Depression is a tricky thing. For some people, it can hit them all at once, like a paralyzing wave. But for most it just sneaks up on you. If you’re like me, you have lots of external reasons to be depressed – raising a challenging child, coming to terms with that child’s disabilities and what the future might hold, financial strain due to the need to quit my job to care for my child, the emotional and financial burden of a lawsuit with the school system…just to name a few.

So, I’ve got lots of reasons to be depressed. But my goofy thought... more

Our Super Dad has restless leg syndrome, but did you know that it is common in children and teenagers too. Our one-year-old adopted daughter constantly moves her legs in a running motion. When our daughter is sitting in the shopping cart, her car seat, and her highchair her legs are moving non-stop. Could our adopted daughter have restless leg syndrome?

Restless legs syndrome (RLS) usually occurs in bed at the end of the day or while seated. RLS is a common neurological disorder where the... more

Our son, Lane, just returned from an excited week of tracking wolves in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan on the North County Trail. Sometimes, because of his ADHD, organized events can be frustrating for him. He sees himself as a capable and intelligent individual with the right to express his opinion and... more

A reader recently shared her frustration with me about the 24/7 of living with a daughter with fetal alcohol syndrome. A question that plagues many of us parenting children with fetal alcohol syndrome or other learning disabilities is “Are they really confused or choosing to not cooperate?”

My husband and I have had this discussion many times during our 14 years of foster parenting. He has maintained during the entire time that the problem is confusion. He patiently redirects and gives simple directions one at a time so task can be accomplished... more

Obsessions are a wonderful thing. Or at least they are very interesting. LuLu has been “Mufasa” for quite some time now, obsessed on everything Lion King. This particular obsession lasted a long time (6+ months). Long enough that LuLu was lobbying very hard to have her actual birth certificate changed to reflect Mufasa as her “real” name.

But just as quickly as it came, this obsession was overridden by Mighty... more

Well I finally did it. After 24 years of parenting, I finally left a child behind. It happened at church after Vacation Bible School. It wasn’t the baby or toddler as you may suspect, it was the Lyn, the 13 year old with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. I’ve mentioned in some of my other blogs, on living with fetal alcohol syndrome, how she frequently requires a personal invitation to join us.

It was the last day of VBS so my family had to stay after and clean up since I am the program director. We couldn’t leave until the entire church was clean... more

An interesting study conducted by Researchers at the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders points to genetic variations being responsible for a person’s ability to listen to more than one conversation at once. This skill of being able to listen to and comprehend two things at once is known as dichotic listening.

And I must have inherited it. Super Dad marvels at how when my family gets together (my two sisters and... more

Do you know a person who catches hummingbirds? My son with ADHD has caught two hummingbirds in the last week. Yet he can barely sit through school. Like so many children with ADHD, he seems to have ants in his pants and a chatterbox that rarely quits.

However, his ADHD doesn’t seem to get in the way of doing what he really loves. What he really loves is hunting, fishing, searching for snakes and other critters, and just being outside. In fact, he has displayed incredible patience waiting hours for a fish to bite or a deer... more

The women who own the A4ever Family website have done it again! They have added a fascinating article to their information about Attachment and the Brain. The article is Neurodevelopment Interrupted: Signs and Symptoms by Emily Beard Johnson, Northwest Neurodevelopmental Training Center

The article talks specifically about an area of the brain stem known as the Pons.

... more

There was a time, several years ago, when my home didn’t feel like a home. We had an older child living with us who had passive aggressive disorder. Several times a day, either we would find little surprises, or somebody would get hurt. Of course, each incident was an always an accident.

One of the younger children would accidentally have a finger shut in a kitchen drawer or a car door. One of the younger children would accidentally be stepped... more