Resources For Military Families: A Path To Advocacy For Your Child

“Organizations are people, so as you move, conditions change, service options change, and the people that you are working with will change. Always remember this so as you are planning your transition, realize that you are building a new network of resources each time you move.” BY SHELLY L. HUHTANEN Military families are in a continuous mode of transition. Either a parent is training for a deployment, on a deployment, or coming back from a […]

Changing the Game

PUZZLES & CAMO BY SHELLY HUHTANEN Due to the collaboration of the Autism Project and Hasbro, children will be able to reap the benefits of ToyBox Tools and be one step closer to sitting with their peers while enjoying a game of Candyland or Connect 4. Memories of playing board games as a child may be a common theme, but not so common for some. I spent many afternoons playing Candy Land, Chutes and Ladders […]

Come Fly With Me

PUZZLES & CAMO BY SHELLY HUHTANEN The flight crew introduced themselves… They too had children with autism and the pilot who led the tour, Erich Andrew Ries, had flown several times with his son on the spectrum. The thought of working through severe behavior in a closed compartment, flying through the air at 40,000 feet, around a hundred people I’ve never met, makes me want to vomit. Literally, vomit. As you can imagine, since our […]

Going to the Movies

Brad most likely noticed that we weren’t your typical or normal family. Brad could have told us to leave the movie theater that day and possibly could have provided us a refund for our tickets, but he didn’t. Normalcy is a subjective status or characteristic that every family strives to emulate at one time or another. My husband and I will do a fist pump in celebration any time we witness anything remotely close to […]

Saying Our Goodbyes

PUZZLES & CAMO BY SHELLY HUHTANEN No one told me that one of the hardest things to do with a PCS move was saying goodbye to your child’s team. It has taken a small village to care for my son. Broden has a BCBA, ABA tutor, special education teacher and there are two aides in his classroom. I have cried tears of joy and tears of fear with his ABA tutor, Sharon and teacher, Cheryl. […]