For the first time in a week I had time to read my email, and it threw me into a tizzy. “Will you help with the fundraiser?” “Will you be at the meeting?” “You signed up to bring 400 cookies to play practice tomorrow.Will you please have the cookies divided into 40 portion size baggies.”…
Monthly Archives: February 2010
Isolating
Being a parent of a child, or children, with a disability can be an isolating experience. Friends who used to invite you out for a movie or dinner no longer call. New friends are few and far between, and those people who do join your circle of acquaintances usually have a child with a disability…
Special Exposure Wednesday.
In our house, dress ups regularly include ‘cannulas’, ‘bandages’ and hospital type play. Here is Noah with a sore head, a broken leg and a bandage over his canulated arm. He looks too well to be hospitalised, wouldn’t you say? Got something to share? Why don’t you join in this Special Exposure Wednesday. Please remember your…
A Reader Question: Finger Chewing
I received an email from Angela who has a 5 year old cousin with Down syndrome. Angela refers to her cousin as ‘amazing and her whole world. ‘ Angela says that her cousin recently started chewing on his fingers to the point that they bleed. She’s wondering if anyone else has experienced this with one…
Adventures in PDA
So, here’s the thing about my little boy, Max: He doesn’t yet get social boundaries. Like, he doesn’t understand that you’re not supposed to go up to people and pat their shirts if you think their shirts are a nice color (purple, his current obsession). It also became clear to me recently that he has…
A Friendship Story – Part 2
I think it’s hard for people to understand the heartbreak that parents of children with special needs live with every day. This post is part two of A FRIENDSHIP STORY that illustrates how on good friend saved the day on Super Bowl Sunday. ** WHEN WE LEFT OFF LAST WEEK Matthew was trying to find…
Always Having to Prove
Ashley had an apointment with her audiologist today for a hearing test. It’s always seemed a little strange to me that a deaf child had to have a hearing test, but apparently my school district needs to see in black and white numbers and symbols to believe she really can’t hear. The appointment went well….
Special Exposure Wednesday.
You wouldn’t know to look at her but yesterday was not a great day at the Infusion Lounge. Here she is, enjoying a small moment of freedom, de-accessed from her lumen. Before all the trouble started. Got something to share? Why don’t you join in this Special Exposure Wednesday. Please remember your comment love at each…
A rant: Must everything be related to our kids’ special needs?
Max’s school physical therapist left a voicemail last Tuesday on my cellphone saying that he seemed sluggish, not like himself and a little uncoordinated. I’m not good about checking my cell voicemails, and so I didn’t even know she’d phoned till I got an email on Friday from his occupational therapist recapping that he had…
A Friendship Story: Part 1
Matthew has lived in the Camphill Community near Santa Cruz for a year now, and he comes home for a weekend each month to take part in “Reachin’ Out”, a social gathering for teens and young adults with special needs that is held at our church. When I pick him up that first Friday of…