Welcome everyone!

Welcome to My Blog

My name is Katie. I am just an average single mom of a beautiful little boy who is my whole world, as I'm sure many of you other parents out there can relate to.

Let me start off by giving you just a quick few things about me so we are a little more familiar with each other.

1) Being a mom is my favorite thing!

2) I love to be outside (hiking, fishing, just all around being in nature)

3) Halloween is by far my favorite Holiday

4) I love to write and to read!

5) I love to listen to music.

Now that you know a few things about me. I will give you a very short summary, so you have a better idea of why I decided to start this blog.

As I'm sure many of you know when you are talking about being a parent of neurodivergent child, or, any child with any kind of special needs really, that it's hard to find information on how to help your child and it's almost impossible to find information on how to encourage their needs and wants and ways to be the best parent you can for them.

My son is 6 years old and our back story is pretty long, one that I wouldn't be able to cover or get into in a blog. But my son has a few different diagnosis's ; He has a T.B.I ( or Traumatic Brain Injury), He is also on the Autism Spectrum (and with that he also has Sensory Processing Disorder, A.D.H.D, and O.C.D ). He also, does have Epilepsy due to his T.B.I. The first diagnoses he received was the T.B.I and Epilepsy.

It took me a few years after that to get the Autism Diagnoses. But, I can remember feeling so helpless on what to do going forward. Everyone told me it would be lots of work and therapy and a lot of people told me that they didn't think I would be able to "handle the extensive care he would need". Originally the Doctors told me he would be deaf, blind, have Cerebral Palsy and probably never walk or talk.

But what they DIDN'T tell or give me was a whole lot of information, or ways to help him through this. We obviously did, ( and still do) , see specialists, and receive therapies which I am an advocate for as well, ( to an extent, but I will make a separate post about these in the future). Some of those therapies where great and such a wonderful help. However some of them where not. They also didn't give me any positive attributes or characteristics that were positive about people who are Autistic, which I felt was SO wrong.

I refused to believe them, about the limits they had already set for my son. And after realizing I wouldn't get any help or pointers from them, I realized I needed to take matters into my own hands. So I dived into research, about EVERYTHING. I read any books I could get my hands on, articles you name it. I even started researching YouTube videos on any subjects related to what my son had going on.

What I also started to realize through this process was how I noticed so many positive qualities in my son. And that a lot of the things they wanted him in therapy for, was to change who he is, which I didn't feel was right. And it was due to the fact he does things "differently" from the way that they think that "most people would". One brief example is I had a therapist once tell me that him "being left handed would cause problems in the future and they wanted to make him use his right hand".

Yes, that's pretty minor on the scale of things I have heard, but think about that statement for a minute.

What would you think?

If you are anything like me, I'm sure you probably are thinking that is absolutely ridiculous and maybe even some of you are left handed. It really made me realize that things they were focusing on weren't the things I had concerns with. I had concerns with speech and wanting to help him talk, about how to help him learn safety awareness and not run into a busy street. Or that the oven, is hot, and not to touch it. These and quite a few others , is where my focus on helping him was. And I realized yet again, I wasn't going to get the help there or the answers to my questions.

I also started thinking about the kind of parent I wanted to be. I wanted to be involved. I know I am not a "specialist" or a therapist" but I wanted to learn and find out everything I could. I also knew I wanted to ADVOCATE, for him in anyway I could. I think one of the best things I did, for me personally, was to do this research. It showed me a total other side of this. That is where I found actual blogs, YouTubes and experiences they gave from the actual standpoint of a Neurodivergent person.

What a better way to learn than from a Neurodivergent Adult, right?

How, had I not thought of that before?

That was the first time I had ever heard that term and instantly fell in love with it and the story behind it. I always felt we didn't fit in one "box" or "label". My son was Autistic but he also has the other things I mentioned so I felt the term "Autistic" just didn't fully describe it, because it was always followed up by an "and, and and." So when I first heard the term Neurodivergent I fell in love with the concept and what it stood for. Basically it is about accepting that everyone's brain is different, and that it's ok to have a different way that your brain works. I also liked how the term seemed to describe my son very well. "Neurodivergent" , to me, seemed to cover all of it. Yes his Autism, but also his T.B.I, seizures, sensory processing etc. Basically I felt it covered more of the brain in general and how the different types of brains work.

