Tag Archives: Support Groups

Special Parents Confidential Episode 28 The Mighty

The Mighty. 

Once in a while you come across a website that is just so compelling, so useful, and so helpful that you have to share it with everyone you know.

Thirty million people have done that with The Mighty. 

After finding out that his daughter had a rare genetic disorder, and his son was born with a health challenge, the founder of The Mighty, Mike Porath, decided to build a website where people could share their emotional struggles and help each other. As he says in his own article on why he started The Mighty, “Stories that inspire people – that can change the path of someone’s day, as my wife says – are a great start, but we are going after much more. Ultimately we want to improve the lives of people facing disease, disorder and disability.”

The Mighty started out as a site where parents of special needs children can vent their frustrations, post their triumphs, and share with each other their experiences. They’ve grown beyond special needs to health challenges, and even posts written by people with special needs and health challenges who offer their own unique perspectives.

In this episode we talk to Mike Porath about The Mighty and how he brought the website together. He also talks about where he hopes to see The Mighty go in the coming years, and what he wants the site to become. It’s a fascinating story and a fascinating interview with a real visionary who just started off by asking a question: “What can we do about this?”

Below are some links to various articles on The Mighty that were mentioned in the podcast.

Mike Porath’s Current Favorite Story On The Mighty

The Mother Who’s Son With Autism Got A Special Invitation To A Party

The Man Who Invented A Font To Help People With Dyslexia

As always a reminder that if you like this episode of Special Parents Confidential or any episode we’ve done, please share our site with your friends, family, and all your connections on social media. You can do this easily with the social media buttons located right below this paragraph. Like us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter, add us on Google Plus, Tumbler, Linked In, Pintrest, Stumble Upon, Reddit, or other social media sites that you use. You can also sign up for our email service and have new posts and podcast episodes delivered right to your inbox the moment they’re available online. That form is located to the right of this text. We’re also on iTunes and Stitcher as a free subscription and if you have a moment, feel free to write a review about our podcast on either of those sites. Anything you can do to help spread the word about Special Parents Confidential will help us be able to continue these podcasts.
Thanks for your support!

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Special Parents Confidential Episode 27 Education Funding

Education Funding.

School districts across the United States are facing education funding problems. Whether through outright tax cuts, or reductions in revenue from State allocations, education budgets are getting smaller every year. 

Unfortunately in order to save funding for general education programs some districts have made the hard choice of reducing special education programs by eliminating support staff, teaching assistants, specialized therapists, social workers, intervention specialists, or any combination of staff who work with special education students.

Recently, one school district in Michigan has taken a bold step to help fund their special education programs. The Kalamazoo Regional Educational Service Agency (KRESA), which oversees nine school districts and four public service academies in Kalamazoo County, Michigan, put together a ballot initiative to raise taxes specifically to fund their regional special education programs for the next six years. Despite widespread sentiment among most people against raising taxes, the ballot initiative passed successfully.

John spoke to KRESA Superintendent Dave Campbell to talk about the initiative and how their combined districts were able to get the funding passed. Proving that taxes to fund education can be raised when parents, educators, administrators, taxpayers and voters work together to make sure the message is heard.

As always a reminder that if you like this episode of Special Parents Confidential or any episode we’ve done, please share our site with your friends, family, and all your connections on social media. You can do this easily with the social media buttons on our website. Like us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter, add us on Google Plus, Tumbler, Linked In, Pintrest, Stumble Upon, Reddit, or other social media sites you use. You can also sign up for our email service and have new posts and podcast episodes delivered right to your inbox the moment they’re available online. We’re also on iTunes, Stitcher, and Poddirectory as a free subscription, and if you have a moment, feel free to write a review about our podcast. Anything you can do to help spread the word about Special Parents Confidential will help us be able to continue these podcasts.

Please note: the link to the news article on M-Live about the successful election may be expired, depending on when you see this post. Typically they are good for about two years after the posted date, which was two months before this episode was posted.

 

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Special Parents Confidential Episode 26 Parent Problems

Parent Problems

Parents of special needs children face problems that few others can understand. Extraordinary  joy and crushing despair, sometimes in the same day, the same hour, the same moment. One thing is true, people who relate the best to these moments are other parents of special needs children. We have a bond that, while often unspoken, is a shared knowledge that ‘this is our life’ and we all know exactly what it’s like.

For those who are just starting out on their journey with a special needs child, the fear and uncertainty can be very daunting. How do you cope? Where do you look for help? Who can you trust? And possibly the most important question of all, who understands what this means?

To help answer those questions, Donna Kirk has returned for another interview episode. Donna was my guest in Special Parents Confidential Episode 23, in which she talked about her book, Finding Matthew, the story of her son who was born with severe brain damage. She and her husband, Ed, experienced everything a parent of a special needs child could face. A terrible life-altering diagnosis, years and years of therapies, trying to find help for their son, watching him struggle into adulthood, and finally facing the hardest loss of all, the death of their special needs child.

After we finished the interview for that episode, Donna contacted me again and asked if she could talk about the lessons she learned and how they might help parents who are currently struggling and trying to cope with the emotional rollercoaster that raising a special needs child can cause. Top of the list for any parent, honesty and communication.

For more resources on specific issues, check out our Helpful Links page.

As always a reminder that if you like this episode of Special Parents Confidential or any episode we’ve done, please share our site with your friends, family, and all your connections on social media. You can do this easily with the social media buttons located on this page. Like us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter, add us on Google Plus, Tumbler, Linked In, Pintrest, Stumble Upon, Reddit, or other social media sites that you use. You can also sign up for our email service and have new posts and podcast episodes delivered right to your inbox the moment they’re available online. You’ll find the form to do that to the right of this posting. We’re also on iTunes, Stitcher, and Poddirectory as a free subscription and if you have a moment, feel free to write a review about our podcast there. Anything you can do to help spread the word about Special Parents Confidential will help us be able to continue these podcasts.

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Special Parents Confidential Is Now On Poddirectory

Special Parents Confidential Is Now On Poddirectory.

Poddirectory 300x250

Follow the link to find Special Parents Confidential on Poddirectory by clicking here.

Poddirectory is a quick way to listen and search thousands of podcasts, including Special Parents Confidential. It’s done in a Facebook and Twitter friendly format, which makes searching and playing much easier while using your favorite social media site.  Be sure to repost and retweet our updates whenever you can!

We’re going to keep looking for great places for you to find Special Parents Confidential, and continue to make finding our podcast easier. Thanks for your support!

Special Parents Confidential Episode 25 Early Intervention

Early Intervention.

There’s probably nothing more nerve-wracking and stressful for any parent than the realization that your new baby, your toddler, your child might have some problems. Whether it’s not speaking, not walking, or not engaging socially like other kids, the hardest question many parents face is, what do I do about this?

