Autism Speaks, Community, In Their Own Words, A Mother's Day Tribute

A Mother's Day Tribute

Editor's note: We asked members of our community to write tributes to their wives, moms, other female caregivers, or to share personal experiences as the mother of children on the spectrum, in honor of Mother's Day. Below are some of the many responses we received. The opinions expressed herein are those of the authors exclusively. Submissions may have been excerpted/edited for length.

We have now been dealing with my son Colton's autism since April 2008. We recently had his one year evaluation with ECI, and although he has made some progress he still only functions as a 17-month-old at the cognitive level. He is now 30 months old. I sometimes look at my son as he sits there glued to the television in such a daze and I wonder if my son will ever get excited about leaving the house. This has been such a debilitating disease in that it keeps us inside the house. He

does like to play outside but when I tell him that we are going out, it becomes a battle and meltdown mode starts. He will no longer have ECI services when he turns three in October. This worries me because if he does not get picked for the two programs we are looking at, he will no longer get therapy because our insurance will not cover private therapy and who knows what will happen then. My heart goes out to every mother who has a child with autism. Happy Mother's Day.
- Submitted by Martha Solis

I was once told, "Do what you are doing." What a simple phrase to describe a very hard thing to do. Each day, as a mother and wife, I am filled with lists of tasks that run through my head and not enough time to get them all done. The idea of simply focusing on one thing at a time seemed unreachable. From my daughter, Catherine Grace, who is diagnosed with PDD-NOS, I have come to learn that when you do some things with 100% focus, you bring an invaluable sense of honor. When she hugs me, it is with 100% focus and thinking of nothing but our bond. When she laughs, it is with 100% joy, loud and pure and completely contagious. When she learns, it is with 100% effort and also pride. And when she cries, is it with 100% of her feeling, which is why it breaks my heart. There are some things Catherine has trouble doing, but when I think of all the things she has come to accomplish, I know it is because she was able to "do what she was doing." I write to honor my amazing daughter.
- Submitted by Mrs. Rosalind Oaxaca Moffett

Your purpose in life was to save mine
In the darkest time in my life of domestic violence
You were there to save me with a laugh and made my tears go away.
Now that things are better, it's my turn.
My turn to fight for you for your rights, your needs; I owe you my love.

You are more than my son ... you are my best friend.
I love you, Pooh.
– Submitted by Sandy Horner

Autism has certainly been a rollercoaster ride for me and my entire family. My 15-year-old daughter did something for me that really lifted my spirits. She surprised me and made a three-part documentary series about my five-year-old son's autism. I was so touched that it re-energized my fight.

against autism once again. I just thought that if she could see the good despite the disorder, then everyone else can, too. She taught me that you have to look past the disorder and see that there is still a child under all the difficult layers of autism
- Submitted by Rachel Leyden

As a mom of two boys on the spectrum, this Mother's Day my heart goes out to a good friend of mine whose youngest son, a twin, was diagnosed with autism a little over a year ago. She is non-stop getting services for him and trying to keep all of the other three children's lives as normal as possible in the process. She has two sets of twins, and bless her heart, she keeps on moving forward and doesn't look back with any regrets.
- Submitted by Anonymous

Cristian, a beautiful and sweet boy with so much energy, vigor and love entered my life on June 20, 2001. He was my only child, my father's first and only grandson. Cristian was the answer to his prayers. He loved and was lucky enough to enjoy Cristian's first six months of his life while he was living the last six months of his own. My dad always told me that he was and would always be my "little man". I would take him everywhere, teach him everything and explore being youthful once again with him. Cristian was diagnosed with PDD when he was four years old. I made it my business to fight, advocate and ensure his safety, education and security. Cristian has brought focus, purpose and so much happiness to my life. His eighth birthday is coming up and it is such a treat to watch my "little man" grow, mature and learn so much so quickly. Autism has taught me to become a better person, a more compassionate human being and a proud mother.
- Submitted by Diana Diaz

My sister, Laurie Mitchell, is raising two granddaughters - a four-year-old who has autism and a three-year-old who is typical. I am amazed at how she is able to get up every morning to care for both girls, run a business out of her home and she is always grateful that Alaina and Jozelyn are

in her life. Alaina is so sweet, but can really be a handful, and Jozelyn is full of energy. She never runs out of patience and is always researching and trying to find ways to help Alaina. She goes to protests at the capitol to try get insurance companies to cover autism, and I am not sure if she ever sleeps.
- Submitted by Karen

My name is Deborah Caloiero and I am a mother of three boys; the oldest has autism. When my son was born in 1997 I had never heard the word autism. As I write these words it brings tears to my eyes remembering the day I was told my son had autism. With that diagnosis, I realized that many of the hopes and dreams I had for my son were gone. During the past ten years our family has learned more about autism, and at times it can be difficult trying to incorporate autism into our lives. We have had our share of setbacks as well as priceless moments, one of which I want to share with you. My son joined prep classes in an effort to receive holy communion. He was placed with typical children, and at times I thought he wouldn't make it through the classes with his short attention span and autistic behavior. Now two years later he recently received communion with 57 children on May 2, 2009. As I watched my handsomely dressed son bow before the priest and extend his hand to receive the Eucharist I could barely breathe. There were no words to describe a flawless moment that just made me love him more. Please moms, never lose hope for your children and maybe one day there will be a cure for autism. I hope I am alive to witness it.
- Submitted by Deborah Caloiero

My three-and-a-half-year-old son Spencer has been through quite an experience in his life already. With a 50/50 shot of miscarrying I made it through in 2006 and gave birth to my "Angel baby", Spencer. With low blood sugar and a low heartbeat, he was in the NICU for an extra day. At 14 months old we noticed lack of eye contact, and language that was once there had disappeared. Cut to two years later (and a lot wiser from doing my homework),

Spencer had been in the birth to age three program, then onto the half-day 3K special education class and also was diagnosed by WEAP, Wisconsin Early Autism Project. He has Classic Autism and we are working to get funding from the state to have more intensive therapy. It is now that I realize why a higher force in the world gave me Spencer – to send a message to the world that we need to fight for a cure for autism and treasure the miracles we have received. Spencer has his ups and downs, but here is a picture I took of him recently where he actually smiled for the camera.
- Submitted by Amy Braun-Gross

If you have a story you wish to share about your personal experience with autism, please send it to editors@autismspeaks.org. Autism Speaks reserves the right to edit contributions for space, style and content. Because of the volume of submissions, not all can be published on the site.