My inspiration

My story starts almost 25 years ago now. I had the perfect baby. He rarely cried, would only go to sleep if I laid him down wide awake in his crib, and seemed content to just sit in the middle of the room without any toys. At 18 months he was able to sit in front of a full-length movie, giving Mommy a much needed break! Who, but me, cared that I could only get him to eat pasta and mashed potatoes, that he didn't like to cuddle or that occasionally he would flap his arms and mentally 'disappear' for a while? I just thought my improved parenting skills were responsible for this quiet introspective baby, but then one day, my sister came over with her son to play.  As we were watching the two cousins (born an hour and a half apart), she asked her son to pick up his shoes and put them by the door which he immediately did and even straightened them! Then I asked my son. He went over and grabbed one shoe, then walked around until I prompted him to get the other one and then I had to prompt him again to go to the door and...by the time he got the shoes in the right area (let alone straightened!) we were both tired and frustrated. At first, I just wrote the experience off as no big deal but I couldn't shake the sense that something was not quite right. I began, then, to notice that a lot of things that he did were a little 'off'. Not enough to be alarmed by, but definitely a cause to pause and wonder. When I went searching for an answer to this niggling feeling, I was absolutely shocked at the diagnosis of Asperger's (the term at the time). So much so, that I asked for a second opinion. The second confirmation was a combination of relief (that we finally knew what 'it' was) but absolute terror at what his future (and ours) was going to become now. Being an educator, my first thought was information, I need more information! I also was desperate to connect with other parents but I felt completely isolated in the problems that I was experiencing. No one else seemed to understand my specific struggles or at the worst, often questioned my effectiveness as a parent. "What do you mean he won't do that? You need to be tougher, you're too nice", "He just needs to learn that he has to do what you say…" If these well meaning friends only knew how their comments further undermined my confidence as a mother. Thankfully, I had three other neurotypical boys and a supportive husband who helped me to realize that I was on the right path. So I dug deep. I spent years learning as much as I could about Asperger's, and became a fierce advocate for my child's needs (not wants!) in the education system that I knew so well. Thankfully, my son is now a well adjusted 25yr old man, living independently who is just finishing two college diplomas in Forestry because, as he puts it, "Trees don't talk Mom!". Autism will always be a factor in his life and he has his good days and bad days but I wouldn’t have him any other way.

I sincerely want to help others on their journeys. Hope, information and support was what was instrumental in helping me succeed and I want to be a part of someone else’s solution. I especially want to bring people together so that no one feels the isolation and loneliness that I experienced. I also felt unique in that I did not want to 'cure' my son but just wanted him accepted for who he was. A Broader Spectrum was born to help people primarily realize the gifts that being on the Spectrum can bring and also to aid people in the challenges that inevitably arise.