Of course friends and relatives will tell you, oh it’s alright, that’s just how some boys or some girls are… and they’ll grow out of it. But that’s not always the best advice, and if  your child does have a developmental delay or a learning disorder, they are simply not going to grow out of it. They need help. And then the question becomes, where do I get that help?

Our guest on this episode of Special Parents Confidential can answer a lot of those questions. Barbara Corbin is the Early On Coordinator with the Kent Intermediate School District in Kent County, Michigan.  She handles Early Intervention, and Early Childhood Special Education with school districts. She helps parents get their first diagnosis and coordinates getting help for children right at the very beginning. Thanks to advances in medical research and therapies, children can be diagnosed very early, and Early On programs can start at age two.

Links to websites mentioned in the podcast:

1800EarlyOn Early Intervention information for Michigan, with links to other States. The website name is also their toll free phone number: 1 800 Early On.

The Arc of Kent County Information resource for people with intellectual and developmental delays.

Center For Disease Control (CDC) Page for Parents and Infants This page has the Milestones and Schedules information to track expected progress for infants and toddlers.

Great Starts Collaborative Early Intervention Page Success Starts Early’s webpage on Early Interventions. The entire site is full of helpful information for all parents.

Pathways.org  Free online resource and tools for parents.

The Early Childhood Technical Assistance Center Online resource tools for families of children with special needs.

Michigan Alliance for Families.  Provides information, support, and education for families who have children (birth through 26 years of age) who receive (or may be eligible to receive) special education services.

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Special Parents Confidential Episode 23 Finding Matthew

Finding Matthew

For parents of special needs children perhaps the most stressful and anxious time is when you are first told that your child has problems. That first diagnosis is such a shock. You don’t know what to do, you don’t know what to think, and you feel completely overwhelmed with it all. One of the most helpful things for parents of special needs children is when they hear stories of other families who have already gone through similar experiences and have shared their story. The challenges and struggles are universal, no matter what the disability or the severity. Just knowing that someone else is out there facing the same worries and fears, and has taken the time to tell that story, can be very reassuring.

In this episode of Special Parents Confidential I’d like to introduce you to just such a parent. In 1970, Donna Kirk, who, with her husband Ed, is from a town near Toronto, Canada, had gone to the hospital for the birth of her first son, Matthew. But problems occurred and their baby had oxygen loss during birth and suffered severe brain damage. The next day their son was transferred to Sick Kids Hospital in Toronto where the doctor there told them that their son was basically, in his words, “a vegetable with a heartbeat”. This doctor advised them to institutionalize their son and have another baby as soon as possible… implying that they should just forget Matthew.

Donna and Ed ignored what the doctor told them and took him home as soon as they could. They fought for him and cared for him throughout his entire life and, in the process, proved that first doctor and many other people wrong about Matthew’s abilities. Ed and Donna had two other children after Matthew, a brother an sister.  Matthew died at the age of 40 in 2010, and Donna has written a book called, Finding Matthew, about his life, his challenges, and the struggles that she and her husband went through from his devastating diagnosis to his ultimately successful life and becoming a contributing member to society. The book shows how even the most severely disabled people have incredible gifts and how the family can work together to get through any adversity. It’s definitely a must-read for all parents of special needs children and their families.

Donna’s extraordinary book, Finding Matthew is available on Amazon Books, and you an click either of those links to take you  to the page. Donna Kirk also has a blog site where she posts resource information and updates. Just click on her name and you’ll be re-directed to her site.

As always, a reminder that if you like this episode of Special Parents Confidential or any episode we’ve done, please share our site with your friends, family, and all your connections on social media. You can do this easily with the social media buttons on our website. Like us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter, add us on Google Plus, Tumbler, Linked In, Pintrest, Stumble Upon, Reddit, or other social media sites you use. You can also sign up for our email service and have new posts and podcast episodes delivered right to your inbox the moment they’re available online. We’re also on iTunes and Stitcher as a free subscription, and if you have a moment, feel free to write a review about our podcast. Anything you can do to help spread the word about Special Parents Confidential will help us be able to continue these podcasts.

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Special Parents Confidential Episode 21 IEPs and the Law

IEPs and the Law.

Individualized Education Plans. IEPs for short. Possibly one of the most stressful times for parents of special needs children. IEP meetings are those annual events when parents meet with schools to plan out the kinds of help and services their special needs children are going to receive for the next school year.

IEP meetings are very long, sometimes taking two hours or more, and usually filled with terminology that can sometimes be overwhelming. Parents are expected to understand a huge amount of information and make decisions on what kind of educational support their child will receive in the next grade year. The problem is for many of us, we don’t even know how our kids are going to do from week to week, much less three or four months later, after the entire summer break.

Typically the schools bring in the teacher, the special education teacher, any school therapists, the school social worker, and the Principal or Vice Principal of the school. Sometimes the school or district psychologist will attend, sometimes the district’s Director of Special Education will also attend. There can be as many as ten to fifteen people representing the school in these meetings. It is very easy for parents to feel ‘ganged up on’ or intimidated, especially when there is often only one or two parents in the room.

This is where Attorney Advocates can help. Lawyers who work in special education advocacy and mediation are trained in all areas of special education law. They can be the parent’s voice in the room and they know exactly what the laws are in what the school should be doing for your child and whether your concerns are being addressed.

Our guest on this episode of Special Parents Confidential is Attorney Randi Rothberg who’s firm, Thivierge & Rothberg is a Special Education Law Firm based in New York City. She and her partner, Christina Thivierge focus exclusively on representing families of children with special needs, including attending IEP meetings, mediation, Due Process, and, when necessary, litigation in the State and/or Federal Courts. She talks about some of the problems that can arise when parents face an IEP meeting, how to prepare for those meetings, what to watch out for when you’re faced with things you don’t agree with in an IEP, and how to look for an advocate in your area. Randi also does advocacy work for issues of bullying in schools and discusses addressing those situations.

LEGAL DISCLAIMER:

Some of the legal issues Randi discusses are general, however some points, such as the “Parent Member in IEP meetings” are specific to New York State and may not apply in your State, or Country. Please consult a Special Education and Disability Law Attorney or Special Education Advocate in your area for complete information on your State laws and your rights.

Here are the links mentioned in the podcast:

Thivierge & Rothberg PC – Representing children and adolescents with disabilities in New York & New Jersey

COPPA – Council of Parent Attorneys and Advocates

Wrights Law – Special Education Law and Advocacy

As always a reminder that if you like this episode of Special Parents Confidential or any episode we’ve done, please share our site with your friends, family, and all your connections on social media. You can do this easily with the social media buttons located right below this paragraph. Like us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter, add us on Google Plus, or any of the other sites like Tumbler, Linked In, Pintrest, Stumble Upon, Reddit, and others. You can also sign up for our email service and have new posts and podcast episodes delivered right to your inbox the moment they’re available online. That form is located to the right of this text.  We’re also on iTunes and Stitcher and if you have a moment, feel free to write a review about our podcast there. Anything you can do to help spread the word about Special Parents Confidential will help us be able to continue these podcasts.

