Mother's Guide Through Autism

Send us Fan Mail When you have a child on the spectrum, fear can come up pretty strongly. It certainly did for me. The fearful thought I often had was, "Joseph would have a bleak future without me," which led me to believe that I could never die. Fear is part of the human experience but if you constantly fear the worst-case scenarios for your child, you would be weighed down to the point...

Send us Fan Mail If you are currently struggling with the autism diagnosis of your child and their future, please take a breath and give yourself grace.  It is okay not to be okay with your child being diagnosed with autism. Ironically, when I allowed myself to be okay with not being okay with my son’s diagnosis is when I found acceptance of the life I had. I was no longer TRYING to be okay or sea...

Send us Fan Mail When I went through my life tsunamis including my son's autism diagnosis,  I didn't know how to work through my grief. And although I had moments of grief, I pretty much used all my energy to avoid it. Many of my clients have a hard time with it too because let's face it, it's difficult to feel painful feelings. While it's difficult, doing the inner work a...

Send us Fan Mail Putting the oxygen mask on yourself first is #3 on my top 10 list of essential advice on the autism parenting journey. This journey begins with you, and the practice of nurturing yourself will not only benefit you but also your child on the spectrum because you will have more resilience to meet the daily challenges. I share my practice of self-nurturing in this episode. Sign up to...

Send us Fan Mail We mothers are good at giving and helping others but not so good at asking for help.  You might be struggling to ask for help or might not even realize that you need help on the autism parenting journey but I want to tell you that getting help is crucial to living with more joy and resilience while you help your child on the spectrum.  Find out why you should get support ASAP and...

Send us Fan Mail This is truly the number 1 advice I give to mothers I coach on the autism parenting journey. We all need to hear from someone who has been in our shoes that can offer us hope, especially when we are deep in fear and pain from the autism diagnosis of our kids. Enjoy! Credit: Welcome To Holland by Emily Perl Kingsley Copyright©1987 by Emily Perl Kingsley. All rights reserved. Recite...

Send us Fan Mail In my 30 years of the autism parenting journey, I've learned a lot. And so, I decided to share my top 10 list of advice for the autism parenting journey.  I will be sharing each piece of advice for the next 10 weeks and this episode is an introduction to the list.  I also recite the Mother Guide's Prayer from my book A Mother's Guide Through Autism to give you stren...

Send us Fan Mail I use my Sundays as my personal growth and discovery day. I use this time to fill myself up with inspiration before the work week begins. I encourage you to develop your own self-discovery practice so that you can begin to experience more peace and create more joy in your life on your autism parenting journey. I believe this practice is essential because we mother guides often get...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode of Mother's Guide Through Autism, I talk to Dawn Barclay, an award-winning author who has spent a 30+ year career working in the travel industry, about traveling strategies for kids on the spectrum. Dawn wrote her upcoming book Traveling Different: Vacation Strategies for Parents of the Anxious, the Inflexible, and the Neurodiverse because she understood how d...

Send us Fan Mail For this week's episode, I'm sharing the interview I did recently for the Autism Detectives Radio Show with Patricia Lemer where I talk about the deep grief mothers of autistic kids go through that they need to process in order to move forward lighter and happier. We talk about my newly released book A Mother's Guide Through Autism which my son Joseph and I co-autho...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode of Mother's Guide Through Autism, I speak to Sarah McClary, a Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA) with a daughter on the spectrum, about her emotional journey of receiving her daughter's autism diagnosis and finding hope from the remarkable progress her daughter made with ABA. Sarah's daughter Leah was diagnosed with autism shortly after her thir...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode of Mother's Guide Through Autism, I talk to Jennifer Wiese, founder and CEO of BeeFree Gluten-Free Bakery and mom to an adult son with autism. Jennifer shares her story of starting her company after her eldest son was diagnosed with autism back in 2008 and learning later that the gluten-free diet helped him to function better. While searching for gluten-free f...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode of Mother's Guide Through Autism, I talk to my friend Sarah Magnoni, a life coach, intuitive medium, Reiki Master, and the host of the Intuitive AF podcast, who shares her experience of living through her daughter's diagnosis of both autism and schizophrenia.  Sarah takes us through the journey of her daughter's developmental/behavioral differences a...

