Skip to main content

This is Harper Jo

 



Meet Harper. I loves this picture because this is a complete representation of who Harper is! I mean look at that girl she’s a whole mood!! She is funny, loving, affectionate, sassy, naughty, smart, talented, determined, and so much more. She is 5yrs old, just started kindergarten, loves to dress up, and she is also Autistic. Harper has the diagnoses of autism, adhd, sensory processing disorder, developmental delay, and severe speech delay. Harper is both a sensory seeker and sensory avoider, has PICA (mouthing and ingesting non food items) and is Non verbal. I plan to share all about Harper including the highs, lows, wins, loses, and the days that are just in the middle. Having 2 autistic children has came with its own set of challenges. I have had to teach myself  so many things that I never even thought about before this and I very quickly started to wear many different hats. I no longer just get to be mom. I feel a rollercoaster of emotions on the daily happy, sad, angry, heartbroken, frustrated, loved, jealous, but most of all this diagnosis for Harper brought me a lot of loneliness and seclusion. I have an amazing husband and amazing kids This diagnosis and journey is what drove me to share our life and my heart in this blog. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Speech Device.

 Speech Device.  A huge misconception about speech devices is that they discourage children from using their verbal language.  This could not be further from the truth.  Keeping a communication tool away from a non speaking child is not a way to get them to speak.  Harper and Dallas both started with PECS. A picture exchange system to express their wants and needs!  As a mom of 2 non speaking children getting them to use PECS as a means of communication was a life changer for us.  Now Harper has her speech device. Dallas’s is in process and will hopefully be here soon.  Since getting Harpers device that has verbal output when she presses a button to make a request.  She is able to answer so many question and let us know what her wants and needs are.  She is also repeating the words after she hears her device say them.  Harper can answer me with her device when is ask, What’s your name? How old are you? When’s your birthday? What do ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Harpers Beginning Part 1

  When we received Harpers diagnosis of Autism my way to deal with my grief was to dive into the world of autism. I wanted to read and learn everything I possibly could. When I would find a new blog, podcast, instagram or facebook page I would scroll all the way to the beginning. I wanted to see if someone had a child like mine. Trying to find any community I could. So my blog is going to start at the beginning. This is Harper’s story.  With my oldest I had preeclampsia and high blood pressure and I delivered Savannah at 35 weeks. With Harper I had a plan and was more informed on what to do and not to do to try to prevent having those same issues again. But at 13 weeks pregnant with Harper on September 24th 2017 I was admitted to the hospital and immediately rushed into surgery because my appendix has ruptured. I remember everything from that time. I knew pregnant women shouldn’t have surgery, anesthesia, medications, all of the things that I was about to have done to me. My O...
Post a Comment
Read more

Communication Looked Different

I remember before diagnosis. There was a stretch of time where I was just a tool for Harper and Dallas.  They only needed me to get them food, change them, open items and that’s it.  There was no verbal communication and not much non verbal communication.  Communication consisted of crying.  Dallas when he would want something he would just cry.  There was nothing that led to the crying. He was either fine or crying. If he wanted a drink to let me know he would cry.  Harper would just drag me around. She would grab my arm and pull me to the fridge and it was a guessing game of what she would want. If I grabbed the wrong thing she would cry. If I grabbed the right thing she was silent. For both of them there was no pointing or reaching. This time of our life was hard!  But this time of my life taught me so much!  I learned so much about my kids. I compare it to a newborn. When you have a newborn you are in tune with them. I remember I learned diff...
Post a Comment
Read more