Thanks for your support!

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Special Parents Confidential Episode 20 Health and Wellness

Health and Wellness.

Perhaps no other subject is a greater concern to a parent than the health of their children. Parents of special needs children have an even greater concern because our kids often have disabilities or disorders that require specialized health care options. Some disabilities or disorders like Downs Syndrome can be diagnosed immediately at birth, if not sooner. Others like Autism or Dyslexia may take a few years. However, the one thing all health care professionals can agree on is the earlier you get a diagnosis for your child, the sooner you can get the right treatments and therapies, and that’s better for your child.

But where do you find the experts on your child’s disabilities or disorders, especially if you’re a first time parent and don’t yet have a family doctor or pediatrician? Often, a child can have more than one special need challenge, which can make medical decisions even harder. 

One place that offers a wide variety of services from medical checkups and advice to doctor referrals to support groups and beyond is your local county or city Health Department. Most Health Departments have a person or a group of people who support parents of special needs children with counseling, advice, and education. They can help you with ongoing support, including finding early on or early intervention programs with your local school district to get your child into special education programs that are the right fit for their challenges.

In this episode of Special Parents Confidential, John talks to Chris Buczek, RN BSN, who is the Public Health Program supervisor for Children’s Special Health Care Services of the Kent County Health Department in Grand Rapids Michigan. She also supervises the Hearing and Vision Screening Program for the Health Department, and runs a support group for parents of special needs children. And, as you’ll find out, she has a personal reason for her involvement in Special Health Services.

During the interview Chris talks about a number of websites for resources. The following are the links to those sites:

MDCH Children’s Special Health Care Services   

MI Family Center for Children and Youth with Special Health Care Needs

US DHHS HRSA Maternal and Child Health

CDC Parent Information Infants & Toddlers

CDC Important Milestones For Infants

NCMHI Children and Youth with Special Health Care Needs

American Academy of Pediatrics Bright Futures Page

As always a reminder that if you like this episode of Special Parents Confidential or any episode we’ve done, please share our site with your friends, family, and all your connections on social media. You can do this easily with the social media buttons located right below this paragraph. Like us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter, add us on Google Plus, or any of the other sites like Tumbler, Linked In, Pintrest, Stumble Upon, Reddit, and others. You can also sign up for our email service and have new posts and podcast episodes delivered right to your inbox the moment they’re available online. That form is located to the right of this text.  We’re also on iTunes and Stitcher and if you have a moment, feel free to write a review about our podcast there. Anything you can do to help spread the word about Special Parents Confidential will help us be able to continue these podcasts.

Thanks for your support!

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The Numbers Are In!

The Numbers Are In!

When I started this podcast a little over two years ago I was hoping to be able to fill a need for parents or relatives or friends of special needs children and adults. I had no idea how many people would be interested, but I thought there would be ‘some’.

Until now I really had no idea how many people have seen the Special Parents Confidential website, or how many people were listening to the podcast episodes. We don’t have a large number of subscribers on iTunes… this is primarily owing to the fact that the file size for each episode is very large. My crazy insistence on having the sound quality as good as any FM radio station is the cause. Due to these large file sizes, it’s my belief that most of the audience is listening directly on the website rather than downloading the episodes.

Well now I have a better idea of just how many people have been checking out this ‘humble little podcast’. My webmaster guru recently ran a site stat report for me, and I wanted to share some of it here. The report contains large numbers of stats including activity, access, visitors, referrers, browsers, and errors (bots trying to gain access to stuff they’re not supposed to have – don’t worry they didn’t get anything). The numbers are in, and very detailed, so I’ll just post the two most important stats: Since we started in in January of 2013 until April 23 of 2015 (the date the report was generated), Special Parents Confidential has been visited 815,493 times; with 600,882 real people hits and 214,611 spider (bot) hits. More impressively, the total bandwidth usage has been 49.45 GBs. In radio terms, that’s (TSL) Time Spent Listening. This number represents both episode downloads and direct listening time.

Pronouncing the words, “I’m shocked” is a major understatement. I think the phrase, ‘my brain did backflips’ is more appropriate. These are far bigger numbers than I ever expected, or thought possible, given that I haven’t really gone out of my way to promote the site.
To everyone who has visited, listens, and continues to do both, thank you so very much! It’s gratifying to know there are so many more of you than I thought. You have my assurances that I’ll continue to produce episodes that cover subjects you want to know about. You should also know that you have a voice in this process too. Please like our Facebook page or Follow us on Twitter so you can comment directly on each episode (we monitor those the most frequently)*. Also feel free to share episodes and the website on your favorite social media sites.
Thanks!

John

PS- if you’re interested in sponsoring or advertising on our podcast or this website, please use our Contact Page, and I’ll send you a more detailed version of the stat report and we can talk things over.

*We use Facebook and Twitter for podcast comments, rather than a webpage ‘comments section’ in order to reduce spammer advertising.

Special Parents Confidential Episode 19 Understood Dot Org

Understood Dot Org. 

One of the major benefits of the Internet is the amazing amount of information that is available on virtually any subject you might want to know about. The problem is trying to figure out what information is accurate and what information is nonsense, especially when the nonsense information comes disguised as something credible. This is especially true for parents of special needs children who are trying to find reliable and accurate information for their children. There are far too many websites containing unproven information, fake cures, and outright lies about various learning disabilities, special needs disorders, and treatment options.

Thankfully many groups and organizations are counteracting these fraudulent sites with accurate, evidence-based research sites that have peer-reviewed, credible information. And many of them are doing everything they can to make it easier to get the accurate information that parents need. One such site is Understood.org.

About two years ago a group of fifteen different organizations, including the National Center for Learning Disabilities, The Parents Education Network, Learning Disabilities Association of America, Common Sense Media, and others, decided to combine their resources for parents and educators to be able to access the latest tools and information for children with learning disabilities. Understood’s goal is to help the millions of parents whose children, ages 3–20, are struggling with learning and attention issues. They want to empower them to understand their children’s issues and relate to their experiences.

One of the features on Understood.org are blog articles written by parents and experts, and on this episode of Special Parents Confidential, we are joined by one of Understood’s parent advocate, writer, and contributor, Amanda Morin. Amanda is an education writer and a special education advocate. She uses her experience as an early interventionist, teacher and a special needs parent to inform her work. She has written two books and she is also a parent of three kids, two of whom have learning disabilities. In our interview, she talks about her challenges as a parent, her background in education, and how she began to use her training in special education advocacy to write books and blogs about how to navigate the world of special education.

