Juggling Autism: The Chronicles of Ben Royko

Some random moments from the past few weekends with the big Benny boy. As snacks go (that Ben likes), relatively speaking, marshmallows count as health food. ~~~ Picking his sixth book to read is serious business. (Thank you Michelle!) ~~~

Little bits of Ben’s life over the past couple of weeks… ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Six residents + staff at Ben’s group home = big garbage day. Tomica at Great Clips is getting rid of Ben’s curls. I was opposed to it, but

My personal mantra (or at least one of them) is, Time Flies, Whether You’re Having Fun or Not. The “Not” part is familiar turf for any parent watching their child grow up struggling with the horrors of severe autism. But

Ben, book, sun, green grass, greener trees, blue sky, bluer Lake Erie, and a hunk of modern sculpture art that looks like a toddler sibling of the Chicago Daley Plaza Picasso in the background (Ben was unimpressed — all the

Sitting at a traffic light, car windows open, Ben in his usual spot – back seat, passenger side. He’s in a great mood, so he belts out, at full blast, “SOCCER BALL!!!!!” Nothing unusual to us. Not the case for

For the weekends in between visits, Karen always sends a little package for Ben to open on Saturday that often has a book or toy or something he likes, but ALWAYS has some sort of tasty treats that he loves

Not directly Ben-related but… We have a few routines built into the end of our Ben visits on Sundays, the almost-final part (before the trip to Luna Bakery for cookies) being a drive out to the Hiram College area in

Jake, back from undergrad academia, was with us for our weekend with the big guy. Ben loves Jake, even though he hardly ever sees him. The twins have lived apart since they were twelve, with Ben in Wisconsin for five

Ben’s twin brother Jake being with us for a weekend is why we have this 10-second clip of an activity Ben requests a lot on every visit, and Karen is always happy to comply. And since I’m always behind the

Ben loves his Busy World of Richard Scarry video, which is where some of his favorite little mantras come from — like “Juggling!” (a.k.a. what he sometimes says while hurling a book into the air, emulating a character exclaiming “Juggling”