{"id":54871,"date":"2023-04-04T10:15:00","date_gmt":"2023-04-04T10:15:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cafemomcom.bigscoots-staging.com\/blog\/mom-with-accepting-her-autism-diagnosis-made-mom-better-parent-autistic-sons\/"},"modified":"2024-09-02T20:33:08","modified_gmt":"2024-09-02T20:33:08","slug":"mom-with-accepting-her-autism-diagnosis-made-mom-better-parent-autistic-sons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cafemom.com\/lifestyle\/mom-with-accepting-her-autism-diagnosis-made-mom-better-parent-autistic-sons","title":{"rendered":"How Accepting Her Autism Diagnosis Made This Mom a Better Parent to Her Two Autistic Sons"},"content":{"rendered":"

Our monthly column MOM WITH<\/a> aims to redefine what it means to be a \"normal\" mother by focusing on how it feels to live with a developmental or mental disorder. We see you, we hear you, and we're in this together.<\/em><\/p>

Tiffany Hammond, who is an author, disrupter, and self-proclaimed pie-slayer, knew even as a little girl that she was different. That difference made her life hard, especially when she was a kid. And though there was an internal awareness, Tiffany was a freshman in college before she was officially diagnosed with autism<\/a>. <\/p>

Autism is a neurological and developmental disorder that affects the way people interact, communicate, learn, and behave. It’s known as a spectrum disorder for the wide variety in type and severity of symptoms. <\/p>

Tiffany’s diagnosis came after she lost a cherished writing instrument before an exam. The pen, featuring a Troll topper, was broken and could no longer write, but Tiffany carried it everywhere she went. <\/p>

“I lost that pen and I felt like I unraveled,” she said. “It felt like the world stopped. Everything that could go wrong, I felt went wrong.”<\/p>

Tiffany had a meltdown. <\/p>

“I didn’t go to class. I didn’t go take the test, I just stayed in my room. I stayed in my bed, under the blanket. I didn’t eat. I got up to go to the bathroom that was just about it. I was there for two days.” <\/p>

When Tiffany did get up to return to her classes, she learned that she needed a note to excuse her absence. Someone on campus told her to visit the psychiatric ward to get the note. During the evaluation, a medical professional asked her, “Have you ever been evaluated for Asperger’s?’<\/p>

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders<\/em>, known as the DSM-5, stopped classifying Asperger’s as an official diagnosis in 2013<\/a> as it was folded into the autism spectrum.<\/p>

By the time she was in college, Tiffany had heard about the condition before, but had not been tested for it. <\/p>

More from CafeMom:<\/strong> 20 Things Everyone Needs To Know About Autism<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Our monthly column MOM WITH aims to redefine what it means to be a “normal” mother by focusing on how it feels to live with a developmental or mental disorder. We see you, we hear you, and we’re in this together.Tiffany Hammond, who is an author, disrupter, and self-proclaimed pie-slayer, knew even as a little […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":701582,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"apple_news_api_created_at":"","apple_news_api_id":"","apple_news_api_modified_at":"","apple_news_api_revision":"","apple_news_api_share_url":"","apple_news_cover_media_provider":"image","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_cover_video_id":0,"apple_news_cover_video_url":"","apple_news_cover_embedwebvideo_url":"","apple_news_is_hidden":"","apple_news_is_paid":"","apple_news_is_preview":"","apple_news_is_sponsored":"","apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":[],"apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[76,71],"tags":[1218,275,7968,11417,349,997],"featured":[],"internal-tag":[],"series":[152],"class_list":{"2":"type-post"},"acf":[],"apple_news_notices":[],"yoast_head":"\nHow Accepting Her Autism Diagnosis Made This Mom a Better Parent to Her Two Autistic Sons<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Tiffany Hammond shares how her journey with a developmental disorder led to being a better parent.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/cafemom.com\/lifestyle\/mom-with-accepting-her-autism-diagnosis-made-mom-better-parent-autistic-sons\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How Accepting Her Autism Diagnosis Made This Mom a Better Parent to Her Two Autistic Sons\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Tiffany was diagnosed at 18 years old. 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