BY CHERYLE B. GARTLEY WITH MARY RADTKE KLEIN (Authors’ Note: While some of this article has been written in the first person as a matter of style, and due to the fact that one of the authors lives in the world of the stigmatized, it is really a joint enterprise. In this section of a series, we address the challenge of building public awareness regarding the impact of stigmatization and what researchers are learning that […]
BY CHRISTINE REDMAN-WALDEYER Juana Ortiz’s wish is that by reading I Made It, parents will be able to get hope and courage to keep fighting for their kids. There once was a virgin wilderness. Trees and land without deeds or fences. – Pedro Mir’s Countersong to Walt Whitman’s Song of Ourselves Juana Ortiz, grew up in the town of Bani in the Dominican Republic. At the age of 15 she would leave that world behind […]
BY DEANNA PICON It’s the end of a long day and you’re sitting at the kitchen table writing your “To Do” list: 1) attend IEP meeting next week 2) call school speech therapist to discuss iPad communication apps 3) buy milk, eggs, stir fry vegetables and chicken at the supermarket 4) pick up clothes from the dry cleaners 5) pay cable and cell phone bills… and the list goes on and on, until you jot […]
SIBLING TIES BY PAIGE TALHELM It astonishes me that complete strangers read a few documents and heard an hour of testimony, and made the decision for this human being that will affect the rest of his life… even though we are the ones who have been there for him, every single day, for 18 years. What was the biggest day of your life? Was it your wedding? Your child being born? That big promotion you’d […]
AMERICAN ACADEMY OF DEVELOPMENTAL MEDICINE & DENTISTRY BY H. BARRY WALDMAN DDS, MPH, PHD, ALLEN WONG DDS, EDD, STEVEN P. PERLMAN DDS, MSCD, DHL (HON), AND MISHA GAREY, DDS WHAT IS AUTISM SPECTRUM DISORDER? “Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are a family of neurodevelopmental disorders of rapidly increasing incidence that are characterized by impairments in communication and social interaction along with restrictive and repetitive behaviors. The brain tissue of patients with autism shows subtle developmental abnormalities, […]
