Christy Reinhardt lives in Dutchess County, New York, with her husband and two sons. Since her son Crew was diagnosed with autism as a toddler, Reinhardt has been learning all there is to know about life on the autistic spectrum. Along the way, she created Crew's Voice, an organization to help other parents raise children with special needs.
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You know Christmas is over when your autistic son is already typing up notes:
Valentine’s Day 5 presents
St. Patrick's Day 7 presents
Easter 4 presents
June is the big one – Build a post office!
Every other holiday aside from Christmas, I give VHS tapes as presents. They cost more to ship from Amazon than to purchase. But, seriously, a post office? For Crew's birthday last year, he wanted a library. We all thought that was so cute. He said with a library, he could arrange all of his VHS tapes in one...
It should be that my firstborn is all I have been able to think about ever since my ex-husband told me he wants to take our 12 year old to Disney World in January. I haven't taken my sons there because I can't even drive by a sign that says airport without my 11-year-old son saying, "NO AIRPORT!"
My second born, Crew, is autistic. It doesn’t seem likely that he’ll agree to go on a plane anytime soon. I know my ex is planning this trip for all the right reasons. But I want to be the one who takes Cross to Disney, or for that...
As most of you know, my name is Christy Reinhardt. I have two beautiful boys. Cross is 12 and Crew is 11. Crew is autistic. I have spent my life thus far trying to advocate, protect and raise my children so that they may both thrive and be happy. Sounds easy, right? What you may not know is that the truth is the answer to that is both yes and no.
The idea itself is simple— all children deserve the chance and or the opportunity to partake in life and all is has to offer. They deserve to be happy and to find a purpose. What I think helps...
Can you believe pediatric doctors are turning away children who are not vaccinated? I guess they do not know what it is like to have your child stolen in the middle of the night two weeks after a big vaccination day. When all the words you have taught your child in 18 months are now gone! Imagine, your child's hair texture has changed and a bomb could go off and your child would not hear it.
When you take your child to the doctor to figure out what has happened and the practitioner says the word “autism” for the first time, then as a...
I have spent eight long years trying to understand autism; my diagnosed son Crew is 11. I don't know if I will ever figure it out, but this is what I know is true. For all the people saying that they cured their child of autism... STOP! It is unfair to hear such nonsense. It is like an alcoholic saying he is cured. Addicted people like those with autism will always have it in them. It is about self-regulating.
As parents of disabled children, we need to start throwing caution to the wind. After all the years of making sure every situation is right so...
