Kids/Family

My Sweet Family & Touched By Autism

Laurie Cosgrove
{Recognize that Ampersand Pillow?  Laurie wrote a how-to for us here.}

I asked our contributing author Laurie Cosgrove to share a bit about what is going on in her life and the life of her precious little ones.  She wrote a post about her little guy (who just happens to be my sweet nephew…yes, Laurie is my baby sister) that made me feel like my heart was gonna burst.  I love her and her sweet little family so much.  They have been walking through some hard discoveries of our sweet Micah with such grace and love.   Her hope is to help and connect with others walking down the same road.  She also shares a bit about her little girl Ari.  Keep reading to meet my precious nephew and see my adorable little niece with luscious cheeks and wearing a tutu!

Amy Bowman and nephew Micah
{Me and Our Precious Micah.  He is such a light in my life!  I love him so.}

Here is more from my sis:

I have not shared much about my little guy and his language delays before, but for the last six months or so, our silly-sweet toddler boy has been in early intervention (speech therapy) because he wasn’t talking and interacting with us like a typical 2 year old. In more recent weeks we’ve come to the conclusion with the speech teachers that Micah is most likely on the autism spectrum. 

Boy with Autism


Obviously this changes nothing about the way we see him and love him. Micah absolutely lights up our home with his contagious joy and playful energy. But he processes things differently and it’s been really difficult to teach him or get him to pay attention to us sometimes. It’s not just that he doesn’t talk. He has trouble understanding our words and gets overwhelmed by a lot of social situations, including just everyday playing with us. So this has been the #1 thing on our minds lately – researching all hours of the night what we can do to love on him more and teach him in a way that he understands. The main reason I wanted to share this today was because I found this amazing resource for parents specifically for speech and social skills. I hope you’ll pass it on if you happen to know someone whose little one is in a similar situation with autism or even just a “late talker.”

Teach me to talk

The name of the website is Teach Me To Talk with blog posts and products by Laura Mize, a pediatric speech-language pathologist. We have the dvd set and liked those but what really helped me were these books… I bought the Teach Me To Play With You book which is full of ideas, games, songs, etc. for getting my little guy to pay attention to me during playtime. This was really hard for us before because we wanted to play with Micah and teach him things but he didn’t attend to us or was just happy doing his own thing. So this book has been awesome with teaching us how to be more fun and gain his attention. The other one by her that I love was the Building Verbal Imitation in Toddlers with SO much info about how to work with your kids at home during everyday life. There are different levels of speech, so I liked knowing exactly where Micah fit and what to work on, what to say, different games to try, etc. I’ll definitely keep researching and even trying out different diets and things but as for his language delays, these books have been so encouraging. They were well worth the cost so I just had to pass them on. 

Little girl

My little Ari girl is getting huge! She’s doing the full out army crawl and she is FAST! It’s been really interesting watching her do things that her brother still doesn’t do – pointing, waving, looking at our faces to check our expressions, showing us things that she finds interesting. She is a quick little learner! It’s so fun to see her and Micah finally playing together. We’re essentially working with them on a lot of the same things even though they are 22 months apart:)

Laurie Cosgrove and husband
{Laurie and her husband Steve…have you ever seen a cuter family?}
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Amy here again…how precious are they?  Can you see why I am head-over-heels?  Please keep Laurie and their family in your prayers as they seek out the best options for their little guy.  She is truly one of the best Mommies I know, so patient and wise.  Her hubs is the same, those 2 little ones were very blessed with wonderful parents.  

Beauty Divine Design

Please pass this post on to anyone you know who is walking down the same road.  Laurie shares her life here at her own blog Beauty Divine, so make sure you click here and follow her there!





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  • Anonymous
    April 15, 2013 at 10:46 am

    Those books look really helpful! Our son is also on the spectrum, and I can say without doubt that the one thing we did that helped more than anything else was the intervention known as ABA, or Applied Behavioural Analysis. It’s a methodically organized way of interacting with the child on the spectrum. We had to get tutors to come and work with him from the age of 3–it was really very effective. He’s eleven now, and in mainstream school. He’s still socially challenged, but academically great and he is loving, interacting, and demonstrative. Look it up, and read Let Me Hear Your Voice, by Catherine Maurice–it’s a good starting point. Good luck, Laurie!
    Allison in the UK

  • jeana
    April 15, 2013 at 3:57 am

    You know this touches my heart! I can relate In so many ways. I’m going to add them to my prayers, it’s such a difficult time, but so many blessings are packed in there as well!

  • Teresa @ Grammy Girlfriend
    April 14, 2013 at 6:46 am

    Sweet Amy,

    I read your entire cancer story tonight….I am afraid to look at the clock. How it blessed me. I don’t have breast cancer, but have struggled with deep depression recently, something very new to me…involving a family matter. It seems so easy compared to your journey, but we all walk different roads. I read everyone of your posts and they spoke to me in my depression. HIS WORD spoke loud and clear. Tomorrow I am going back and coping verses. Now I am going to your FB page and then Pinterest…I am a Pinterest addict…Also a juicer for the last 4 months….trying to stay healthy as everyone around me seems to be sick. Juicing has become a new way of life for us and nothing I would have ever thought I could do…I did not like fruits and vegetables. That in itself makes me an unlikely candidate BUT I LOVE IT….Have not missed a day in 4 months…Too much about me…Just wanted to say thanks for your honesty and realness in your posts….I instantly fell in love with you…

    Teresa
    annah99@aol.com
    Grammy Girlfriend

  • Jenni
    April 13, 2013 at 8:01 pm

    Tell your sis thanks for sharing boldly. Beautiful family and sweet babes.

  • Anonymous
    April 13, 2013 at 7:02 pm

    With your new hair color, you two look a lot alike! Autism seems so much more prevalent these days, unfortunately. Thanks for sharing.

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