BY GAIL FRIZZELL For parents to be confident that their children could survive in this world without them, we would need a direct support workforce, of adequate number, trained to provide the supports our children need to be safe, healthy, and happy. My 30-year-old daughter, Lauren, loves her home in a town just a 20-minute drive from Mom’s. It meets all of her wants and needs and has a lovely view from her bedroom window […]
PUZZLES & CAMO BY SHELLY HUHTANEN The flight crew introduced themselves… They too had children with autism and the pilot who led the tour, Erich Andrew Ries, had flown several times with his son on the spectrum. The thought of working through severe behavior in a closed compartment, flying through the air at 40,000 feet, around a hundred people I’ve never met, makes me want to vomit. Literally, vomit. As you can imagine, since our […]
BY KAREN KABAKI-SISTO, M.S. CCC-SLP With these suggestions, your child can develop healthy practices that become automatic, natural customs to feel a sense of independence, control, and accountability. It’s a new year, and a lot of us vow to eat healthier and exercise more as we realize its importance to our well-being. However, some children with special needs may view good health and fitness as tedious, punishing tasks that are forced upon them. With the […]
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 […]
