Looking at all the back posts I noticed I have not really mentioned my other child — my daughter, who is about five years younger than my son. I was hoping, hoping so hard, she would be typical. But she isn’t… I should have known better. Yet, her challenges are different than those of my [...]
Explaining Autism in 5 Minutes
I’ve just recently finished a graduate level communications class for which we had to present two 5-minute presentations. My first talk was about differences between the U.S. culture and other cultures in “smiling rates” and the understanding of when smiling is appropriate. I’ve decided to make my second speech about autism. The big stumbling block [...]
Baking bread and perfect life
My son was invited to a birthday party last week and I had a great conversation with other moms about our school district, about meds, about how we manage stress, and about lots of other things. It was very helpful for my emotional and mental well being to find out they are dealing with similar [...]
Tips for Creating a Networking Group for Parents of Children with Special Needs at Work
The reason it’s been very quiet on this blog is because I’ve been very busy elsewhere – I have been working on creating a networking group for parents of children with special needs at the place where I work. I am happy to report I’ve made a good start! When I posted a message on [...]
The IEP Process – Special Education Advice for Parents (Part I – The Beginning)
Learning about special education is a daunting journey. I’ve been doing it for over four years now and I’m still learning. I can barely remember the very beginning and how confusing it all was. That’s why when I read a call from Karen Nowicki (an integrative coach) for tips for parents with children on IEPs, [...]
Following the Web from "organic foods" to "hyperbilirubinemia"
What does it tell you about eating “conventionally grown” foods if your own health insurance plan includes in its newsletter a short article about eating “organic”? Harvard Pilgrim’s Winter 2009 mini-magazine includes a brief feature titled “Eating Organic on a Budget.” (see page 11) Now, if you read the “fine” print (the paragraph titled “A [...]
Yopple eepee
We’ve been subjected to high-pitched chanting of “yopple eepee yopple eepee yopple eepee” for several days now and today during the 30-minute drive coming back from the auditory processing evaluation I finally found out what it’s all about. Apparently one of my son’s classmates sounded out “people” as “pee-o-ple-ee.” That, repeated over and over again, [...]
Antibiotics and increase in symptoms
My son got strep last week and is on antibiotics until the end of the week. Interestingly, I don’t know if it’s because of the antibiotics, lack of exercise and fresh air (it’s either snowing or too cold to go outside), boredom, or what, but we’ve seen some increase in symptoms recently — much more [...]
Engineers, Hips, and Autism
The headline “Men who don’t find curvy women attractive ‘could father children with autism‘” sounds just too weird to pass up. I found it through Google alert on a rather curious blog “What Sorts of People.” The entry does not comment on the title, just refers people to an article in the Daily Mail Reporter, [...]
Why are white lies considered "politeness"?
I’ve lived in this country for nearly twenty years but I still can’t figure out why Americans consider as polite inserting little white lies pretending they care into conversations with people they really don’t give a damn about. I’m talking about saying things like “We really have to keep in touch” to a coworker moving [...]