Monthly Archives: September 2011

What to do?

I have a few issues, just like everyone else. However, my current giant flaw is my inability to be mean. Seriously, I’m totally a “tell it like it is” kinda girl, but I can usually say it with as much grace as I can muster. I don’t like to hurt people’s feelings or make them…

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Summing up Your Special Needs Child

Each new school year I hand over a “parent report” to the child’s new teacher. I wrote a blog post about it at my personal site a couple of years ago. I still think it is one of the most powerful tools in my special needs mom arsenal. Our report is about five pages long, though I’ve also…

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Special Exposure Wednesday – Splash Gordon

Down the water slide he went, over and over and over again. Either Mama was too slow or he was just too fast that’s why I don’t have a single picture of him as he was sliding down. Trust me, that’s him, my very own Splash Gordon, 🙂 Hope you all had better luck than…

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Parent Teacher Conference

Special education parents have a great opportunity to gain real insight into the success and challenges facing their child during parent/teacher conferences. Some thoughts from a Dad who has been-there.

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Overcoming Compassion Fatigue In Your Family

There’s a new diagnosis on the block. This time, it’s for us – the parents. A few months ago, I wrote about a must-watch stress documentary for special needs parents. Yesterday, while visiting my daughter at her residential treatment facility, I discovered a term that explains what we face even better than stress. Compassion fatigue….

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Botox Saga Continues

As if it couldn’t get any worse. After fighting from March until May for Botox injections, we secured a donation from the manufacture in Canada for one round. Our hopes were to show our insurance company that the injections worked, that they would reconsider their decision. NO such luck. They wouldn’t even READ the letter…

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I Am An Inclusionist!

My Boys & their typically developing classmates during their first week at school. Yes, I am an inclusionist! I want my children to be included in every aspect of life just the way any other child or person would be/should be included. I want my children to play, to work and to be educated side-by-side…

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The Dreaded IEP…

You know, I’ve read books about the IEP, I’ve watched speakers talk about the IEP, I’ve talked to teachers about the IEP… and I’ve listened to my other special needs friends talk about IEP. And, I think we’re all wrong. ALL OF US. The books- they were written about specific children in specific scenarios. As…

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New Feature “Ask the Parents”

I have been pondering this for several months now. This is a way for all of us to help each other out and have the information available for the long term. I call it “Ask the Parents.” It’s like a forum without the scrolling or trolls. The form below is for your questions. You can…

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Homework Strategies

Ah…now I remember what takes the shine right off of back to school – back to homework. The child brought home her first ever second grade homework packet yesterday. Yeah, it didn’t go so well. It didn’t help that the homework arrived on a Tuesday. We have gymnastics right after school on Tuesday and don’t…

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