PARENTAL ADVICE
These Autism Mom Hacks
Will Make Your Day
By Ginger STRIVELLI
I have three autistic children, along with three who are neurotypical. They were
all born within a 12-year period. As you might imagine, our family household was
a wild and crazy 20-year rollercoaster ride as they were all growing up. I, through
desperation, trial and error, magical luck, and vivid imagination, came up with what
I call my seven autism household life hacks.
M
any of my children’s therapists, teach-
ers, and care providers have encour-
aged me to share them with other au-
tism families, as they work so well for
my children and others on the spec-
trum. Now, as my two middle (neuro-
typical) daughters work with children
with autism themselves, they use these life hacks
with their charges.
I know how hard it can be to be an autism household
mom. These life hacks have helped me:
1.
The Lost Fairy
The Lost Fairy is a sister of the Tooth Fairy. She
comes and takes things you lose and can’t find.
34 | Autism Parenting Magazine | Issue 68
She will not bring them back until you have
stopped looking for them and forgotten about
them. She will also not bring them back if you’re
having a meltdown.
This works “like magic,” one might say. All three
of my children with autism struggled with get-
ting bogged down and having meltdowns over
things they misplaced. After going through a
standard grid pattern search, like we were ar-
cheologists looking for ancient pottery, we of-
ten still could not find the important misplaced
item. Once I developed the Lost Fairy story, the
kids would accept that the Lost Fairy had it. If
I was able to later find it, or buy another one
just like it and secretly scuff it up to look like the