Whether you have decided to homeschool your special needs child, utilize public, or private school, you will still need to teach your child. Special needs children require much more practice and reminders to learn than “normal” children do. They take more time to complete their work. They need more assistance than other children do. What that means to the parent is, homework help all evening, every evening. Sometimes it means your child will cry with frustration. You will still be teaching your special needs child long after other children have begun to run their... more

I have blogged before about my genius son who has ADHD. He has been homeschooled since the very beginning for many reasons. Had he attended public school, I am sure he would have spent a majority of his day in the principal’s office. He cannot sit still to save his life and is constantly fidgeting. Some days he can complete a month’s worth of work and some days he cannot concentrate at all. We knew we were in trouble when he turned two and we had to put poison control’s 1-800 number on our speed dial. When he turned 13, he began trying to convince me with various impressive... more

When you have a child with special needs who attends public school, you usually negotiate an IEP for your student with the school. The IEP, Individual Education Plan, outlines the special services your child will receive during the school year. For example, some children go to another class for reading, math, and spelling. Some children receive speech therapy, occupational therapy, or physical therapy during the school day. Some children even have a one-on-one aid who goes through the school day helping a single student. There are children who have so much difficulty... more

In a recent post, I blogged about my surprise that my daughter’s IQ continues to increase despite the fact that she has FAS (Fetal Alcohol Syndrome.) A reader wrote an interesting comment about her child who is diagnosed with inattentive ADD. She said that their family psychiatrist told them to expect their child’s IQ to increase after she had been on medication for a while. While I had never heard this before it really could help to explain my daughter’s... more

Our daughter came to live with us just weeks before her fourth birthday. After nine months of doctors’ appointments and evaluations, her previous foster family finally called it quits. They did not feel competent to deal with her special needs nor a mentally retarded child. They adopted her two younger sisters a couple of years later. We had provided respite a couple of times so we already knew her. We knew she was cute and sweet albeit a bit on the wild side, but so are most of our children. Originally thought to have an IQ in the mildly retarded range it has continued... more

A new resource is available for students who struggle with educational success because of their ADHD. An organization called The Edge Foundation has begun training coaches to help ADHD students succeed in school and college. Coaching seems to be a new trend in the U.S.A to help young people succeed in the world despite their learning challenges. What does an ADHD coach from The Edge Foundation do for students with ADHD? According to their website, once hired, the Edge Foundation coach will contact the student every... more

Please offer your honest opinion as adoptive parents and as birthparents. Is it mean to deny an adopted child sugar? Would your answer be different if the child had plenty of sugar before entering your family as an older adopted child? Then would it be mean to deny the child sugar until adulthood? Would your answer be different if the child was a birth child? Honestly, I struggle with this issue. My teenage daughter entered our family as a four-year-old foster child and we adopted her at the age of six. Several years ago, we realized that sugar has a profound effect on her... more

Whether your child’s food consumption can cause behavior problems or attention problems has long been a controversial topic especially between parents and physicians. You probably know parents who are convinced that sugar makes their child’s ADHD (attention Deficit hyper disorder) worse. There are those who have noticed changes in their child’s behavior after consuming certain processed foods or foods containing artificial dyes. You have probably talked to physicians or read about scientific studies denying any connection between ADHD or behaviors and food.... more

Preschoolers’ age 3 to 5 years, who are diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactive disorder (ADHD), as well as a another disorder, such as oppositional defiant disorder (ODD), conduct disorder, or an anxiety disorder probably won’t respond to treatment with the stimulant methylphenidate. PATS (Preschoolers with ADHD Treatment Study) was funded by the National Institutes of Health’s National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). While previous reports indicated that low doses of methylphenidate were safe to use at this age, the data analyzed suggested that increasing the dosage... more

I walked around the house today with a role of scotch tape and brightly colored notes. It is the latest countermeasure to jog the memories of the ADHD and FAS children in the house. Living with several children who require constant reminders to stay on task or even to begin a task can wear a person down after 14 years of foster care and adoption. Yes, we all go through training in dealing with special needs adopted children. However, I am not sure that we are ever completely prepared for the reality of 24 hours a day, seven days a week, for years and years.

In... more