The Craighead House is home to a typical family of five with the exception that autism resides here as well.  My house is constantly filled with laughter and complete and utter chaos.  It is my hope that this blog will give people a glimpse of how weird, and at the same time wonderful, living with autism can be.

Scot (Dad) is a computer programmer, a very good trumpet player, and an amazing father.  He is also frequently referred to as a Vulcan (everything must be logical) and has been called Spock and Lenny (as in Leonard Nimoy) throughout his life.  Yes some call him Scotty as well.  He is a huge Star Trek fan and, well, anything sci-fi will do.  Scot has instilled his love of science fiction on our three children, as well, and the house is overrun with little Trekkies.  He is also a mathematician and I am very thankful for that, because I can only help my kids with basic math questions and anything above algebra is just gibberish in my mind.

Katie ,my oldest child, was born with a trumpet in her mouth and has been tooting her own horn ever since.  She is very intelligent and if you are playing a trivia game, you will want Katie on your side, however, if you are forming a synchronized swimming team, you will want to look elsewhere. She loves to play holiday songs in the spring, just to see if anyone is paying attention and she loves to wear mismatched socks, just because she can.  Katie recently graduated with her Master of Music and is an amazing trumpet player. .

Joey is a college Freshman and is also very intelligent and does well in school.  He has a black belt in Taekwondo and he plays the banjo.  Yes I said banjo (we had fun finding a banjo teacher in the Pacific Northwest).  He is also an amazing award winning percussionist who loves playing mallets.  Joey has an incredible sense of humor and I love just sitting and talking and laughing with him.  He is studying music in college and absolutely loves it.

Sam is the youngest and is on the autism spectrum.  He is a hilarious fourteen year old and quite a bit of this blog centers around the world through his eyes.  Yes he can be a handful at times, but he can also be the sweetest person anyone could ever hope to meet.  Sam is not in any way a typical teenager and he will often come across as a lot younger than he is.  He is a little walking encyclopedia that still has trouble reading. His interests change frequently and range from animals to chemistry to history to geography…  I am constantly learning fun facts from him and really enjoy trying to figure out how his mind works.  Sam says that he wants to be either a scientist or a YouTuber when he grows up.

Then there is me (Debbie).  I am the mother of these wonderful kids, wife to a wonderful man,  and I am thankful that I get to be a part of this craziness.  I home-school Sam and I love getting to spend my time hanging out with this amazing group of individuals.

I hope you enjoy this little slice of our lives.

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