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Holidays and autism: free-to-be age inappropriate
Yesterday morning, Brent arrived at the main house at 700 AM to search for hidden easter eggs, something he has done with our family for 25 years. He wore bunny ears, and found every egg but one...
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The WC Press features Ray for Autism Awareness Month
Ray works every Monday and Friday, cleaning two different gyms in West Chester PA. He takes public transportation home on his own …we actually have a bus line that comes all the way out here...
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Autism Acceptance… begins at home, here.
Six guys with annoying habits and quirky interests. Six guys who have difficulty accepting other people’s annoying habits and quirky interests. But these guys love each other, they really do. They...
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Who’s in Charge?
It seems like a simple question. When a group of young adult guys with autism are living independently but require additional daily supports …… who is in charge? It definitely is not such a simple...
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Autism and the extraordinary power of peers
Andy’s Chicken Cordon Bleu Motivation…. it started out as competition, before they cared. Brent cooked independently …. and got lots of attention from visitors for it. The other guys started cooking....
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Juniper Hill two years later.. a reflection on what we’ve become
Shelly, the crayfish Happy Anniversary to us! Tomorrow is Ray’s 27th birthday… and it is this weekend that he moved into the green house on Juniper Hill, just two years ago. He moved in with a blue...
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Fear and the fragile friendship
New York ComicCon 2012 Michael called tonight… thankfully at a very reasonable 730 PM, not midnight. He touched base with Ray, as he does almost every day (too often at midnight). They share the...
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Standing in the way of independence: it isn’t really the money.
‘Our son can’t live on his own, he doesn’t have government money for supports’ Our daughter doesn’t get enough in Social Security to be independent’ ‘They’ve cut funding for disabilities’ again, we...
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Friday Night Funnies with a bunch of autistic guys
Jose Jalapeno on a stick I sat by the fireplace listening tonight… quietly… but laughing laughing laughing inside, at times just marvelling at the magic… as I wished, as always, that I could record the...
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Feeling A.A.L.I.V.E.
Last weekend we visited the Wolf Sanctuary of PA for the Full Moon Tour … listened to wolf lore by moonlight, warmed our cold feet by a huge campfire, got to know 40 rescued wolves, gazed into their...
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The importance of Waffles: a guide to making a happy home
Lots of after-dinner belly laughing, whoops and hollers the other night, along with a few expletives directed at the bad guys… it was Home Alone 1 and 2, back to back. All staff and visitors were gone...
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From Tolerance to Acceptance…. getting through the rough parts
EVERYTHING WORKS OUT IN THE END. IF IT HASN’T WORKED OUT YET, THEN IT’S NOT THE END…. Tracy McMillan It takes time… lots of time. It takes time to accept the fact that food has to be shared, that the...
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Effortless Inclusion……it could be. it should be.
Imagine this. A place where inclusion just happens. I imagine it can easily be this way in elementary school classrooms, where children have not yet learned to judge those with differences. That...
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Happy New Year! Reflections on three years together
The snow is falling softly at midnight and outside it is just stunning with the porch light reflecting on the white blanket covering our rolling hills. Ray is making his way up the hill to his house...
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We need to talk about staff. Be careful what you wish for!
BINGO! Brent won a divided dinner plate… (his preferred way to set up his meals) It was a great day last Wednesday, our weekly get-together with friends day. It was a Hang Out Winter Wednesday (‘hang...
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Springtime Firsts
First cookout tonight. First time eating dinner outside, first deviled eggs from our chickens. First bonfire, first roasting of marshmallows, first toad eating the insects at the porch light. First...
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The Pursuit of Happiness: Juniper Hill Style
Ray was gone for three hours in the adjacent woods one afternoon this week. Three hours! I was just about to go looking for him when he came trudging Ray’s pond in bloom, 2013 back in rubber boots,...
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Autism and the Food Police… The right to eat too many doughnuts (or cream...
Oh MAN! Someone just broke open the new box of cream puffs that were defrosting for dessert and ate 10 of them! And now there are 5 more of us who are going to have to split the remaining 15…...
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Pumpkin time at Juniper Hill Farms!
We are having some gloriously sunny early fall days … Check out our ‘Feeling like Fall’ video!
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Autism Celebrations, Acceptance, and Community Living
‘There are new rules and guidelines for Home and Community Based Services being drafted that will dictate what type of living and working situations Medicaid dollars will fund for people with...
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