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[fbshare]Welcome to S-O-S Best of the Best (BoB), Edition 11. BoB is a collection of bloggers who come together once a month to write on one topic pertaining to “invisible” special needs. These needs include ADHD, high-functioning autism, Asperger’s, anxiety, Sensory Processing Disorder, and mental illness.

This month’s topic was provided by Lisa Quinones-Fontanez from Autism Wonderland. Bloggers were asked to share a moment from their family life, whether it’s funny, loving, or just special. One blogger even shared a creative moment. We have almost 30 bloggers participating and I am excited for you to meet a number of new writers. Read through these and you will laugh, cry, and smile. Best of all, you will learn that you are not alone.

Creative

• Kelly Quinones Miller presents Enjoying The Good Times posted at The Miller Mix. Children with ADHD are highly creative and innovative. There’s nothing better than sitting next to them as they channel that energy into a big accomplishment.

Humorous

• Bug’s Mom presents Lessons Learned in Car Line posted at My Sweet and Sour Girl. Recently, I discovered how freeing it is when I stop worrying about what other people are thinking about my bipolar daughter—and me—when she’s having a tough day. It’s not something that comes easily for me, but I’m working on it!
• Cheryl D. presents Put Down that Book! posted at Little Bit Quirky. It’s great when your child loves to read, right? Well, that isn’t always the case!
• Emily Ash presents Funny Bones posted at Where’s Erma? writing the edge between sanity and motherhood. I’m learning to accept AD/HD and the broken bones that come with it. Mostly, I’m accepting that my daughter’s choices are predictably unpredictable!

• Floortime Lite Mama presents He said WHAT? posted at Floortime Lite Mama. So has your child ever said a bad word in school and how does it make you feel? It made this mother smile .. read the post to find out why.
• Jazzygal presents WiiBoy’s Words of Wisdom: Act 1 Scene 7: The Experts posted at Jazzygal. This is the 7th scene in my series based on the funny stuff my son with ASD sometimes says and does! It is an unfolding series and I have absolutely NO idea what happens next…
• Jean Myles presents Getting the Song Out of My Head posted at Mommy To Two Boys. A post about a humorous side of Autism, literal thinking. Which I am also discovering is something neurotypical kids do also, thanks to my younger son.
• Joy presents The Problem with Communicating Effectively posted at Joy’s Autism Blog. This post is a funny story about how Adrian’s communication has brought out his personality recently.
• Pamela Fagan Hutchins presents It’s All in the Family posted at Road to Joy. We have ADHD at our house. Well, technically Clark has ADHD, but he shares the fun with the whole family.
• Pia Prenevost presents How to know when your Autistic Kid is Potty-trained posted at The Crack and the Light. Ever wonder when you “know” your autistic kid is potty trained. One mom’s funny story of when she “knew”!
• Seth Fowler presents Autism and Laughter…Strange Bedfellows posted at Look At My Eyes. Call him odd, call him quirky, call him funny…whatever you want to label it, my son with autism has some funny moments–those moments make the difficult times easier to take.
• Spectrummy Mummy presents amuse-bouche posted at Spectrummy Mummy. They make me laugh. It is the best therapy for all of us
• Victoria Marie Lees presents Camping with an Easy to Love Child posted at Easy to Love but Hard to Raise. Camping with five children can be difficult enough, but when you throw a child with special needs into the mix, sometimes–just sometimes–things can become quite humorous.

