Author Archives: Debbie

Over the years I've worn many hats, but the hat of mother is one of my most special. I am not a perfect mother. I make many mistakes, but I have my share of triumphs also. When our youngest daughter came along, she came with a little something extra: Down syndrome. That's when the hat of advocator was added to my hat box. It's a hat I try to honor every day and one I like to share with others to let them know they are not alone.

Birthday Parties

We want our children to be invited. We are sad if they are left out. But as Peanut gets older, the birthday parties are getting longer and more intense. For example, Peanut has been invited to three former classmate’s birthday parties for June. I assume all these children are turning 7 but some could be turning 6….

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iPod Touch and iPad Apps for Special Needs

In my last post I mentioned how we use an iPod Touch to help Peanut communicate. Dana, a speech pathologist, asked me what apps we have found useful in helping Peanut with her communication. We have found a few apps that we like, but I thought it would be fun to see what everyone else…

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The Lost Voice

This morning when I dropped Peanut off for school I realized I didn’t have her iPod Touch. She uses her iPod touch to communicate at school and over the last several months it has been a great way for her to participate in class. This isn’t the first time I have not had her “voice”…

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Treated As An Equal

It is something we strive for when we have a child with special needs. We want the other children to treat our children as they would other friends. We want adults to have the same expectations as they would another child. We want our children to be included in the school classroom. I can’t count…

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Neighborhood Friends

One of the things I love about our neighborhood is all the kids on the street. It’s reminiscent of when I was a kid and would run the neighborhood from morning till dusk, riding my bike or roller skating or playing a neighborhood game of hide and seek. True things are a little different now….

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Here We Go Again

Sometimes I wish I wasn’t so tuned in to the special needs community. Sometimes I wish I could just get on Facebook and see what goofy things people are doing, even if it’s so mundane as “I’m getting a haircut this afternoon.” But, in my group of friends, that’s not always possible. I have many…

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Kitty, Kitty

Life’s been crazy lately. Today especially. Add to that my lack of sleep from last night due to a certain visitor who dropped by almost every hour on the hour. Needless to say, I don’t really feel like writing and if I did, it would either be pretty much a pity party or a gripe…

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Which is Worse

I have a podcast I like to listen to. It’s for working mom’s who are “trying to do it all and then some.” The mom’s who run the podcast have two children each. Their kids are about the same age with the oldest being in 2nd or 3rd grade and youngest in kindergarten. Over the…

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Let’s Get Real

I’m a realist. Because of that, I sometimes get frustrated when it comes to raising a child with Down syndrome. I want to know what is realistic and my questions are usually met with, “Don’t put limits on your child. She can do anything she wants.” Well, yes, and no. I mean, yes, if we…

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Eradicate the “disease”?

A while back there was an article about a new test that would identify if your child had Down syndrome earlier in the pregnancy in a less invasive way. Dr. Patsalis was excited about this new test because it could help the medical community “slowly eradicate the disease” that is Down syndrome.  I could go into…

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