With our move, I have come to realize one big truth about myself. I must advocate for my children and myself. While I still know people that live in the Dallas area, I am required to open myself up to more than those people. So far, I have been quite lucky with those that I’ve met.

School professionals? They have congratulated me on my knowledge, order and preparation. They like the initiative I’m taking to learn about my children’s education. All around, it has been an excellent experience. They are all quite aware that I have Asperger’s and have concluded that both boys do indeed qualify for an IEP under the diagnosis of Autism.

Rehabilitative professionals? They also have noticed my keen knowledge of the boys. Surprisingly, I have learned that most parents don’t get to know the ins and outs of their children like I have. I’m not sure why, but it comes natural for me to learn every aspect and keep up to date. There was no shock this week when my oldest, now 5, was evaluated at below a 3 year old level, and no shock that my youngest, now 4, was evaluated at about a 3 1/2 year old level. We have come to grips with this and do what we can do push them further. And once again, I have let them know that I have Asperger’s.

I have now come to my roadblock when it comes to success with advocacy. I am now trying to become part of a local mom’s group. Armed with my relatively new diagnosis of Asperger’s Syndrome, I am doing what I can to advocate. I make sure to let people know about Autism Spectrum Disorders. I make them aware that my children are delayed for their age. What I seem to keep forgetting is advocating for myself. So today, I ran into my roadblock from opening my proverbial mouth. On the message board for this group, I chose words unwisely. I upset someone unintentionally. But I took that moment to explain myself when I had the opportunity. I invited the person to read more about social deficits with those Asperger’s people.

I usually don’t upset others, but I do know I make rude comments at times. This is not about making excuses though. This is a time for learning as well. Both from my side, on learning that certain comments are better left unsaid, and from the other side, that sometimes people don’t always intend to be mean.

I have been meaning to do this for quite some time and it seems like there is just never enough time in the day. Luckily, because of my decision to join the ASAN (Autistic Self Advocacy Network) mailing lists, I was approached by a lovely lady. As such, I decided I do need to update everyone.

My family has made a large transition over the course of the last 3 months. In the middle of March, we drove from Connecticut to Texas for relocation. So from the time of my last update until then, we were packing and preparing for all that moving entailed. I have since then been implementing all that we needed to do.

So far, the boys are back in school in a wonderful school district who is taking care of their needs wonderfully. As well, they are extremely open to my suggestions unlike most professionals I have dealt with in the past. My oldest will be transitioning to K in the Fall so we are also going through those transition meetings.

We are also getting the boys taken care of therapy wise. ST and PT evaluations are done, but OT will be delayed because of maternity leaves (congratulations to those ladies). We are also attempting to find a group that does ABA and floortime/DIR as each of child benefits from alternate methods.

As soon as I find out the schedule for ST and PT, I will be contacting a counseling center for myself. They hold support groups for adults with Asperger’s but also do private therapy. I’m opting to do the private therapy as I feel with my unique needs as a woman, a wife and a mother, I will be better served on a one-to-one basis. I make these statements knowing that the majority of the support group are male and unmarried.

I will be kicking back up as soon as I have finished all of that. Hopefully, I will be able to get back going within the next month.