Elephants who have been in captivity can now retire in a place called The Elephant Sanctuary, in the rolling hills of southern Tennessee. Many elephants who have performed for years in circuses and zoos end up there. Many of those have been harshly treated or mistreated and show signs of trauma. At this 2,700-acre refuge, the caregivers specialize in “trauma recovery” of these animals they say have Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). The sanctuary uses a method called “passive control” where no negative... more

Some of my email listmates posted links to this article, originally printed in the New York Times and more recently in the Toronto Star. This link is on the Elephant Sanctuary website (mentioned in the article).

There is much I find interesting in this article, knowing what I know about parenting a traumatized child (and... more

Last week I blogged about a wonderful clinic in Canada that combines sensory, neurofeedback and neurodevelopmental interventions for children with learning disabilities, ADHD and processing disorders.

Well today, I’m pleased to share with you about a mental health nurse providing attachment therapy in Sydney Australia. Debbie Jeffrey is an adoptive parent who found the lack of attachment therapy... more

I rarely talk about attachment disorder in this blog, leaving that subject in the capable hands of my fellow blogger, Nancy Spoolstra on the Reactive Attachment Disorder blog. But Nancy's very busy this week, and I thought it was important for adoptive parents to see this.

The below question and answer is attributed to John Rosemond, a well-known psychologist who writes frequently about parenting. It came to me via membership in a listserv that had reposted the article from a newsletter published by a local chapter of the Family with Children from China. My understanding is that Mr. Rosemond's staff was not able to verify... more

Well, last week birthday wishes started arriving for LuLu and it wasn't long before she had gift cards and money enough for the coveted Fur Real Chimp.

So, given that I was in court all week and the daily routine was defintely out of whack, one evening I took her over to Target and she made her purchase. She was thrilled! LuLu had been stuck on wanting this chimp and on believing that somehow we (the family who loved her) would not buy her true heart's desire for her as a birthday... more

In Part 1, I shared with you my thoughts about how a child with multiple communication and emotional impairments could truly be “stuck” emotionally as a toddler and pondered how difficult that must be for them not being able to figure out a way out of the tantrumming.

Make no mistake, it is difficult for us parents as well. A screaming toddler is hard enough, but a screaming 8, 9, 10-year-old. Not only is that physically challenging and emotionally... more

Hey all you brainiac moms, I just found another cool website: ScienCentral News. And I found a great article entitled: A Mother’s Touch. The researchers in this study were out to prove (or not) that mothering styles are passed from mothers to children and to figure out if it was a genetic or environmental thing. Guess what they discovered? (Nature or nurture?)

Well, they used rats, not humans.... more

Owlhaven's blog of a couple days ago on Attachment Parenting is an awesome account of how to nurture your little ones (or not so little ones if they arrive as older children). And just reading it brought back a flood of memories.

There is much I didn't know, understand or anticipate about LuLu and her many special needs when we adopted her. But there were a few things I got right. One was taking a "Sally Ride" sling with us to China. From day one, LuLu was perched on my hip (all 19... more

I never expected to draw a parallel between Anorexia, Autism and RAD, but then you never know where your thoughts will take you. All I know is that as a blogger, I'm constantly amazed to discover the similar plights of parenting children with all kinds of special needs.

Sitting in the waiting room during LuLu's latest evaluation, I picked up an old copy of Newsweek (December 5, 2005), where the cover article was on Fighting Anorexia. It was a fascinating overview of a mental illness I know little about. The author stated that anorexia has the highest mortality rate of... more

Thanks to Dr. G's post yesterday on Controversial Treatment Modalities, I was reminded of an important point for us bloggers -- not to scare the begeezus out of our readers! I realize that many prospective adoptive parents will probably not find their way to my blog. Just the topic of Parenting Special Kids can be pretty darn scary and overwhelming to those thinking about adoption or contemplating parenting of any kind. It's still pretty scary and overwhelming to me at times --- but going in with eyes wide open always helps. And know, prospective parents, that you... more