Send us Fan Mail In this special, audio episode of Mother's Guide Through Autism, my son Joseph takes the mic and shares his experience of writing our upcoming book Mother's Guide Through Autism/Through the Eyes of the Guided. Our book gives two different perspectives of going through the autism journey: mine being the mother's and Joseph's perspective being the one who lived i...

Send us Fan Mail  I am so excited to share that my book Mother's Guide Through Autism is coming soon! This book, written by me and my son Joseph, offers two distinct perspectives. In part one of the book, I share my journey and lead mothers through a journey to heal their own hearts. In part two of the book, “Through the Eyes of the Guided”, Joseph offers insight into his experience living wi...

Send us Fan Mail I celebrate my son Joseph turning 30 this month!  In this episode, I wanted to share some thoughts and reflections and what has helped me during difficult times along the way.  These past 30 years have been full of growth as a human being for me. I have evolved into a much kinder, patient, and loving person because of my son.  He has taught me more than I could ever have taught hi...

Send us Fan Mail When I began the autism journey with my son Joseph, I decided to speak about anything and everything I learned about autism to help my son. And I continue to do so to this day. The more we share our stories and offer knowledge, the more we are making a difference in our society. Let's come together not only for the month of April but each and every day to give opportunities f...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, I talk about the importance of having self-compassion on the autism parenting journey. I myself lived many years without practicing self-compassion on my journey as a mother and I want to encourage all mothers to incorporate this powerful practice. I can honestly say that if I had the understanding of what self-compassion meant and how to practice it, I would have...

Send us Fan Mail When I started advocating for my son Joseph, sometimes I hit a wall. Some educators and administrators at his schools were defensive or wanted nothing to do with my son. Perhaps they were fearful or intimidated or had their own negative experiences with disabilities in the past. Whatever the reason, what I decided to do was that I was going to be kind. I thought if I entered a mee...

Send us Fan Mail Why is kindness essential on the Autistic Spectrum Disorder journey? Well, you probably have noticed that this autism parenting journey is no cakewalk. It comes with a lot of daily frustration, fear, guilt, and overwhelm that can cause heavy wear and tear on your mind, body, and soul, and because of that, you need to bring a massive amount of kindness to yourself. I talk about why...

Send us Fan Mail "My child was just diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder, ASD, now what?" This is a question that is often asked by newly diagnosed parents. I can remember the immense feeling of overwhelm taking me hostage when my son Joseph’s diagnosis was confirmed. To say my mind, body, and spirit were overloaded with fear of the future is an understatement. There was so much to pr...

Send us Fan Mail The days following hearing the words “Joseph is autistic,” were some of my darkest days. I was living with the deepest pain I had felt in my 32 years of life. But along the way I found hope. And hope was what got me out of the deep dark forest of pain. I learned that hope is the north star. When I found hope, I learned to hold on to it. In this episode, I show you how you can do t...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, I talk about the grief that mothers go through when they receive their child's autism diagnosis. Once you hear the words “Your child is Autistic,” you may feel like your world has been shattered or you may feel relief to know what you have suspected all along. For me, it was daunting to hear that my son was going to live with a lifelong disability (this was b...

Send us Fan Mail There were so many times in my life I wished I had a handbook on parenting (I still do at times!). I was fearful about making the wrong decisions for my child and it got even scarier when my son Joseph was diagnosed with autism. There were so many therapies to choose from and I was constantly seeking things to help my son. When I connected to my love for Joseph, I was able to list...

Send us Fan Mail In this brand new episode of 2022, I talk about using joy as a guide on this journey of raising our kids with autism. It's so hard to have any goals or set New Year's Resolutions when you are in survival and trying to cope with the autism diagnosis of your child. (I know, because I've been there...) My message is that you will be okay. Your child will be okay. Have...