Here are links to the websites mentioned in the podcast:

Understood

Parenting Special Needs Magazine

Amanda Morin’s Website (which has a link to where you can purchase her books)

Amanda’s Facebook Page

Amanda’s Twitter Feed

As always a reminder that if you like this episode of Special Parents Confidential or any episode we’ve done, please share our site with your friends, family, and all your connections on social media. You can do this easily with the social media buttons located right below this paragraph. Like us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter, add us on Google Plus, or any of the other sites like Tumbler, Linked In, Pintrest, Stumble Upon, Reddit, and others. You can also sign up for our email service and have new posts and podcast episodes delivered right to your inbox the moment they’re available online. That form is located to the right of this text.  We’re also on iTunes and Stitcher and if you have a moment, feel free to write a review about our podcast there. Anything you can do to help spread the word about Special Parents Confidential will help us be able to continue these podcasts.

Thanks for your support!

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Special Parents Confidential Episode 18 Living With Dyslexia

Special Parents Confidential Episode 18 Living With Dyslexia

Dyslexia is possibly the single most mis-understood of all disabilities. People who don’t have it think that those who do see misspelled words, or letters out of order, or even that they read backwards. But none of that is actually true. People with Dyslexia can recognize letters and words, and even sentences. The real problem is the comprehension component of reading is diminished, or in some cases not there at all.

New research has shown that there is a specific area in the brain that causes Dyslexia and the hope is that new treatments may come from that discovery. But those treatments are still a long way off and in the mean time many children and adults are continuing to struggle. Added to this is the fact that as of right now, March of 2015, only 24 states in America recognize Dyslexia as a learning disability and have specific treatment protocols for school districts to follow. That means that over half of the school age children in the United States who have Dyslexia are not getting the right kind of help, if they’re getting any help at all.

One of the aspects of children with special needs that many people don’t understand is that a child can have more than one specific disorder. A child may have ADHD, Asperger’s Syndrome, Autism, or Downs Syndrome, and also have Dyslexia. But if the main disorder is more prevalent, the Dyslexia may not be recognized or even noticed without a more intensive diagnosis.

Dyslexia is the best known of these disorders, and causes problems with reading comprehension. There is also Dysgraphia, which causes problems with handwriting, and Dyscalculia, which causes problems in mathematics comprehension. Over the next series of podcasts, we’re going to take a closer look at Dyslexia and the related learning disorders to try to get a better understanding of the causes and the treatments.

To begin, I wanted to get a better idea of what it’s like to have Dyslexia and how it affects the ability to read and learn. Fortunately a friend of ours is willing to talk about her challenges. Elizabeth D’Aurora is a third grade elementary school teacher in West Michigan and she has Dyslexia. She talks about some of the problems and difficulties she had in school. As an educator she also discusses treatments and therapies for Dyslexics and their effectiveness. As you’ll learn in this podcast, there is no ‘cure’ for Dyslexia. No one “overcomes Dyslexia”; instead the person learns ways to cope and strategies for learning that can help them in school and beyond.

For more information on Dyslexia and related learning disorders visit Understood.org.

As always a reminder that if you like this episode of Special Parents Confidential or any episode we’ve done, please share our site with your friends, family, and all your connections on social media. You can do this easily with the social media buttons located right below this paragraph. Like us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter, add us on Google Plus, or any of the other sites like Tumbler, Linked In, Pintrest, Stumble Upon, Reddit, and others. You can also sign up for our email service and have new posts and podcast episodes delivered right to your inbox the moment they’re available online. That form is located to the right of this text.  We’re also on iTunes and Stitcher and if you have a moment, feel free to write a review about our podcast there. Anything you can do to help spread the word about Special Parents Confidential will help us be able to continue these podcasts.

Thanks for your support!

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New Episodes Coming Soon

New Episodes Coming Soon.

We’re working on more interviews in the next few weeks. Some of the subjects we’re covering:

Did you know Dyslexia is only recognized in 24 states as a learning disability, with specific definitions and guidelines for special education? We’re doing  two episodes devoted to living with Dyslexia. We will be talking to an elementary school teacher who has Dyslexia to learn how she dealt with Dyslexia while growing up and how she now teaches. We’re also going to talk to a mother and son (the son has Dyslexia) who are working together on trying to get Dyslexia recognized as a learning disability in their state and other states.

We’re also going to talk to an RN with our local health department for medical advice and health issues that are important for special needs children and adults.

Be sure to subscribe to our social media pages, we’re on Facebook, Twitter, Google Plus, Linked In, and others where you can comment and give us suggestions for future episodes! Don’t forget you can subscribe to our email list, and find our podcast on iTunes and Stitcher.

We’re working on some big plans for this year to make Special Parents Confidential even better, so be sure to connect with us for all the news and updates as we go!

Finally, be sure to share our site with your friends and family. You never know who might be interested or have a need to know something we have here. We do these podcasts for you and your help in spreading the word is what keeps us going!

Thank you for your support!

John

Special Parents Confidential 17 When Schools Say ‘No’

Special Parents Confidential Episode 17 When Schools Say ‘No’.

In 1990 Congress passed IDEA, or Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, which entitles each student with a disability to a free appropriate public education (FAPE) to meet his or her unique needs. Originally titled Education for All Handicapped Children Act of 1975 (EAHCA), it was based on Congress’ finding that the millions of children with disabilities had educational needs which were not being met due to a lack of services and inappropriate public school placement. IDEA set down guidelines for how schools and states were to implement special education procedures.

Unfortunately, there is a wide disparity across states as to how those guidelines should be implemented, or even interpreted. Similarly, school districts can even have differing standards for services they offer in special education. Simply put, IDEA allowed States and schools a lot of leeway in special education implementation, based on numerous issues including need, population, local economic factors, and other considerations.

The problem for parents is, this leeway in the implementation of procedures can sometimes allow States and school districts to restrict or even deny extra help for students who don’t fit the exact definition of a particular disability or learning disorder. School Districts and States are also cutting certain aspects of special education support from Education budgets as cost-saving measures. While districts and States aren’t outright eliminating Special Education, they do cut budgets for support programs, assistant teachers or para-pros who help in the classrooms, and other accommodations. The result is many parents are finding out that their children will perhaps get minimal help (the least allowed under regulations), but more often than not they hear the word ‘no’ when asking for additional help or support for their child.

So what can you do when your school or State says ‘no’?

Our guest in this episode has some answers. Suzanne Wilcox is the co-owner of Hope Educational Consulting, LLC a special education advocacy service based in Ohio and Michigan. She is also the mother of four children, two of whom needed special education support in school.  She explains how IDEA works, and how schools and states interpret those regulations. She also explains how ‘best practices’ can sometimes be overlooked due to budgeting, or availability issues.

