If you have a child with diabetes I’m sure you’ve dreamed of a day when a cure would be available. Like those nights when you couldn’t sleep because your child’s glucose level dropped to 40 and scared you to death. Or the time he called from school to say it was 300 and you dropped what you were doing to race there and help. It seems like you might place your future hope for a cure in Stem Cell therapy as it is apparently already being used successfully in curing Type 2 diabetes.

Children with Juvenile type 1 diabetes have... more

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Ok, to recap, Drs. Purvis & Cross operate a camp for post-institutionalized traumatized children called “The Hope Connection” as part of their research for the Institute for Child Development at Texas Christian University.... more

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The unique twist to the work that Dr. Purvis and Dr. Cross do at the is that they test neurotransmitter levels of all the Camp Hope campers (and their parents) before, during and after the day camp. To day, Dr. Purvis reports she has reviewed over 900 neurotransmitter tests on traumatized children. She has seen some pretty definite... more

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I promised you some of the “meat” I learned from the Seeds of Hope: Promising Interventions for At-Risk Children presentation that Dr. Karyn Purvis and Dr. David Cross made at last fall’s ATTACh conference.

Well the first thing I found truly impressive was Dr. Purvis’ in-depth description and understanding of how neglect, maltreatment, lack of nutrition and lack of stimulation can impact sensory functions. Yes, I’ve heard... more

One of my best friends recently adopted two daughters that have struggled with bulimia for the three years they have lived with her as foster children. Initially it was very difficult for her to get anyone to believe they struggled from this disorder because of their ages. It was even harder to find anyone who felt qualified to do therapy with them specifically for bulimia because of their young ages the girls were six and eight. While it is true that this disease normally affects teens and young adults, don’t dismiss the signs if you see... more

“You know,” Super Dad commented, “LuLu is a great kid when she’s not out-of-control.” Yep, he’s got that right. And last weekend was great for LuLu. No explosions and lots of times when she turned around what could have been a meltdown. It was a nice conclusion to an overall peaceful weekend.

Friday, there was an explosion, though – a wall-kicking explosion that ended with another (sigh) hole in the drywall of our upstairs hallway. The effect of the hole explosion was immediate. I was on the phone about church business, and LuLu was upstairs... more

Yesterday I was getting caught up on reading my newspapers that I haven’t had time to read in the last four weeks due to everyone in the house being ill and getting a new foster placement. I was using the express reading method; I look at the legals, since they post hearings for foster children in them, then the obituaries and police reports. But an article caught my eye about an eight year old child that weighs 218 pounds that officials are considering removing from his parents for neglect. He is at high risk for developing childhood diabetes... more

I have just finished listing to a CD set of recordings from last year’s ATTACh conference; a day-long workshop entitled: Seeds of Hope: Promising Interventions for At-Risk Children. The CD order form is here.

The speakers, Dr. Karyn Purvis and Dr. David Cross are the developers of the Institute of Child Development at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth. Their research training and service are focused on special needs children who... more

I live under a rock down here on the farm and I guess I’m incredibly sheltered from what goes on in the rest of the world. So I’m grateful to one of my esteemed readers for bringing me up to date on treatments for ADHD. It seems that if you live in the state of sunny California you can treat your ADHD with “medical marijuana.”

Those of us with too skinny ADHD children that have tried all the “favorite” treatments like Ritalin, Concerta, and Adderal know that they decrease appetite. Apparently medical marijuana causes the user to have the... more

In having a new child placed with us recently I’m reminded of the eating disorders that my own children struggled with for years after coming to live with us. The most common at our house has been, not recognizing when they are full. I’ve learned over the years to say, “No, you’re full.” Instead of “You must be full.” How do I know that the child is full? I just figure that when a 40 pound child has put away enough food to feed my teenage son, she must be full!

I guess this technique works since my now adult and teenage... more