Loving

• Amy Vega-Guobadia presents “Mommy, You Are My Hero” posted at The Awesome Mom. I didn’t think that on a normal Sunday morning I would be named “Hero of the Day.” It was an awesome moment when Big Al understood what it took to be a hero in his eyes.
• Caroline McGraw presents Warning: Relational Acceptance May Lead To Surrender, Trust + Tripping Over Joy posted at A Wish Come Clear. This post tells the story of the delightful relationships that can come your way when you let go of expectations and assumptions.
• Chris presents Family Life, Fun Loving and Special posted at Working Together For Good. A post about a girl with ADHD, who shows she can care about her brother and even some fish!
• Jen Troester presents There is Love posted at Living life, with a side of Autism. Growing up having a sister with Autism isn’t easy, but my son has showed us what it is to truly love. He is the light that keeps us all going.
• Mama Bear presents Perfectly Created posted at My Son Has 2 Brains. Raising a child with a mood disorder brings challenges for the entire family, especially the siblings who are stuck in the middle. This post reveals that our children are stronger than we realize and are being shaped into extraordinary individuals as a result of the unique circumstances they face at such a young age.
• Patty presents It’s the Great Pumpkin posted at Pancakes Gone Awry. After a couple stressful weeks, our family decided to take a day off. We spent a great day at an amazing pumpkin patch with just our small family.
• Yuji Fukunaga presents Happy Garbage Day! posted at Hanabi Boy. Some dads bond with their sons over a game of catch, or shooting hoops. Not this dad.

Just Plain Special!

• Adrienne Urban presents A Tale of Autism – and a Monster! posted at Whole New Mom. I was interrupted one busy day by my sons’ chanting and playing when they should have been doing schoolwork. What I found was a hilarious and pleasant surprise, in the form of a monster!
• Anara Midgett presents Diagnosis: Delightful! posted at able2able… Your Special Needs Resource Directory. My daughter has a dual diagnosis of Down Syndrome and Autism, and this post dispels common myths about DS in celebration of Down Syndrome Awareness Month. I reflect on how ignorance about her new diagnosis once created unnecessary fear and drama in the family.
• Chynna Laird presents Chynna’s Sensational Pearls: The Importance of Self-Awareness For ‘Sensational’ Kids posted at The Gift. Helping our kids with self-awareness is one of the greatest gifts we can give them. In this post, I share how far Jaimie has come in this area through a fun, humorous and sweet school project called, ‘The ABC’S of ME!”
• Danette presents Hiking trip posted at Everyday Adventures. We took our boys on a hike for some much-needed family relaxing time, which involved some fun trails, pretty waterfalls, and a lot of stairs going up the mountain. Although we ended up having to cut our plans short and spend the rest of the day decompressing, we made some good memories that day .
• Erin Trebbe presents Boys on the Spectrum: Fun, Loving and Special posted at The Puzzle Kids. In and amongst all the chaos of raising children with special needs, don’t forget to notice all of the joys these special children bring. Here are some examples of what my boys and I do to share our happiness.
• Gavin Bollard presents Special Needs Family Life posted at Life with Aspergers. Looking at some of the things our family does to prepare for changes in routine, to accept the weirdness and to mostly stay sane.
• Lisa Quinones-Fontanez presents Like Father, Like Son posted at AutismWonderland. A mother’s account of her husband and son bonding over a common interest.
• Martianne Stanger presents A Learning Story: A Boy, The Good Shepherd and A Story posted at Training Happy Hearts. Martianne shares her son’s imagination, desire to synthesize and expand upon learning and willingness to share his gifts with others. She weaves a tale that her son illustrated and narrated into a Learning Story, which serves as an example and invitation for others to explore strategies for observing and reflecting upon their children’s growth and development as life’s little moments unfold.
• Rachel Rosner presents Hakuna Matata posted atAutism Maven. This post describes the experiences my family had at the autism-friendly performance of The Lion King on Broadway.

Thank you to all these bloggers for sharing their personal stories in this 11th Best of the Best. Please leave comments as you read these posts and let the authors know you appreciate their stories. Thank you and we will see you next month!

Previous BoB Posts

Anxiety and Stress (Edition 6)
Autism and Treatment Options (Edition 1)
Book Reviews (Edition 5)
Calming Techniques for Stress and the Special Needs Child (Edition 10)
Family Life (Edition 4)
Media (Edition 7)
School Issues (Edition 3)
Sleep Issues (Edition 8 )
Social & Play Skills (Edition 2)
Therapy Options (Edition 9)

Disclaimer: Please note, the opinions expressed in each referenced post in S-O-S Best of the Best are entirely that of its author and the inclusion of these posts does not constitute an endorsement by S-O-S Research.

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