Introduction: Going to Holland Together

Abstract

When I arrived at a library in Queens, New York, Sarah was already setting up. She and I talked for 15 minutes or so while she put informational flyers about local service providers on the table, and prepared the sign-in paperwork for the soon-to-arrive participants. We reflected on the celebratory dinner from the previous night. The dinner had been held to commemorate the by-parents-for-parents support group Sarah had started five years earlier for families of children with autism. Then a group member named Leslie arrived with three of her four children. The kids unpacked snacks and toys and wrote on the chalkboard while the adults continued to talk about the dinner. Shortly after, Julia the mother of an eight-year-old son with autism and vice president of the group, arrived, followed by Kate and her five-year-old son Braden. Braden, having never been to this particular library before, did not want to be there and repeated, “I want to go to a different playdate” loudly, monotonously for nearly 10 minutes, until he became familiar with his new surroundings, and decided to play with his toys.