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Learning from Alex's World

Sharing thoughts and observations on the joys, the humor and the challenges of living with and loving someone with autism.

As we have traveled Alex’s journey, we have treasured the stories and experiences of others who have walked in our shoes. Although every autistic person is unique, similarities in traits and behaviors do exist, and there is inspiration and comfort in sharing with others –we are not alone when we find ourselves in tears or in stitches, in agony or in peace. We’ll try to share a few stories here.

Cards on the Way

We made the first big trip to the post office this morning! The card orders are on their way. I showed the receipt to Alex and he said, “Wow!” “People

The Workshop!

Call this our version of Santa’s workshop — Alex with his paints and brushes at his teacher’s studio. Alex loves his teachers and his weekly routine that includes a couple

Before the Storm…

Yep, it’s the quiet before the storm, when Alex’s cards are packaged and delivered. We get a special joy from seeing all of the addresses and all of the states

We Love ‘More Than’!

We love Kate Swenson and Amanda Deluca from The More Than Project and Finding Cooper’s Voice as partners in Alex’s journey – and as dear friends as well. The More Than Project strives to

An ace of a day

I Didn’t Get a Hole-In-One Miniature golfing Summer ‘22 is a wrap! While Hannah was home we got our family outing of golf in. Was a beautiful day. This is

Hot fun in the summertime

So…..what does Alex like to do most in the summer? Don his life jacket and climb on the tube. Now, Alex is not like most tubers. He is a very leisurely

Sharing Joy

Sometimes life teaches that sharing joy is a wonderful to receive joy. Case in point, is our promotion of Alex’s Nativity and Holiday cards: the response has been so gracious

A Big First

Alex had quite a first tonight — he was invited to be an artist in residence at a garden tour in our hometown. We had some of his artwork on

Sibling Song

Last week Alex and Hannah sang a duet — I See the Light from the musical Tangled — and posted it on our Alex the Artist facebookk page. We gained

Back to The Lady

When we’re asked when we knew Alex’s art skills were something special, we always go back to The Lady. As Alex was growing up, he certainly showed that he innately

Alex’s favorite mountain

Alex lived much of his childhood years in Puget Sound, and he loved what we call The Mountain. Earlier this year, Alex selected a photo that showed the beauty and

Our loving community

Alex has so many wonderful people in his community, and there is no one quite like KT Swenson, whose blog Finding Cooper’s Voice has touched so many families who live

Moving mountains

On our Facebook page, we have been sharing a lot about Alex’s Autism journey, and so much of his journey revolves around his artwork, which is his wonderful opportunity to

Nothing better than a smile

One of the great blessings of life with Alex is catching this smile. It’s the one with the corner of his mouth turned up and with a knowing look in

Diff’rent strokes…

We are celebrating the completion of Alex’s latest work — Flowering White! The piece shows how the beauty of white when set off from a range of color, but it

More than a paycheck

This one’s not about art, but it’s a big deal in the Schlueter household. Here we see the envelope containing Alex’s second paycheck from his new job. A couple/three times

Two reasons to smile

Alex is not particularly keen on getting his picture taken, but he has two reasons to happily agree to the impromptu photo session. Reason 1 is that sister Hannah is

Starting a work flow

Alex’s work graphically shows his attention to detail; he is nothing if not meticulous. But with this wonderful aspect of artist expressioni comes, shall we say, a slower pace in

Fun with color

Alex has always loved working with colors. He likes to mix different colors to come up with new shades, and he likes to see how tints and shades look in

One of my favorite things…

One of my favorite things about Alex is how he texts. Just the fact that he has learned how to text my parents or myself is incredible, and we’re all

Alex is back!

Hello everyone! We are thrilled to be back in on the web with our new Alextheartist.com site! We hope this overdue makeover will reflect Alex’s growth and development as an

So many to thank…

Alex has taught us many things, and one of them is to say thank you –a lot. And we will use this space to make sure we keep doing that.