Other people’s experiences help new families get to where they need to be. Seeing and hearing about your different treatment options can empower other parents. They are better able to choose what might best help their child simply because of your lived experience. I am always excited to learn about the things that we haven’t tried as well as helping to inform others.
If you are interested in submitting your story to this site please know that this is not only welcomed but encouraged. In 2005, when I was sat in my kitchen, crying so hard I could barely read my computer screen through puffy and exhausted eyes, I so wished I could find something simple, laid out, planned, a road map of sorts on where to start, what to try, how to best help my child. I eventually amassed a towering stack of paperwork beginning with an overstuffed file folder that very kindly sent to my house right after we got an Autism Diagnosis. It was all so overwhelming that after a while, the stacks of paper became nothing more than a major mess in my head. I wanted simple, straightforward information, not this overwhelming pile of journal articles, most of which had miserable long-term prognoses and outcomes. I wanted positives. I needed ideas. I wanted to know where to start first. I needed a plan of attack! I wanted to hear from people like me, people who had been there, people who understood what I was going through. I wanted to find my tribe! Facebook is great, but the stories are not concise or easy to follow. Many who are recovered apparently have left the forums to celebrate their recovery in private. I want those who have gone before to leave a legacy for those still fighting for recovery.
I am not saying that what I ultimately did was the right way to tackle this, in fact, if you read “If I knew then what I know now” you can tell I would have tackled this a whole different way, and probably saved myself much heartache and many hundreds of thousands of $$$ in the long run. I would love to have read how other families benefited or stagnated with each particular therapy. Just because it did or didn’t work for us doesn’t mean someone else didn’t find success or failure with the same treatment. Maybe it is something we had never heard of or decided not to try.
So I ask YOU for your stories. If you choose to submit your story to us please understand that by sending us your story to publish you agree to the following terms and conditions:
- I am not able to return the material to you, I will happily remove it if asked.
- I ask for a total release of the information to ‘Lovingthespectrum.com’ we will own the content once it is submitted but I will remove a post if requested.
- We advise everyone to not use real names in any submission to protect minors and their caregivers nor will we give out contact information under any circumstances, we do require a valid contact email for any submission.
- By submitting it is understood that you hereby irrevocably assign to Lovingthespectrum.com any and all claims, interest in and to the specific story submitted and therefore agree that upon submission, the contents immediately become the property of Lovingthespectrum.com and that all rights, claims, title and interest therein, including all rights of copyright, shall vest with Lovingthespectrum.com upon receipt. Please change details or wording if you choose to submit elsewhere.
- Please provide an address to your website if you would like to be linked back, we ask that you reciprocate by return.
- We may publish or reproduce, modify for content, publish, edit, translate, distribute, perform and display your submission in any media or medium, any form, format or forum we have currently and/or including any and all undetermined projects, for any purpose, in the future without further notice.
- You agree to and have read our published privacy statement.
Please only submit a clear and concise storyline. It would help to give a thorough description of your child’s story, current and missed diagnoses and behaviors.
Please do not name any practitioners by name, we reserve the right to delete or modify content for anonymity.
