Reach Your Child's Potential with Professional Insights
It was a beautiful day as I cheerily loaded my kids in the car to take my youngest son, Jake, to Occupational Therapy. He eagerly climbed his 7-year-old body into his car seat. Jake LOVED to “go see Amy,” his therapist, because there is an indoor gym area, lots of fun swings and large motor [...]
Caregiver Stress Syndrome (CSS) is a syndrome found in caregivers involving pathological, morbid changes in physiological and psychological function. This syndrome can be the result of acute or chronic stress, directly as a result of caregiving activities. The Reality of Caregiver Burnout Caregiver burnout and fatigue are very real. Many parents struggle through this overwhelming [...]
Isolation or the perception of feeling isolated is common with parents of children with special needs. “I feel so alone” has probably been thought or said out loud millions of times just in the last week. But when I looked up the definition of the word isolation, what I found was this: the act of [...]
It’s Friendship Month, and I wanted to spend some thought on a place that’s near and dear to my heart: how to be a friend to the parent of a child with special needs. Special needs encompasses a lot of different issues, like autism, mental illness, and ADHD. Parents of kids with a particular special [...]
With the plethora of therapies available to the special needs community, there is a natural tendency to want to try something, anything from hyperbaric chambers to measuring herbs, hoping it works (depending on what outcome you are after). I have seen parents try one thing after another, without slowing down, without investing enough time, hoping [...]
It is the time of year that we analyze what we have done in the past year. While most of us tend to think about what we haven’t done, I know that you dear reader are thinking about what you HAVE done, right? You’re considering what you’re grateful for, what you’ve accomplished that you never [...]
In 1953, a 10-year-old name Gayla Peevy, sang the song “I Want A Hippopotamus For Christmas”, which became quite popular. I love the lines: I want a hippopotamus for Christmas; Only a hippopotamus will do. Don’t want a doll, no dinky Tinker Toy. I want a hippopotamus to play with and enjoy! I want a [...]
In Part 1 of Plugging the Energy Drain, I talked about how I turned my life around after realizing how chaotic it had become. I discussed how a person’s environment or habitat can impact their life by either being supportive and energizing or draining. By reducing the drains in our habitats we can build a [...]
Once upon a time, a few years ago, I was diagnosed with ADHD. My life was chaotic. A single parent with years of undiagnosed ADHD, with four children, a job, and all the other things I was distracted with. I quickly learned how and why my life had become what it had become, but with [...]
