Cassie French Ferguson's blog

Every morning before rising, and every evening on getting into bed, shut your eyes and repeat several times this little phrase: “Every day, in every way, I am getting better and better.” So wrote Dr. Emile Coué in his book entitled Self-mastery Through Conscious Auto-suggestion.

You may wonder why I would quote Dr. Coué. I will tell you that these words introduce the first chapter of a book that I came upon in a quite unusual way.

How sleep deprived can we be? How many years of sleepless nights can pass before we no longer need sleep? How empty can our buckets be? Our bucket that is full at the beginning of the day and empties steadily over the hours of managing our autistic children.

This is my question. I wish someone had invented a tool that would hold our eyes open in the wake of exhaustion. It’s amazing how much you can still see when your eyes are covered by giant marshmallowy eyelids.

A new mother mentioned recently that nursery rhymes are upsetting and often violent. We need only to remember “Three Blind Mice” to cringe that they had their tales “cut off with a carving knife” at the end of the rhyme.

I was feebly attempting to find a way to have a “time-out” while Katie had a day-long meltdown. The terrible heat wave we are experiencing has rendered our house an oven. Opening the freezer and sticking my head in for relief was the highlight of my day.

While I believe that people are basically good, I have come to realize that there are those who will take no prisoners while furthering their own agenda. One might say that "the benefit to others" far outweighs the destruction left in their wake. However, I would say that lining-up the suffering before a firing squad reflects a basic lack of compasssion.

This morning I had a gaggle of 20-year-old young women in my kitchen. Not a klinker in the bunch, Lauren and her friends were chatting, laughing and the “one-day-to-be” pastry chef, Hollie, was preparing glorious waffles.

Mornings such as this are the “buried treasure” of life. As the mother of five ranging from 31 to 9, I have had my share of good times, bad times, tears, sorrow, grief, joy and laughter. During the difficult times we often forget the blessed times. Maybe this is the meaning of life… balancing the joy with the sorrow.

When you have five kids, there is no chance that you won’t be kept awake by worries over at least one of them. The worries are not limited to the child with the neurological disorder.

My 20-year-old daughter, Lauren, will ask “Why do you sound panicked when I call?” Well… it could be that the call is either a) she has had an incident with her car, b) she has had an incident with her horse or c) she is sick.

Sorry, everyone - I make a point of checking links which I site in a post to avoid mistakes.

Unfortunately, I didn't check until today, and found the link to IDEA is not www, but instead:
http://idea.ed.gov/

As a note to those who found my post to represent me as quite confrontational during IEP meetings, I would like to add this.

I began the IEP process as we all do. An open mind and grateful for the professionals who were going to help my child cope in the school environment.

For you, Christine!

Yesterday, a mother expressed her frustration over her son’s treatment in school. An autistic child, he was referred to as “unfocused” and the mother added one more brick to the wall of heartbreak we experience at the hands of others.

I want to express the need for parents to be fully aware of their rights and responsibilities as parents. The following websites provide crucial information for understanding the process of the IEP and special needs children.

Do you ever feel overwhelmed by advice?

Over the years since my daughter's diagnosis, I have read every book, listened to the pros and cons on medication intervention vs. dietary/environmental changes. I have researched mercury, vaccines, genetic links and illness during pregnancy. I have exhausted myself with information to the point that I finally shut-down within two years of the pediatric psychiatrist saying, "Yes, she has Asperger's Syndrome... it's gonna be great!"

"WHATTTTTTTTTT?" My first reaction was to throw a pie in his face. My second reaction was to slap him.