When your child has moderate to severe autism, it can be a struggle to feel like a normal family.

One of the easiest ways to overcome that struggle is to lean in to autism, and let it help create your own special family traditions.

We've been doing that for a few years, and this Father's Day, we hit it out of the park.

A couple of weeks ago, I told Tosh that Father's Day was coming up, and I wanted him to help me decide what we should get his dad for a present.

He thought about it for a few minutes and then proudly announced his decision using Proloquo2Go on his iPad: a tree.

"A tree?" I replied. "You want to give Dad a tree for his present?"

Yes, he confirmed. A tree.

Naturally, I had questions. A tree isn't a very practical gift, especially for an apartment dwelling dad. I asked Tosh if he could show me what kind of tree he had in mind. I turned it into a spelling lesson and used Google search to teach him how to spell tree.

Autism parenting pro tip: search engines are...

Flying with an autistic family member can be stressful enough. But these days, it seems like every week there’s a news story about an airline that kicked a passenger off an airplane for no good reason. Too often, it seems like a case of discrimination.

As the parent of a child who screeches, kicks seats and has meltdowns, you can’t help but wonder if you might be the next national headline, like the Beegle family after they were escorted off a United flight by police in 2015.

You shouldn’t let this fear stop you from traveling. But it’s important to know your rights.

The Department of Transportation has specific regulations governing air travelers with developmental disabilities. The DOT defines an individual with a disability as anyone who has a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life acitvities, has a record of such an impairment, or is regarded as having such an impairment.

The regulation also specifically...