Hi there! Welcome! So happy you are here. My name is Kate and I have 4 kids, ages 4 to 14. My oldest, Cooper, is autistic. When he was diagnosed, I felt so alone. It was hard to find other kids like him and families like ours. Which led to a lot of hard years. A vowed to change that for new families. Cooper is nonverbal, autistic, happy, thriving, and living his best life in Minnesota. Welcome!
A bit more about our mission: Finding Cooper's Voice is a safe, humorous, caring and honest place where you can celebrate the unique challenges of parenting a special needs child. Because you're never alone in the struggles you face. And once you find your people, your allies, your village....all the challenges and struggles will seem just a little bit easier.
A great place to learn more about our family is to order my book, Forever Boy by Kate Swenson. Order here: a.co/d/0Hulh0D
Finding Cooper's Voice
8 years ago, maybe more, I shared a video that changed my whole life. Many folks assume it was the viral aspects of the video that did it. But that’s not entirely true. It was actually me finally saying the words out loud. I had no help. I wasn’t sleeping. I was going to lose my job because I couldn’t work due to my son’s behaviors. (No school, daycare would take him) I lost friends. We were isolated in our home. And I finally shared it. Life is so much different now. Thankfully. But I will never forget being this mom.
The Last Time We Believe This Is Going To Be Okay
https://youtu.be/uCZmSEOynVo
2 months ago | [YT] | 22
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Finding Cooper's Voice
It's time to join us in Kentucky for our annual caregiver retreat! Our lineup is unbelievable this year! See all of the details here: morethanproject.org/care-for-the-caregiver-retreat…
3 months ago | [YT] | 12
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Finding Cooper's Voice
We have so many new followers here. First, thank you for being here and learning about autism from my boy Cooper.
He is 15 years and was diagnosed with severe nonverbal autism at age 3. I started blogging when he was just 2 years old on a Wordpress site. When I picked the name Finding Cooper’s Voice I thought I was so witty. See, back then, I assumed everyone eventually learned to speak. I didn’t even know nonverbal was a possibility.
Years later I started sharing on Facebook. And truly, I never thought anyone would care what I had to say. I was just so scared and felt so alone.
I wanted to find other moms to connect with. And families like mine. But mostly, a person like Cooper. I wanted to know that this was all going to be okay.
So I talked about autism. And our family. Marriage. Siblings. My career. Going into the community. Our successes. And our many failures.
Our life is wonderful, hard, funny, sad, amazing, and normal. I call it the secret world of autism.
A few years ago I wrote a book called Forever Boy. And then more recently Autism Out Loud, which I wrote with my two dear friends.
My goal has always been to help people and to help them feel less alone. And hopefully change the world for people like my son.
If our story interests you, or helps you feel less alone, please grab a copy of our books. I say ours because for us, autism is our family’s story. There would be no us, or book, or Facebook page, without all six of us.
I’ll put links for each book in the comments.
My first book is on super sale! And is a great place to start.
Thank you all. ❤️
And if you’ve read our books, please share a comment if they helped you. My kids get pretty tickled to read them.
3 months ago | [YT] | 192
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Finding Cooper's Voice
Hi all! Just wanted to share that I have a membership group here on YouTube. Years ago, I realized how valuable it is to have a place to share, ask, and learn about autism without the judgement of the world. This is complicated stuff. If you are looking for a community it’s, give mine a try for a month.
Click the link below or visit my membership tab. I share about family, marriage, motherhood, medication, behaviors, and school.
Join me: Members-only videos
www.youtube.com/playlist?list...
4 months ago | [YT] | 41
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Finding Cooper's Voice
Hi everyone, welcome to my new YouTube Community! Now you can post on my channel, too. To get started, tell me in a post what you'd like to see next on my channel.
Visit my Community: youtube.com/@findingcoopersvoice/community
5 months ago | [YT] | 38
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Finding Cooper's Voice
What an honor to share our mission with @AcrossTheSpectrumTheDoc
7 months ago | [YT] | 10
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Finding Cooper's Voice
The excitement I have over our book being $10 on Amazon right now is unbelievable! Because this means we ca get this book in the hands of more people than ever. Grab a copy for a teacher, a therapist, a grandparent or friend. And if you haven’t read it yet…you need to.
Order here: amzn.to/4i2Epn4
AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER!
In this moving narrative of resilience and pure love, three mothers share their experiences and learnings about life alongside autism -- From the creators of Finding Cooper's Voice, What Color is Monday?, and Tales of an Educated Debutante
Kate Swenson, Adrian Wood and Carrie Cariello are from different parts of the country and backgrounds, but they were brought together by a singular experience: they are each a mother to a child with autism. Together they have shared laughter, tears, victories and the unconditional love that molds their lives.
Kate, Adrian and Carrie have children with very different autism profiles, and in Autism Out Loud they write about their unique experiences on a variety of topics, from diagnosis to caregiving, schooling and aging. Through their varied stories and lessons they’ve learned, these incredible women provide a glimpse of what to expect on the autism journey and show parents that they are not alone.
7 months ago | [YT] | 21
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