Q&A with Jennifer Brook Weinzimmer-Autism Mom

My name is Jennifer Brook Weinzimmer, a single mama and business founder living in Wilmington, North Carolina. My complex, brilliant and beautiful children, are Josh, age six, and Ella, age five.

My philosophy for educating them encompasses the concept of whole life learning and every moment is a teaching moment. We often find we “learn” the most on the weekends, away from therapies and “school” – when we are off touching, feeling and experiencing the world. In fact, I count them as my best teaching moments!Whether it is a trip to the local library, a visit to the farmer’s market or spending the day at the botanical garden, we are always in the process of learning new skills and developing new coping mechanisms that help us in our daily lives.

I absolutely have to prep the kiddos for these outings often through videos I find online and photos.Sometimes we prep more than once for future outings to keep the memory fresh in their minds.
We talk about the places we will be visiting, and I try to answer my kids’ questions so they can be prepared to the best of their capacity.
My backup plan typically involves the safety net of “if it’s too much or we need to, we can just come home, ok?”. They trust this method, and they trust me.And so far, the plan has worked like a charm!

As for what we pack: that’ depends on where we are going. Typically we pack snacks, a few favorite toys, books, and TECHNOLOGY  like an i-pad or i-pod seem to help pass the time, especially if there is any waiting involved anywhere.
We enjoy our local travel and outings because we are an active family, and we love to experience the world as much as we can, in the best way that we can.We love going to the beach when it is warm and exploring the local museums on rainy days when you can’t really walk around much.
Often we do experience an off day that nothing seems right, and that’s OK with us. We try to take things in a stride and not fuss about matters too much. If it doesn’t work today, we will try tomorrow or next week again. If life with autism has taught me anything, it is that you have to keep on working no matter what.