During the time when she and her family lived in Ohio, she and her partners were instrumental in creating and passing legislation that allowed Ohio to become one of the first States in the country to recognize Dyslexia as a learning disability, and implemented official regulations on the kinds of therapies schools must offer to help students with Dyslexia. She has worked with parents, teachers, school districts, and legislators on numerous issues with special education.

Suzanne offers some great advice and information that all parents of special needs children need to know.  Please feel free to share this episode with everyone you know who has a child with special needs or works with children who have special needs.

* Note: first paragraph attribution to Wikipedia article on IDEA, Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. For more information on IDEA, visit http://idea.ed.gov

As always a reminder that if you like this episode of Special Parents Confidential or any episode we’ve done, please share our site with your friends, family, and all your connections on social media. You can do this easily with the social media buttons located right below this paragraph. Like us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter, add us on Google Plus, or any of the other sites like Tumbler, Linked In, Pintrest, Stumble Upon, Reddit, and others. You can also sign up for our email service and have new posts and podcast episodes delivered right to your inbox the moment they’re available online. That form is located to the right of this text.  We’re also on iTunes and Stitcher and if you have a moment, feel free to write a review about our podcast there. Anything you can do to help spread the word about Special Parents Confidential will help us be able to continue these podcasts.

Thanks for your support!

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Special Parents Confidential Episode 16 Gigi’s Playhouse Part 1

Special Parents Confidential Episode 16 Gigi’s Playhouse

For many parents one of the challenges in raising a child with special needs is finding the right therapy for your child. Sometimes we get lucky and find the right kind of therapy right near where we live. Unfortunately for some people there’s nothing nearby that can help. Travel can be an option depending on distance, and financial ability.  But for many the only option is to simply wait and hope that the therapy will someday come to them.

Then there are those who don’t wait. They decide that they will do what it takes to bring the therapy to their area to help others as well as themselves. Our guest on this episode of Special Parents Confidential is someone who is doing that right now.

Mika Vuto is the mother of a young girl with Down Syndrome. Although there are therapies available in her town of Gainesville, Florida, there was one group she had heard about, Gigi’s Playhouse, that looked like an incredible asset that could help many people… because they offer their services for free. Unfortunately the closest Gigi’s Playhouse was in Atlanta, Georgia.

Finally Mika decided to open her own franchise of Gigi’s Playhouse in Gainesville. She talks to us in this episode about her journey from a mom looking for help to a community leader who wants to make a difference for her daughter and many other families with members affected with Down Syndrome. She also talks about the services Gigi’s Playhouse offer to children and parents.

The Gainesville Florida Gigi’s Playhouse is scheduled to open in 2015. You can find out more about them and learn how to make a contribution to help by visiting their Facebook Page. You can also learn about their progress on their blog.

As always a reminder that if you like this episode of Special Parents Confidential or any episode we’ve done, please share our site with your friends, family, and all your connections on social media. You can do this easily with the social media buttons located right below this paragraph. Like us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter, add us on Google Plus, or any of the other sites like Tumbler, Linked In, Pintrest, Stumble Upon, Reddit, and others. You can also sign up for our email service and have new posts and podcast episodes delivered right to your inbox the moment they’re available online. That form is located to the right of this text.  We’re also on iTunes and Stitcher and if you have a moment, feel free to write a review about our podcast there. Anything you can do to help spread the word about Special Parents Confidential will help us be able to continue these podcasts.

Thanks for your support!

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SPC One Year Anniversary

SPC Studio

SPC One Year Anniversary.

One year ago this week I posted the first two podcasts on the newly minted Special Parents Confidential website. Fifteen episodes in one year, about three more than I thought I would be able to get produced, which puts me ahead of my expectations. And that’s always a good thing.

What does it take to create a podcast? As far as equipment goes, not much really. A mixer, a microphone, a phone interface, headphones, speakers, a digital recording platform, and some wires to connect it all.

But Special Parents Confidential is far more than the equipment. It’s a lot of people who helped me get started nearly six months before this date last year. Those people and their contributions are listed on the About Us page and I’d like to encourage you to take a look at the links to their own websites because they are some amazing people who do incredible things.

Most importantly I’d like to thank the 15 people who agreed to take time out of their busy schedules to answer questions about what parents of special needs children need to know and what they do to help. Some very graciously took a long time, nearly missing important events or meetings, just to make sure they answered every question.

When I started these interviews my goal was to create an online support group for parents of special needs children who aren’t able to attend support group meetings. Thanks to these first 15 people I can say that the goal has been exceeded

Here’s the list of those fine people and their episode subjects once again. If you haven’t heard all these interviews yet, please take a listen!

1. Carol Lippert – Support Groups

2. Dan Blauw – Legal Issues

3. Cyndi Blair – Playdates

4. Dr. Oren Mason – ADD/ADHD

5. Kindy Segovia – Assistive Technology

6. Kathy Holkeboer – Special Education Advocacy

7. Stacy Burns – One Parent’s Journey

8. Chris Kenward – Social Issues In School

9. Julie Wiseman – Deafness and Hearing Impairment

10. Paula Lancaster – Special Education

11. Rev. Mathew Cockrum – Special Needs and Spiritual Needs

12. Elizabeth Welch-Lykens – School Funding and Special Education

13. Rabbi Tzvi Schectman – The Friendship Circle

14. Gabriella McCall Delgado – We Connect Now

15. Conny Raaymakers – Applied Behavior Analysis

It’s been an amazing journey. I’m looking forward to continuing with more episodes in 2014 and beyond.

To everyone who agreed to be interviewed, to everyone who helped out in making this podcast and website a reality, and most of all, to you for finding my site, taking a listen, and then recommending these episodes to people you know:

A huge   T H A N K   Y O U !!!!

Special Parents Confidential Episode 15 Applied Behavior Analysis. ABA.

Applied Behavior Analysis. ABA.

Applied Behavior Analysis or ABA is a term parents of special needs children hear a lot in schools, doctors offices, therapy centers, and just about anywhere our kids interact with people. Studies have shown that ABA can be used to help children as early as 18 months learn to cope with everything from social settings to the educational environment. ABA has been proven to be successful especially for children with autism and can be used to help kids with other disabilities and disorders.

In this episode John talks with Conny Raaymakers, who is director of ABA serves at Developmental Enhancement Behavioral Health, a group that specializes in using ABA for the treatment of autistic children. Conny is a Behavior Analyst and Limited Licensed Behavioral Psychologist.  She talks about the history of Behavior Modification, the decades of research that has been done to study the effectiveness of the treatments, and clears up  the misconceptions people have about Applied Behavior Analysis. Conny also discusses the drawbacks and problems with using alternative or ‘fad’ treatments, how to watch out for misleading claims and how to spot phony success stories.

