If I have to pick a theme for my day today, it would be “grass roots” day. Today I was involved in two different conversations with two different groups of people, proposing two different advocacy efforts. The interesting thing is both situations is that both were trying to get the ball rolling on some basic grass roots efforts. So that left me thinking about the commonalities of the two discussions, which is really a good place to start thinking about how to form a grass roots effort.

1. Connect like-minded folks. The first... more

If you are a parent of a special needs child who gets involved in advocacy and support of special needs children and their families, eventually it will happen.

The “it” is having to choose between what is best for your child versus what will serve a “bigger picture”. I watched this quandary being played out on a listserve recently, when one person was accusing another of “giving in” because she chose to do what would gain her child the best immediate result instead of what might have resulted in systemic changes in a broken system.

And... more

Parents of special needs children have a particularly hard time advocating for their children’s rights. Ok, I suppose all marginalized groups of people (minorities, elderly, immigrants) have their obstacles, it’s just that I see the ones for those of us advocating for our children much more clearly.

One inevitable truth that the “system” uses to its advantage is how easily we can be divided and conquered. The “system” – whether that system is the school district, the social services office, or an insurance company, counts on you, the person having... more

I found the question to be demeaning, yet sadly typical of many people’s opinion of autistic children: “Can an autistic child really have PTSD?” The question came amid a comment forum on a news article about the mom who has been arrested for not sending her medically homebound autistic son to school.

I couldn’t ascertain whether the commenter was truly asking whether the two conditions could co-exist (after all there are many who believe that infants and children can’t... more

I’m reading a new book by Anne Ford, called “On Their Own.” In it, she talks about experts and educational specialists wanting to be politically correct and change the title “learning disabled” to “learning differences.” Anne goes on to explain that the word “disabled” infers a flaw in the person, whereas the word “differences” merely implies a different style of learning.

Wow, what a difference a word could make in the way others perceive your child. It makes you want to jump right on the bandwagon and advocate for the change... more

Much of what Sandra (International Adoption Blog) had to say in her recent Perfect World posts is right on! She expressed, very clearly, my beliefs of how marginalized and discounted millions of children around the world are. But I have to say one question she posed in her first post on this topic bothered me a great deal. It was in reference to the disabled Iraqi boys found chained, naked... more

Pitfall # 1 – People Just Don’t Know What Trauma Can Do

Pitfall # 2 – People Don’t WANT to Acknowledge that a Child can be Traumatized

Pitfall # 3 It Must Be the Adoptive Parents’ Fault

Pitfall... more

Pitfall # 1 – People Just Don’t Know What Trauma Can Do

Pitfall # 2 – People Don’t WANT to Acknowledge that a Child can be Traumatized

Pitfall # 3 It Must Be the Adoptive Parents’ Fault

Pitfall # 4 – If Your Message is Adopted/Foster... more

Pitfall # 1 – People Just Don’t Know What Trauma Can Do

Pitfall # 2 – People Don’t WANT to Acknowledge that a Child can be Traumatized

Pitfall # 3 It Must Be the Adoptive Parents’ Fault

As I talk with parents of traumatized children, many passionate about reaching out to other families and to making their lives... more

Pitfall # 1 – People Just Don’t Know What Trauma Can Do

Pitfall # 2 – People Don’t WANT to Acknowledge that a Child can be Traumatized. There are lots of people who don’t want to know about how trauma impacts our children’s lives. Because if we look at the reality of how many adoptive or foster children are “at risk” from manifesting complications due to their traumatic pasts, it’s downright scary. So who are the people... more