How Charlatains Steal from Parents of Special Needs Children When I first set out to find possible treatments for my son, I felt like I’d stumbled into a carnival midway. There were so many options—ranging from the somewhat helpful to the plausibly effective, and then spiraling all the way down to the completely looney. I…

Effort without Results After the roller coaster of emotions—the anger, the jealousy, the sadness—I found myself standing at a crossroads. I wasn’t ready to simply accept that my son would always be autistic. Not yet. Instead, I tightened my grip and started searching for a way out. A cure. A solution. Something that would make…

The Perils of Jealousy The playground was crowded that afternoon. Children raced around, climbing, swinging, and shouting with joy. Parents chatted in small groups, occasionally calling out to their little ones. I sat on a bench, watching my son rock back and forth in the sand, completely absorbed in his own world. A boy about…

Sadness Is the Great Liberator The day I finally sat down and wept for my son—for the life I thought he would have, for the dreams I had carried—was the day my healing truly began. It wasn’t pretty. There were no inspirational music swells in the background, no moment of transcendent understanding. Just me, alone,…

Denial Is Willful Ignorance I want to talk to you about something difficult but necessary: denial. I’ve been there myself, and I know how tempting it can be to hide from painful truths. Denial isn’t just simple ignorance—it’s a chosen ignorance, a deliberate turning away from what’s right in front of us because the reality…

The Perils of Anger The morning I fully realized my son wasn’t going to catch up with his peers, I slammed my coffee mug down so hard that it cracked. My wife flinched. I didn’t apologize. I was too busy being furious at the world, at our circumstances, at her, at myself—though I wasn’t ready…

Grieving the Loss of What You Never Had The day I finally accepted my son’s diagnosis, I sat and wept. Not just a few quiet tears, but deep, body-shaking sobs that seemed to come from somewhere ancient inside me. I wasn’t just crying for my son—I was mourning the death of a dream. When you…

My Common Journey I’ve known my autistic son was special for two decades now. Through those years, I’ve also come to know many families with special needs children, and I’ve noticed so many commonalities in our experiences. It’s like we’re all walking different paths through the same forest, encountering the same landmarks, just at different…

Do you have a broken child? Is your world crashing down around you? I remember that feeling—the moment when everything you thought your life would be suddenly shatters into pieces. Your dreams of the perfect family now lie in tatters. That hopelessness and despair can feel overwhelming, can’t it? When you first realize your perfect…