I’m no expert in speech therapy, but because of the work we do here at the Orange Effect Foundation, I often get asked a lot of questions that I honestly don’t know the answer to! So I took some of the top questions and posed them to the real experts… speech therapists! Their insight is so valuable and I can’t thank them enough for their time to help out! Today’s question is how can you do speech …
Placing Family First
I've been lucky at a lot of things in life. Amazing family, the best group of friends, and really great jobs. I went to college to be a social worker and my first few jobs in that field helped define what I was meant to do. They were both challenging and fulfilling. Then came motherhood. By far my favorite job of all. I love every second of it. Then fate kicked in and I was able to help my …
Dear Moms: Stop Beating Yourself Up
I suspect like many Moms, I get reflective as Mother’s Day approaches. But do I have time to be reflective? Maybe not. I have to make sure that all the Moms and Grandmas and Nanas in our life get cards, and gifts where appropriate. And I have to make sure that we see them that day. Oh, and one is out of town, so maybe send flowers and candy? Should we host dinner? What will be on the menu? If the …
When Everything…Even Getting In Trouble…Is AMAZING!
From my UNscientific research*, about 10% of parents have been told that their child will not be able to do something. Maybe they were told their child can’t play a particular sport due to a past injury, or that their child cannot participate in an academic completion due to a learning disorder or walk without assistance due to a birth defect. Whatever it is, no matter the issue, parents just …
Seeking Balance
February has always been such an interesting month for me. Here in Cleveland it is often the “grayest” month of the year, meaning we don’t get much sunshine! But it is also the month of St. Valentine’s Day! Love is constantly in the air. It makes me reflect on relationships a bit more, including those with my children. What a struggle it is to balance accepting them the way they are with trying …
Change and the Autistic Teenager
When my son Joshua was diagnosed with Autism at the age of two, I read every book I could get my hands on… (the internet wasn’t quite that big of a thing yet for resources). One of the things I read was that some Autistic teens get moody, even aggressive, as they start having hormonal changes. I kept this in the back of my mind for many years and knock on wood, at age 16 we still haven’t had …
5 Things That Made Holidays Hard For My Autistic Son
As the holidays approach, I reflect on how tricky they were for my son Joshua. There are a number of things going on at one time, which often challenge an Autistic child, regardless of where they are on the spectrum. By no means did we ever expect our family and friends to cater to us, but there are issues that affect an Autistic child that often do not affect a “typical” child. Here are some …
Believing In Your Gut: A Pam Kozelka Post
Following the post about Joshua and his chairs, I've had a lot of people reach out to me privately to ask for other signs of Autism that I may have seen in Joshua. Generally people are asking because they have concerns about their own children and they are looking for something concrete to help them decide if their child needs help. From my experience, and from talking with other parents, …
Raising An Autistic Son: Four Things I’d Change
My son is a successful sophomore in high school and I wouldn’t change a single thing about him now. He was diagnosed with Autism at age 2 and received countless hours of speech and occupational therapy to get where we are today. Often as he goes through life’s milestones, I reflect back on how much we have learned and how much our family has grown. Along with that, I often think about things I …
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time (and Chairs)
I love the theatre. I have learned though, that in order for me to actually go, I need to subscribe and commit to go on a regular basis. Can you relate? I won’t buy one-off tickets even with the best of intentions. Our Playhouse Square in Cleveland has an amazing Broadway Series that is great for this. I often call them my “seven dates per year.” There have been many times that I’ve arrived at the …
I Saw the Signs…
People often ask, and I have countlessly asked myself, if there were early signs that my son, Joshua, was on the autism spectrum. Almost since birth, Joshua was an arm flapper. That was probably one of the most outwardly visible signs looking back. Predominantly when he was excited he looked like a big bird ready to take flight. Joshua also had tremendous problems with eye contact. People now tell …
A Look Back at Autism: Denial, Part 2
At the end of part one of this series, I said no more denial for this family. That is mostly true and we began home based therapy for our son pretty quickly after his diagnosis, but it was still hard to talk about. I noticed it in interviews, and in training sessions with tutors that we never once said that he was the “A” word (autistic). I had reached the point where I could say …
