April is Autism Awareness Month, and there are a zillion ways to show your support: runs, walks, concerts, and even comedy shows work to raise money for more research and more awareness. It's rare that a home is not touched by autism, whether through friends or family, so we all need to get involved in raising worldwide awareness.

Donating to any one of the rad organizations is a great way to help bring attention to autism and offer financial help to the cause. But what's also fun is buying cute stuff that has another huge benefit besides looking good on you, your child, or in your purse. Here's a roundup of five of the best autism awareness items in toddler and mom gear out there.

Spread the word!

I just made a check out to my son's school. Normally, I consider check-writing up there with hot coffee enemas on my list of "things I loathe," but this time, I considered writing, "MARRY ME" in the subject line after I doodled pink hearts all over the rest of the check. I'd have sealed it with a kiss, if it hadn't seemed a little stalkery (even for me).

What the nuts had gotten me so hot and bothered? School supplies.

Every year when I can write out a single check for school supplies, I swoon.

Things weren't always so simple.

When my son was diagnosed on the autistic spectrum at age 2, it was heavily suggested that I enroll him in preschool for "socialization" (which I assumed meant "butt-sniffing"). Instead of the Special Ed preschool, which was eleventy-million miles away, I opted for a Montessori-type school closer to home.

My son "socialized" his way through first grade there.

I feel like the day a woman becomes a mom, there should be a big sign that appears after she births the placenta that says, "Welcome to the most amazing journey you will ever have in your life. But be prepared for some major challenges that will have you questioning everything you ever thought you knew!" Okay, maybe that banner is just way too long. We deal with challenges -- big and small, different family, different challenges. But tons of challenges.

The challenge of having a baby in the NICU. The challenge of a learning disability. The challenge of unforeseen ailments. The challenge of single parenting. The challenge of being a working mom. The challenge of affording college. The challenge of autism.

Here, moms who have kids on the spectrum share their challenges. I ask you as readers to share your own challenges and your triumphs. There's nothing like support and understanding when facing any challenge. It's how we overcome.

When speaking to moms who have children with autism, there were two common factors -- all deeply love their children and all wish they could go back in time to when they first learned their child was on the spectrum and tell themselves some things they learned along the way. These moms reveal that they wish they trusted their instincts more, saw the signs and accepted them. They also wish they had different support from professionals, better support, and some feel they needed to take more time for themselves for their mental health and so they could learn more.

Here they share their reflections on autism with the hope that it helps other parents who have a child newly diagnosed.

When Alex Swigart, a 12-year-old boy with autism, smelled smoke in his Arizona home in the middle of the night, he acted like a hero. He went and woke his father, who got everyone out of the house. Everyone was okay, and it would have been a wonderful story if it had ended there. Unfortunately, it didn't.

For some unexplained reason, the boy ran back into the mobile home. By the time firefighters arrived, it was engulfed in flames, and they couldn't rescue the boy who had just rescued his family. He died.

Mom intuition is very often spot on -- we're in tune with our kids, we know when something is just not right or when something is going to be just fine. So when we interviewed a group of moms who have children with autism and asked them for the initial signs, many felt they knew what was going on even without a doctor's diagnosis because of how their child was acting and developing.

Some moms mentioned how their child didn't play with typical toys, or didn't make eye contact. Some displayed incredible genius, others had odd sleep patterns, or their language wasn't developing, and some had a lack of attention span and social interest. Here are their stories about the initial signs they saw in their child ....

I thought teachers being allowed to spank their students was bad enough. But a teacher at a school for autistic kids skirted the rules to do something even worse. She didn't hit a child with her hands or a paddle.

Nah, Margaret Boyett allegedly used the teenager's OWN HAND to smack him around. I'd be impressed with her craftiness if I weren't so disgusted by what she did. Because if it isn't bad enough that a teacher would raise a hand to a child, I think that applies doubly to kids with special needs ... including a teen on the spectrum.

Sometimes I get tired of reading about how horrible the Internet is. I work here, people! There are nutsos, sure. But it's not all that bad. Simple fact: there are great people on the Internet. And really awful people in the real life.

I'm talking about the kind of people who steal the gadget a child with autism and cerebral palsy uses to communicate with his parents. A little boy named Sagan from the Arizona had his ALT-CHAT, a $3,500 device built specifically for non-speaking folks, stolen from his family's truck. His parents had already spent months saving money and trying to get their insurance company to chip in for the first device, so they didn't have the means to buy him a new one.