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Shelley Brander’s autism journey began when she realized that something was not quite right with her son Sam when he was a newborn because he wouldn’t sleep more than an hour at a time. To say that he was a colicky baby would be an understatement. After some investigating, she found that removing dairy from her diet would improve his sleeping. With great relief, she did, but it wasn’t until he showed extreme distress over the new baby crying that she knew that his problems were more than just food sensitivities.
Shelley read a preview of my newest book Turn Autism Around, and she said that she wished that she’d had a similar book 22 years ago to help her navigate the autism world. Today her 24-year-old son Sam is a college graduate with a job that fulfills his passion for maps. But when Sam was first diagnosed, there were no communities or experts for Shelley to lean on. She had to make the best decisions with the information she had at a time when ABA therapy was so new that we didn’t even know how effective it was or how much therapy was good for a small child.
Self-care for Shelley took on the form of knitting while she waited through doctor’s appointments and therapy sessions, and over time, knitting became a great passion. Knitting has great stress-relieving benefits, and it’s helped her form an identity outside of being her children’s advocate. Today she’s publishing a collection of short stories called Move the Needle: Yarns from an Unlikely Entrepreneur.
Parents with autism don’t know how things are going to turn out, but by putting one foot in front of the other, you’ll see that it will all turn out in the end. Shelley and I share a sense of optimism for children and families on their autism journey. We’ve seen such tremendous progress in the last twenty years that we are hopeful for the future for children with autism.
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