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Warning

A couple  of  weeks ago, my husband put one of those extra sturdy metal dividers in my Jeep. I think it says ,  “Kennel Guard” on the bottom, a double-layer grid that in my rearview mirror, really looks like a cage. It’s made to keep one of those big, unruly dogs in the back seat  to keep you safe  while you’re driving.  Except,  I don’t have a dog. What I do have is an angry , autistic  sixteen-year-old who is so addicted to YouTube that having it has made him as violent as not having it. Before we got to the point we are now, deep in the throes of  what can only be called  withdrawal , he was only  allowed  YouTube  when he earned it  as a reward, three times a day, five minutes at a time, at the exact same times every day —after completing his morning routine, after successfully sitting at the table for dinner, and after bath.  It   had been  that  way for about a decade. There have been times when we have slipped, of course—doctors’ appointments, hours-long infusions for his medica

Sometimes Holland Sucks

When I first read the famous essay “Welcome to Holland” by Emily Perl Kingsley, I was touched. The overall premise, for those unfamiliar, is that having a child with a disability is like having planned a dream vacation to Italy, only to find out that the plane has landed in Holland. Not only are you in the wrong country, but everyone you know has been to Italy and talks about it all the time. What’s worse is that you will never go to Italy. Though the text itself is a bit unclear here, I think Kingsley means that you will remain in Holland forever. She could just as easily mean for the duration of the vacation, but either way, you are in Holland. Kingsley writes: for the rest of your life, you will say ‘Yes, that's where I was supposed to go. That's what I had planned.’…And the pain of that will never, ever, ever, ever go away... because the loss of that dream is a very very significant loss. But... if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn't get to Ital

New chapbook from Rattle press is available!

Turn Left Before Morning, Rattle chapbook contest runner-up, is now available. You may purchase a copy on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Turn-Before-Morning-April-Salzano/dp/1931307318/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1479750138&sr=8-1&keywords=turn+left+before+morning In the chapbook Turn Left Before Morning, April Salzano explores the daily struggles involved in parenting a child with autism. These poems map a mother’s quest for understanding of a world that requires a significant shift in perspective and a new definition of what it means to love a child. The key to navigating the rough terrain of autism is not something she discovers, but is instead something that has been subtly guiding her all along: autism is as wonderful as it is terrifying, as humorous as it is heartbreaking, in alternating and equal measures.