UPDATED LINKS 10/02/2017

Developmental Enhancement Behavioral Health

Conny Raaymakers Profile Page

Email: craaymakers@debh.org 

Association for Behavior Analysis International

 

As always a reminder that if you like this episode of Special Parents Confidential or any episode we’ve done, please share our site with your friends, family, and all your connections on social media. You can do this easily with the social media buttons located right below this paragraph. Like us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter, add us on Google Plus, or any of the other sites like Tumbler, Linked In, Pintrest, Stumble Upon, Reddit, and others. You can also sign up for our email service and have new posts and podcast episodes delivered right to your inbox the moment they’re available online. That form is located to the right of this text.  We’re also on iTunes and Stitcher and if you have a moment, feel free to write a review about our podcast there. Anything you can do to help spread the word about Special Parents Confidential will help us be able to continue these podcasts.

Thanks for listening!

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Special Parents Confidential Episode 14 We Connect Now

Special Parents Confidential Episode 14 We Connect Now

When it comes to educating our kids with special needs we as parents tend to focus primarily on the here and now, especially if our kids are younger.  But what will life be like for our kids when they get older and go into college and then the workplace? What kinds of challenges will they face? What help or resources are available?

Our guest for this episode of Special Parents Confidential is able to offer a lot of information on that very subject. Gabriela McCall Delgado has a learning disability and in 2008 while she was a freshman at Louisiana State University she decided to create a website resource for other college students with disabilities called We Connect Now. Her site has been visited by over 175,000 people from all over the United States and 137 other countries. We Connect Now is online forum about college and university life for students with physical disabilities and learning disabilities where they can share their stories and information. And as those students graduate and move into employment they’re using We Connect Now to share stories and information about the job world and successes or problems they encounter there.

Gabriela talks about the challenges she faced in college as well as transitioning into a career and why she decided to start We Connect Now.  She also talks about some of the other stories that people have shared on her site and what resources are available for students with special needs as they go into college and the workplace. This is vital information for any parent who are looking at getting their kids into college and jobs.

Links mentioned in this podcast:

We Connect Now Facebook Page

We Connect Now on Twitter

Email Gabriela at We Connect Now: weconnectnow2008@gmail.com

As always a reminder that if you like this episode of Special Parents Confidential or any episode we’ve done, please share our site with your friends, family, and all your connections on social media. You can do this easily with the social media buttons located right below this paragraph. Like us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter, add us on Google Plus, or any of the other sites like Tumbler, Linked In, Pintrest, Stumble Upon, Reddit, and others. You can also sign up for our email service and have new posts and podcast episodes delivered right to your inbox the moment they’re available online. That form is located to the right of this text.  We’re also on iTunes and Stitcher and if you have a moment, feel free to write a review about our podcast there. Anything you can do to help spread the word about Special Parents Confidential will help us be able to continue these podcasts.

Thanks for your support!

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Special Parents Confidential Episode 13 The Friendship Circle

Special Parents Confidential Episode 13 The Friendship Circle

One of the recurring themes we have in our podcasts is how some of the best information and support comes primarily from parents of special needs children. We know what our children need for help and it’s incredible when some parents step forward and create groups and organizations that fill those needs when other avenues are not available.

This is certainly the case with the group we are talking about in this episode. The Friendship Circle was created by parents and family members of special needs children to help those children find friends and support. They’ve grown in just a few years from a group of a few parents who started bringing their kids together in Detroit, Michigan, to a now nearly world-wide organization. They pair up special needs kids — all children with physical, developmental, or learning disabilities are welcome no matter what the diagnosis — with ‘normal’ or ‘neuro-typical’ kids to be friends and help each other. As it turns out, all of the kids get something incredibly rewarding from the experience. The Friendship Circle offers sports activities, tutoring, play time, and they even have a mock-village where special needs children can learn life skills like going to the bank, the store, and other social situations that happen in every day life. They also have a phenomenal anti-bullying program, which was created by the parents and the kids called the Upstander Project, that is making an amazing difference in schools across the country.

Our guest for this episode is Rabbi Tzvi Schectman, who is a family coordinator at the Friendship Circle. Most people first encounter The Friendship Circle through the daily emailed newsletter, known as The Friendship Circle Blog, that Rabbi Schectman compiles. These emails feature articles on many different kinds of information that parents of special needs children can use.

Links mentioned in this podcast:

The Friendship Circle.org  Website for The Friendship Circle organization. Learn more about this amazing group.

The Friendship Circle.com Friendship Circle International – to find Friendship Circle programs and groups in locations around North America and the world.

Weinberg Village The mock-village facility run by the Friendship Circle.

Upstander Project The anti-bullying program created by The Friendship Circle.

The Friendship Circle Blog The newsletter from the Friendship Circle with great articles and advice for parents of special needs children. You can subscribe to have the blog sent directly to your email each day.

As always a reminder that if you like this episode of Special Parents Confidential or any episode we’ve done, please share our site with your friends, family, and all your connections on social media. You can do this easily with the social media buttons located right below this paragraph. Like us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter, add us on Google Plus, or any of the other sites like Tumbler, Linked In, Pintrest, Stumble Upon, Reddit, and others. You can also sign up for our email service and have new posts and podcast episodes delivered right to your inbox the moment they’re available online. That form is located to the right of this text.  We’re also on iTunes and Stitcher and if you have a moment, feel free to write a review about our podcast there. Anything you can do to help spread the word about Special Parents Confidential will help us be able to continue these podcasts.

Thanks for your support!

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Special Parents Confidential 11. Spiritual Needs and Special Needs

Spiritual Needs and Special Needs.

Religion is an important part of the lives of many people. No matter what your religious beliefs the sense of belonging and community that comes from worship can be a great source of comfort and peace. However being able to attend worship services and learning to fulfill spiritual needs can be a challenge for special needs children. From sensory issues to behavioral problems to feelings of not being accepted many special needs children simply cannot cope with the traditional concepts and behaviors that are considered normal during worship. There can also be problems in religious instruction classes or “Sunday School” (depending on what your faith offers for children) because in many of these classes the instructors are volunteers and don’t always have training in working with special needs children.

How can parents who want their special needs children to participate in their religious traditions find help to work with their clergy to make sure that their special needs children are both accepted and given the help they need to participate and grow in their spiritual needs? How should parents of special needs children approach both their clergy and the lay staff of their place of worship to bring about these goals?

Our guest for this episode has some excellent ideas and advice. The Reverend Mathew Cockrum is an ordained minister in the Unitarian Universalist tradition and was most recently a Chaplain at the University of Michigan Hospitals, and a former Associate Minister at Fountain Street Church in Grand Rapids, MI. He is also now a Transitional Minister at University Unitarian Church in Seattle, WA. He has served as a youth minister and has had a lot of experience in working with families in a wide variety of religious faiths and beliefs. Through these experiences he has some practical advice and great ideas to help families with special needs children find acceptance and fulfillment in their spiritual needs.

