the kids on his route. I had nothing to offer him other than thanks and gratitude for his obvious love, concern and caring. Perhaps others reading this will have good suggestions, but what you describe is tough. In my child's case there is no danger of broken glass, concussions etc. I have seen a huge decrease in her biting herself since we've stopped focusing on it and focused more on cause.

Thank you for writing this Sparrow!

I just loved this interview, Amy. Thank you for so generously sharing about how you communicate.
To those who are skeptical of FC, I have had the pleasure and honor of interviewing Amy ( http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ariane-zurcher/auti... ) and have physically sat with Amy (and her facilitator) as we talked one on one together. Had I not seen Amy and many, many other non-speaking individuals communicate using FC I too would be skeptical, the idea of someone who cannot speak, but who is perfectly capable of expressing themselves through other forms of communication is something that is foreign to most speaking neurotypical people. However, just because it challenges our beliefs, does not mean, therefore it cannot be a legitimate form of communicating. Amy is the first to say skepticism is healthy and a good thing. I completely understand how many are weary of FC and it's unfortunate that a few bad facilitators have done so much damage to a way of communicating for those who would otherwise have no ability to communicate at all.

I cannot recommend the documentary Wretches and Jabberers more highly where Tracy Thresher and Larry Bissonnette use FC to communicate. I also highly recommend attending a conference such as the Autcom Conference where a great many autistic individuals use FC to communicate. It is almost impossible to describe how mind blowing it is as a neurotypical to watch someone who appears so profoundly challenged by autism and yet is able to communicate their thoughts and ideas. Many who learn to communicate through FC do go on to type independently. My daughter is such a person. Two years ago we began teaching her to type and handwrite, but she needed hand over hand support, eventually that was tapered off and now she types and writes without any support. She is still learning to communicate her own thoughts and ideas however, it feels like an incredibly slow process, but compared to where she was just two years ago, it has been incredible. But some people, like Amy, have physical challenges that are too great to be able to communicate without assistance, however if you saw her, you would see that it is virtually impossible for her facilitator to write for her as she is not directing Amy's hands or pushing keys for her.
Those at the AutCom Conference this year (and there were a great many) were often "facilitated" with a light hand on the shoulder or elbow. I do hope more documentaries and studies are done showing the numerous examples of people who are changing their own lives and giving hope to so many others who would otherwise not be able to communicate at all.
FC is still in its infancy, there are many, many terrific facilitators who are honoring those they work with and help so that those who are non-speaking might express themselves.

Such a great piece, Shan. A follower of my blog wrote this today, "Parents have this strange task where they need to protect their children (all children) and somehow prepare them for adulthood without any clear notion of what that adulthood might entail for any of them. Realistically we all know on some level life doesn’t work that way at all for any human." I just loved reading it and thought of your piece here. Whoever our child is, whatever their neurology, we need to understand them as best we can, not the idea of them, but the very real, wonderful child they are, only then can we really help them flourish to be all that they can be.

I love this post, Bridget and I feel tremendous gratitude to you. I really appreciate your tackling such a loaded issue and one that makes those witnessing it feel helpless.

Hi Shan, actually I didn't see it until after I left this comment. Thank you for that and I am honored to be included with Seth and Todd, whose work I admire.