For about a year now, I have been trying to teach my daughter with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome to keep track of time. Our dreams for her future include her holding a job and living in her own apartment, possibly with us controlling her finances. To make that possible she needs to be able to keep track of time and use some type of planner or calendar.

Her IQ is at the borderline of mentally retarded and low normal, the high 60’s. She will be 14 in a few days and I think it may be... more

I missed it! Jenny McCarthy and Holly Robinson Peete were on Oprah on Tuesday talking about their sons’ autism, the diagnosis, what it’s been like as their moms and some interventions they’ve tried.

Biomedical and other “controversial” interventions were brought front and center. So was the concept that vaccinations (they specifically mentioned MMR) can be at least partially to blame for causing autism. I’ll bet this show either had people cheering or screaming at their... more

Over 2 million people have the gene that makes it possible to pass sickle cell on to their birth children. Over 70,000 people in the U.S.A. have sickle cell disease and they are not just African Americans. In the United States, hospitals screen all newborn babies for sickle cell disease. Sickle cell disease is most common among people whose ancestors come from sub-Saharan Africa, South America, Cuba, Central America, Saudi Arabia, India, Turkey, Greece, and Italy.

In these parts of the world, malaria is... more

This is kinda cool – Ty Pennington, host of Extreme Makeover is going to host ADHD Experts On Call, a one-day event sponsored by Shire. Pennington will host the live one-hour webcast from 12:00-1:00 pm next Wednesday, September 19. The rest of the day (8 am to midnight) a toll-free number is available for talking with “ADHD Experts”.

Keep in mind that Shire is a pharmaceutical company, hence the ADHD “solutions” will likely include medications. Shire manufactures Adderall and Daytrana, including “the patch” –... more

Just when you think you’ve solved a problem, it comes back to haunt you. Of course, that is why parenting a child with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome can be so frustrating. One day your FAS child might know all of their times tables and the next day not be able to remember a single one.

Our daughter will be 14 next month and her body is maturing, as it should. We knew we couldn’t allow her to use a sharp object like a razor, and I didn’t want to violate her privacy in the bathroom by helping her shave. Therefore, we chose to allow her to use Nair to remove her leg hair.

I took... more

Children with ADHD or learning differences can be easily distracted, especially when completing task that they consider boring, like school. Children who intend to graduate or live an independent life must learn their core subjects. How can they learn if their ADHD prevents them from completing their homework?

Here are some of the things we have done to help our children with ADHD and FAS concentrate. We set the kitchen timer, this sounds simple and... more

This is the area of Kathie Snow’s People First presentation that I’m still mulling over. She challenged us to think well outside of the box to a day when labels such as “special needs” or “disabled” would no longer be used. Even the name of this blog, “Parenting Special Kids” would be problematic, as the use of “special” could invoke pity.

While I totally understand, now, that People First Language isn’t as much about being politically correct as it is about treating people with respect and dignity, I wonder at what point we are no longer to communicate because... more

Lane signed up for his first online college class and it started on Tuesday. He seems to have been in a state of confusion ever since. He kept signing onto the blackboard and not seeing any assignments. Then he would tell me that he didn’t have any assignments and log off. Finally, yesterday I told him that I needed to look at it.

When I followed some logical links, I found the syllabus, the class agenda, and the assignments. I showed him where they were located and told him to get started, assuming all was well. His next excuse, he didn’t know how to do the assignments... more

I realized that in my last blog I gave some very clinical answers to the question “what to do about OCD?” But that doesn’t always help those of us in the trenches. Although each child is very different and those who suffer from OCD have very different obsessions and compulsions, I’m going to offer up some of the things that have worked for LuLu.

Keep in mind that not all these things work all the time. And that no matter how hard I try, I sometimes can not remember to pull out some of these tools, nor can... more

There are two basic courses of action for Obsessive Compulsive Disorder recognized by the mainstream psychiatric community. One is to medicate with an SSRI (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor ), medications such as Paxil, Zoloft, Lexapro or Prozac. The other is Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT). Both have shown to be very effective for treating/managing OCD.

Medications

Although not a “cure” for OCD, medications are often a first-line treatment for anyone who has moderate to severe OCD symptoms. Because SSRIs allow the serotonin to remain available... more