Links Mentioned In This Podcast:

There are many websites devoted to this subject, and far too many to narrow down just a few important ones, largely because most religions have their own ideas and methods. As the Reverend Mathew suggests, just do a Google or Bing or Yahoo (or whatever SE you use) search on the words ‘special needs children and religion’ and you’ll find a huge number of articles from all faiths and traditions on how parents and clergy attempt to rectify many of these questions. You can also add in the specific religion that you believe (such as ‘Methodist’ or ‘Catholic’ or ‘Judaism’ or ‘Hinduism’ or which ever is your tradition) to get a more focused answer.

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Updates For June and July

Updates For June and July.

Time goes by quickly when the kids are home instead of being in school. But we wanted to post some updates about what we have coming up in the remaining days of June and in July. We have two podcast episodes recorded and we’ll get them posted in the next couple of weeks.

The next episode, SPC number 11, which we hope to have online very soon, features an interview with the Reverend Mathew Cockrum and we delve into ways in which we can help our special needs children get the best experiences in our places of worship, as well as how to work with ‘Sunday school’ or religious class staff so that our kids can have positive experiences. We also discuss ways to reconcile that sometimes certain religious beliefs can be in conflict with medical or scientific study, and that it is possible to accept both viewpoints, and many other great ideas.

SPC episode number 12, which will be ready after that, is all about education funding. We talk with Elizabeth Welch-Lykins who is an elected official in her local school board, a member of her school district’s legislative committee, and a lawyer. She has experienced the budget crisis in our schools first-hand through having to negotiate cuts in staff and services and she talks in detail about how school districts have had so much trouble and the real reasons why so many of our school districts are in trouble. She also details how budget cuts to public schools are definitely hurting special education programs and the dangers of not paying enough attention to who we vote for in elections.

We have more great interviews planned throughout the summer and into the next school year, so please keep checking back!  Better yet, sign up to get an email subscription to our podcasts so you’ll be notified every time we post something new. Just look over to the right column on our home page and enter your email address where it says “Get Podcast Notifications Via Email”. You’ll get automatic updates and we promise we will never give out your email address to anyone else.

Thanks for your support and don’t forget to help spread the word about us!

 

How To Know When Someone Is In Trouble When Swimming

How To Know When Someone Is In Trouble When Swimming.

Article: How To Know When Someone Is In Trouble In The Water

Thanks to Slate.com for this well-written article about safety in the water. Drowning victims don’t look like they’re drowning. With summertime swimming activity increasing, and since special needs children sometimes need extra help in the water, it’s important to know how to spot someone who is in trouble. Especially if you’re paying extra attention to your special needs child but you have other children in the water as well.

Read the article and learn the signs. Drowning victims DO NOT look like drowning victims! They almost never splash wildly or call for help. Most people don’t realize someone is in trouble until it’s too late.  Learn about drowning and water safety. Please be sure to share this article with family and friends.

Have a great and safe summer!  

How To Know When Someone Is In Trouble In The Water

Special Parents Confidential 09 Deafness and Hearing Impairment

Deafness and Hearing Impairment.

Everyone at some point in their lives experiences some form of hearing loss, either from their environment or due to advanced age. However many children are born every year with deafness or hearing impairments.

Although many therapies and technologies exist to help correct hearing impairments, the same questions and issues still come up for parents of hearing impaired children as for all parents of special needs children: communication, comprehension, help in school, social acceptance, and so on. And what organizations exist that can help parents get the information that’s best suited for their children and their particular needs?

Our guest on this episode of Special Parents Confidential, Julie Wiseman, has been through a lot of these issues. Her daughter, Kendall, was diagnosed at birth with deafness. Juli shares Kendall’s story and her own struggles with finding help, getting the right information, and many other issues that she and Kendall have faced.

Links Mentioned In This Episode: 

PASE – Parent Advisors for Special Education (Kent Intermediate School District, Kent County, MI)

Hearing Loss Association of America – The Nation’s Voice For People With Hearing Loss.

Hearing Loss Association of America – Grand Rapids Chapter

Listen Up  – Specializing in information for the deaf and hard of hearing, and especially geared to the needs of hearing impaired children and their families. Note: this website hasn’t been updated since 2010, but still has some valuable information.

Hands & Voices – Resource website for everyone.

Guide By Your Side – This is the link to the Hands & Voices national site for finding Guide By Your Side in your state.

Guide By Your Side Michigan – State of Michigan Chapter.

Gallaudet University 

John Tracy Clinic – Los Angeles, CA. Free help for parents of deaf and hearing impaired children no matter where they live.

Signing Time

Alexander Graham Bell Association

Cochlear Implant Manufacturers (and their associations):

Advanced Bionics

Cochlear America

Med-El

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Special Parents Confidential 08 Social Issues In School

Social Issues In School

When we talk about issues that can cause anxiety for parents of special needs kids,  dealing with social situations in school and elsewhere is probably right at the top of the list.  Will our children be accepted or will they be teased? Will  our kids be able to handle the day to day interactions in the class room, in the cafeteria, or on the playground? What about bullying? And what are we supposed to do when our kids experience problems with these situations?

For many schools the person who can help guide our kids through their day in school is the social worker. They’re also the person who parents can talk to for help with making sure their special needs child can fit into the various social situations and can offer advice that parents can use to reinforce the school’s expectations at home.

Our guest on this episode of Special Parents Confidential is Chris Kenward, an elementary school social worker who has many years of experience dealing with both special needs students and general education students.  Many experts agree, the vast majority of social problems begin early in elementary school so the sooner a child with special needs can get help in dealing with social issues, the better their progress will be throughout their life. The information Chris shares here is going to be vital for every parent of a special needs child, as well as for teachers, special education experts, care givers, and anyone who has a relationship with a special needs kid.

Links Mentioned In The Podcast: 

Shut Up About Your Perfect Kid  The website from the authors of the book.

Shut Up About Your Perfect Kid link to the book’s listing for sale on Amazon

Driven Story – Jon Singer – This is the website of the author of the book, “The Special Needs Parent Handbook”, which you can find on this page.

Views From Our Shoes – The website of the Sibling Support Project, where you can see stories from the book and order a copy.

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Upcoming Episodes For May

Upcoming Episodes For May:

We have some great guests scheduled for interviews in the next couple of weeks! Among them an elementary school social worker who will talk about acceptance, dealing with peers, preventing bullying, and helping our special needs children navigate the social structures of school.

We’re also going to talk with a Professor of Special Education – the teacher who teaches the teachers. We’ll discuss the ins and outs of special education from the perspective of the teachers and how parents can work effectively with their child’s teachers to make sure our kids are getting the best help available.

