Broken Nights and Lost Days: Inside World of Severe Autism

This is our autistic son 8 months after he came BACK home AFTER living in a group home where the staff left him behind the door to self-abuse for son many hours, so many times that he required emergency surgery to repair his ear. At this time, we had little help and many times, NO HELP. I was in the middle of constant LEGAL battles with the state to get my autistic son the help he so obviously needed. I was sleep deprived. Out of my mind with stress. Desperate to keep him from harming himself or re-injuring his ear. I didn’t want to restrain him. It’s all I knew to do after so many hours, up ALL damn night. ALL day. NO HELP. Husband at work most of the time. ALL alone, trying to protect my son. I will never, ever forget the fact we were left alone to die of exhaustion. Ironically, I’m grateful for the this because it turned me into an autism warrior mom who will now stop at nothing to get my son the services he needs and advocate for others who live with severe autism and need help. Thank you for ignoring us and leaving us in the dust to suffer when you knew my son desperately needed help. It made me stronger than I ever knew I could be. And now my son has more than most autistic people have ever gotten to help him. Autism moms: NEVER GIVE UP. EVER. Fight to the death for what is right, what is just, what is needed and what the law says your child can get. Toss the denial letters aside and prepare for battle.