I knew way before that I would have sleepless nights once I had a baby. But I never knew that this so-called “autism sleep problem” was a battle I would force myself to do for years. My son would usually be like any of these: He would sleep late afternoon, woke up at around 7 pm, and would be okay to go to bed again at 1 am. At bedtime, he would like to walk around the bedroom and just refuse to lay himself in bed. Up to 3.5 years old, he would still want to be coddled like a

It usually hits me at 2 a.m. I'll be lying in bed after an ordinary day, nothing dramatic, just the usual routines and small moments that make up our life together, and then the thought slips in, uninvited: Who will take care of my child with autism when I'm gone? If you're a parent raising a child with autism or other special needs, I think you know this fear. It doesn't feel dramatic when it happens. It just feels quiet and heavy, like something you're not supposed to say o

One of the most common topics I see in Autism-related forums here in the Philippines is this: what should actually be written on our child's Person With Disability ID (PWD ID)? Our kids may all share the same diagnosis — Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) — but the classification printed on their IDs can vary widely. Depending on the city, the doctor, or the assessing office, you might see any of these: These are the common classifications: Autism Intellectual Disability Mental D

My son is 14. He's tall now, has opinions about his hair, and can hold a conversation about his favorite people for twenty minutes straight. And we are still, patiently, working on WH questions for autism, specifically the one that trips us up the most: why. Who. What. Where. When. Why. How. Most people assume these are "little kid" skills, something you master in kindergarten and never think about again. For a lot of our kids, that's not how it goes. And if you're a parent w