So that being said, I'm here to tell you, if you or your loved one has a "different" way of thinking, that it is OK and you are wonderful, and should be accepted just how you are!

I realized that I wanted to spread awareness and educate people so they could start to understand. And that is exactly what I decided to do. I advocated and spread awareness, to everyone. To his teachers, doctors, people in the store, family members, friends, etc. I also realized through this process that O.T. was my best friend. He was a very very big supporter of my son, and me as well. And he is the one who encourages him to just be who he is. And helps me as a parent to understand why he does certain things, how I can help encourage him and advocate for him as well.

We are from a small mountain town, with not a lot of resources, a lot of therapies we unfortunately, lost with our move ( and others where by choice) But throughout the years I have strived to find activities to encourage his sensory, and also used fun and activities to help him learn, as well. The saying "Children Learn the best through Play" really is true and accurate. And I had to come up with a lot of my own tools and ideas, on how I could implement some of those at home and on a budget.

By the time he was 2 years old we had already proved the "experts" wrong. He could SEE he was TALKING and he was not deaf and was able to WALK as well. I was so thankful that I didn't allow the opinions of other people to sway me in how I was going to love, care and support him. And I was so proud of him and all the thing's that he was able to accomplish. Now he still does have some things he is behind in....his speech is still behind where a 6 year old should be, he does still need P.T., O.T., and Speech Therapy. He also, has elopement issues, and is a sensory seeker and avoider. He has no awareness of danger, and he is definitely very very active. He loves to run, jump, climb and spin around and around in circles.

But I absolutely love EVERYTHING about him and I wouldn't change him for the world. And even with his challenges he faces he is wonderful. And he has so, SO, many things he is good at (just like we all do).

He is very advanced in reading and math, he was in second grade placement when he was in Kindergarten last year. He loves to learn new languages, he knows the Russian Alphabet and the Alphabet in Spanish want to learn as much about it as he can. So my hope with this blog is to help spread Awareness and Acceptance and to connect with parents who feel like I did and genuinely just love their child for who there are, and would do anything to help and support them.

I will talk about a few different things on this site, but a lot of the blogs will either be about

1) experiences we have had and some advice if you maybe need some ideas or to not feel so alone.

2) fun activities/games/sensory bins and activities (things that have helped us)

3) Resources for books/articles/pages I've read

4) Ways to advocate and spread acceptance

5) just overall life things about being a single parent and how to navigate through life

6) Sensory Processing Disorder, T.B.I., Autism, Epilepsy

And one of my biggest ones would be to make a space that is POSITIVE and where you can come and feel supported and accepted VS judged. And to help everyone and the world start to see that we don't need to "change or better our kids for the world" but rather, that , we need to better and change the WORLD for our children. I would love to see in the future, more people and places, to accept him the way that he IS. And that starts with US.

Spread that Awareness and Acceptance

Thank you for taking the time to read my blog. I truly hope this will end up being a place you love to come to, and read and I hope by doing this we can make some kind of difference. Again, this starts with us.

In conclusion, I just was sick of the negative talk, views and resources to learn when it came to my child. I love him, and everything about him and he is perfect just the way he is. Even though he may act "different" from other neurotypical kids or people, it doesn't make him LESS. And I hope through my blog I can help continue my knowledge and research.

And that I can share some of our past and future journey with you, and that you that you will either learn something , get a new idea, or that you just enjoy the read, and that it gives you some positivity during your day. Or even just someone to relate to, to know that you are not alone.

What are some of the ways that you have advocated for your child?

Spread that awareness and acceptance ya'll! All of us together, I know we can make a positive difference in the future for our children.

( This was the first blog so bear with me, it will improve over time; if you have any suggestions or tips please comment or e mail me, I would appreciate the feedback)

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