It was almost three years ago, but I remember the day as if it were yesterday. I was all alone getting a routine sonogram. She said, "There's baby A and there's baby B."
"What? What did you say?"
"Didn't the doctor tell you? You're having twins."
And there began a new chapter of my life. Just a couple of years later, I was again in a doctor's office. All alone.
"It seems your daughters have Pervasive Developmental Delay tendencies, or PDD. It's on the Autism spectrum."
It was shocking and disappointing, but expected. My girls weren't talking. And even though many said it was just a 'twin thing,' my heart and my mind told me something was wrong.
The girls are now getting early intervention which includes speech therapy and occupational therapy every day. Matt & I are seeing gains with them all the time. This weekend, for example, Lyra said, "Papa," my grandfather's name, for the first time. And Sasha sang her ABCs with her cousins. It's working, slowly.
But I can't tell you how frustrating it is for me as a professional communicator to struggle to communicate with my own children. I must admit, I was even a bit embarrassed about it. I began telling people slowly. And so many have really reached out to me to help and inspire me. People like Judy Finneran, Heidi Richards, J
a-Nae Duane, Tammy Munson, Marilyn Jennet, Kate Powers, and Susan McCool. It's so wonderful to have such a network of supporters - many of whom I've never met in person! (The true power of the Internet!)
It will happen for my girls, I know it. It will take time and effort. But I know they will succeed. We have the best help we can get from dedicated professionals who are here every day providing therapy. Our wonderful au pair, Golf, works constantly to develop the girls' language.
Sure. We had to adjust our expectations, especially about what the experts call 'developmental milestones." But using every resource available to us - expertise and support, love and dedication - we are seeing progress.
Your communications and publicity efforts will succeed too. It may take time and effort, but you can't give up.
You, too, can get the support you need as well. Find resources, like this ezine and other things at your disposal, that can help. And use them.
In honor of my lovely twin daughters, who give me double the pleasure every day, this issue is packed with lots of twos. In this week's feature article, you'll learn about how to make your publicity do double duty simply by retooling it. And my
buy two, get one free ebook sale is still going strong until month's end. (You have
two weeks left to take advantage of it!)
Until next time, you will be heard!
So how do you extend those fifteen minutes of fame into something more?
