Good Things Utah Appearance- Autism at Church

About 10 months ago I met two fabulous authors at the LDS Story Makers Conference, Danyelle Ferguson and Lynn Parsons who co-wrote the book (dis) abilities and the Gospel. At the time we were going through a horrible process with our local school over my son's IEP (individualized education plan) and a series of complaints with the District. Both women were so helpful in pointing me towards the Disability Law Center and walking me through Wright's Law over the phone. My youngest son had also been recently diagnosed with autism. Something I saw coming as he'd been in early intervention with a dx of PDD (pervasive developmental delay) We had special needs and autism on the brain and were grateful for their new friendship.

I read and reviewed their book on my site Fire and Ice and we kept in touch, buit needless to say, was shocked when Danyelle emailed me one day asking me to appear on Good Things Utah with her as a mother of special needs and two autistic children. It was one of those absolutely surreal experiences you never think you are going to have.

Danyelle and I showed up on set prepared to talk about interventions for autism at church. We watched behind the set until it was our turn to talk and we were given 5 minutes. I am grateful for the chance I had to chance even a smidgen of the things we've learned over the past 7 years. I've leaned to be strong and advocate for my children. Because if we don't as parents...who will? I admire all the autism moms I have met over the years at OT, speech therapy and meetings. Heavenly Father has put some truly wonderful people in our path to help us overcome the hurdles. Doctors, therapists, teachers, the Utah Autism Coalition and other moms... you know who you are! Our little bean graduated form speech therapy later int he week and though a small milestone to some, it felt huge to me. Never ever give up.

Our full story is at ABC 4 News Utah website and can be viewed here.
For more information, go to Daneylle and my websites at http://www.danyelleferguson.com/ and: http://www.parentingpartner.blogspot.com/.

Thanks so much to those who cheered us on and dialed in to watch. We felt loved! Here's the clip...