May is Better Hearing Month so we’re also going to talk with the mother of a deaf child who has cochlear implants, and is a board member of the Hearing Loss Association of America (Grand Rapids chapter). She’ll talk about the cochlear implant process, the modes of hearing, advocating for hearing loss children in school, support programs available for parents with hearing impaired children, and how to help parents find the right choices for treating hearing loss.

Keep checking back with us and be sure to sign up for our email alerts, which will notify you immediately when we post something new! Don’t forget to subscribe to our podcast on iTunes (its FREE!), and please consider writing a review of our shows on iTunes to help us spread the word!  Thanks so much for all your support!

Special Note: To receive email notifications of new posts and podcast episodes, type your email address in the space under “Subscribe To Blog Via Email” – on the right hand side of this page. That way every time we post a new episode or any news updates, you’ll get an immediate email notification. If you only register to make comments on our posts, you won’t get our email newsletter. Thanks!

Special Parents Confidential 07 One Parent’s Journey

One Parent’s Journey

Parents of special needs children spend most of their time dealing with the present. We tend to think mostly about what our children are doing right now, tomorrow, and maybe next week. If we think of the future, it’s mostly along the lines of, “what is school going to be like for our child next year?” Rarely do we ever consider what our children’s lives will be like ten years from now, fifteen, twenty, beyond.  Perhaps because the reality of special needs children is that so much needs to be taken care of in the present, the future can be hard to visualize.

Predicting the future is, of course, impossible, but sometimes it can be helpful to hear from parents who have older children. Those of us whose children have made it into adulthood and are transitioning from schools to colleges, and even into careers. In many cases these parents have not only seen their children’s lives change, but have had their own lives changed in ways they never expected.

Our guest on this episode of Special Parents Confidential has had just such a journey. Stacy Burns has two sons born with Aspberger’s Syndrome. Her oldest, Devin, is now an adult going to college and beginning a career. Stacy talks about Devin’s life from early childhood to the present and also tells us how his disability wound up giving her opportunities that ultimately lead to a new career in a field she never would have imagined. It’s a story of hardships, frustrations, and setbacks, but it’s also a story of achievements, unexpected changes for the better, and success. In other words, it’s a story of a parent, and a great example that even though our children require special help, they can achieve as much as any child.

Organization mentioned in this podcast: 

MOKA – Muskegon, Ottawa, Kent, & Allegan: We See The Individual In Everyone. Serving individuals and their families throughout Western Michigan.

YAPSS – Young Adults Project for Service and Socialization of West Michigan.

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Autism Is Not A Disability

Autism Is Not A Disability Article From The Baltimore Sun, by John P. Hussman.

Our friend (and first episode guest) Carol Lippert, shared this very interesting article that was published in the Baltimore Sun on April 10th, and written by a parent of a 19 year old boy with autism.

The article has some eye-opening perspectives for people about what a ‘disability’ really means. It’s definitely worth sharing with your friends and family, especially those who may not fully understand what autism means.

For that matter, you could apply the same perspective of this article toward virtually every other disability that people may have.

Autism Is Not A Disability, by John P. Hussman, published in the Baltimore Sun, April 10th, 2013.

April Is Autism Awareness Month

April is Autism Awareness Month. Autism is a medical term for a large umbrella of brain disorders encompassing a wide range of disability from very mild high functioning to severely disabled.  Some or all of the areas shown below can be affected in different ways. Autism is a genetic neurological condition that you are born with, and is not the result of bad parenting, diet, overstimulation, or any other outside influences. Learn more at the Autism Speaks website.

brain_autism

This graphic comes from Iain Carstairs blog: Science and Religion, in an article entitled Atheism and Autism. It’s a fascinating read, and you can find a much larger version of  this graphic in the article (this was the best I could pull off).

Special Parents Confidential 04 ADD ADHD

ADD ADHD. Attention Deficit Disorder. Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.

Probably two of the most misunderstood disorders in the world. There are a lot of ideas about both. Some think they’re not even ‘real’ disorders but rather just fancy medical terms for anything from bad parenting, to ‘watching too much television’, to laziness, to sleep deprivation, to having ‘too much sugar’ in the diet.  In keeping with these ideas, the suggested cures for these problems are very simple. Just change the diet to nothing but healthy, organic foods, throw out the television, get plenty of exercise, use herbal supplements, and even introduce meditation as a means to cleanse the mind before sleep.

But are ADD and ADHD really just a diet, discipline, and exercise problem? Or is there something more going on? What does medical science say about ADD and ADHD? Is there a neurological condition associated with ADD and ADHD? Can adults suffer from ADD and ADHD?  What about medications? Are they safe? Are they effective? WIll they cause long term problems or addictions?

On this episode of Special Parents Confidential we are joined by Dr. Oren Mason, MD who specializes in the causes and treatments of ADD and ADHD. He shares all of the most current medical and scientific information about ADD and ADHD, and breaks it all down in easy to understand facts. You’ll learn the truth about the causes and the treatments for both disorders. You’ll also discover that Dr. Mason has a very personal reason for his dedication to treating ADD and ADHD. For parents of children with ADD or ADHD, this episode has important information you need to hear.

Websites mentioned in the podcast:

CHADD – Children and Adults With Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. Resource site for anyone living with ADD and ADHD. Includes credible medical information, and a resource directory for finding help in your area.

Attention MD – Dr. Mason’s practice based in Grand Rapids, MI. Also find links to purchase his book, “Reaching For A New Potential“.

Special Parents Confidential

Special Parents Confidential

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Special Parents Confidential 01 Support Groups

Support Groups – Guest: Carol Lippert. Special Parents Confidential Episode 01

For our first episode of Special Parents Confidential we talk about support groups for parents. Our guest has some valuable information, especially if you’re not apart of a support group right now. Why are support groups important?

If you have access to support groups in your area, you know they can be a great resource for parents of special needs children. Being able to talk with other parents of children who have similar challenges as your own children can open up avenues of information that you might otherwise not have available. But what can you do if there aren’t any support groups where you live?

Our guest for this interview, Carol Lippert, was confronted with that situation when she and her family moved to Grand Rapids, MI from Los Angeles. Her oldest son has autism and there were no support groups for parent of autistic kids. So she started her own support group. She talks about how she did it and what you can do if you are in a similar situation.

Can you start your own support group for parents whose children have similar issues as your own? How do you find members? Where can you hold meetings? Will there be start up expenses or can you run your support group for free? Are there laws covering support groups? Do you have to have a tax-free exemption, like a charity? Do you have to have any special training to run a support group? Do you have to have special insurance or other legal protections like a business? Do these meetings need to have formal recognition from your city, county, state, or the federal government, or can they be just an informal group of friends getting together?

We have the answers for you.

Special Parents Confidential

Special Parents Confidential

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