About

Awareness, Resources and Hope for Autism Spectrum Disorder

Another Piece of the Puzzle is a blog designed to raise awareness of the challenges facing parents and children dealing with autism and to serve as a resource for anyone affected by the disorder. Through this site, it is my desire to offer information on topics such as IEPs and advocacy, behavioral and sensory strategies and a variety of therapies and treatments related to autism spectrum disorder. Above all, I want to let you know there is hope for a better tomorrow!

I have been on a journey with special needs since my son was born, although I didn’t know it for the first couple of years. Up until that time, I had been pretty sure that I just wasn’t a very good mommy because it was so difficult to figure out what my son wanted or to get him to communicate with me. In fact, I remember asking a few of my friends how they had taught their children to roll a ball back and forth or to play with a toy car or truck the right way. Of course, they had no idea how they had done it – it had just happened naturally.

A referral from our pediatrician to Early Intervention brought us to a place where we could receive some help for our son and some answers for us. My son, Michael, was just 3 months shy of his 3rd birthday when he was diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder by a developmental pediatrician.

We are so thankful for all the encouragement and support we have received, not only from our families, our friends and our church, but also from the many wonderful professionals and parents of special needs children we have met since then. Michael is now at our neighborhood school, in a regular classroom, with learning and behavioral support.

I began blogging in January of 2008, and it quickly became a passion. I have been especially blessed to find so many amazing parents and professionals from the special needs community online. I was also thrilled to be a part of the team at 5 Minutes for Special Needs for the first year of its existence.

Please feel free to subscribe to my feed to receive updates whenever I post. My personal blog is at Autism Interrupted, I am on Twitter as @wheresthebox and you can also contact me via email at trish1225[at]gmail[dot]com.