When you have a combo platter child (child with multiple disabilities, some of which may not be clearly identified), sorting out how their disabilities are impacting their learning can be a daunting task. As the school year cranks back up (and we didn’t do school everyday during the summer as I had originally anticipated), I can see large leaps and lags in LuLu’s academic progress.

Last week (and finishing up today) we did some placement testing on-line in an effort to figure out what levels she is learning at, specifically in reading and math. I’ve always... more

One of the main differences I’ve found in teaching LuLu basic things like self-care, housecleaning or simple independent living skills is how purposeful I need to be about explaining each step. Just like with socialization, children without disabilities usually pick up much of this knowledge through observation. With our children, we can’t assume that they will pick up this knowledge without direct instruction.

LuLu is highly intelligent and can do many things for herself. So the challenge is to determine just what she can do and where the knowledge... more

If your sibling is learning disabled, it doesn’t necessarily mean that your children will be learning disabled. That may depend on the cause of your sibling’s learning disability. Was the LD caused by a random chromosomal abnormality, hereditary, or a physical outside source?

If your sibling’s LD was caused by a random chromosomal abnormality then you don’t have to worry about passing it on to your offspring. You cannot pass it on, however your LD sibling has a fifty-fifty chance of passing the mutation on to your nieces or... more

My child has special needs, but where did they come from? Are they hereditary? Could it be that one or both parents were afflicted with special needs? - Perhaps there was parental substance abuse during the pregnancy that caused my child’s special needs. Certainly, I’ve seen other children with similar problems, which were known to be caused by exposure to drugs and alcohol while in utero.

Could my child’s special needs be caused by the lack of a stimulating environment... more

Sometimes you need the patience of a saint to teach a new math concept to one of your children. I have given the exact same set of directions, 30 times for one page of homework, because there happened to be 30 problems on the page. For whatever reason, writing the steps down for your child to follow just doesn’t seem to help. When I’ve tried that method, the child usually just gives up.

I have a 4th grader in public school who refused to do multiplication problems the way I showed her, because she didn’t think that was the way her “teacher”... more

I know that when we’re living with an FAS or FAE child the good days are few and far between and we’re suppose to cherish them but not expect them, it’s just so hard. When my teenage daughter has her good days, she’s a joy to be with and such a help to me around the house. Then mentally I get caught up seeing her future as a normal woman. It’s what I would so desperately want for her, if only I could fix her.

Logically I know that it is completely unreasonable and way out of her ability level. By expecting her to achieve it... more

One very positive thing I’ve learned through all my court battles with the school district is the intricacies of each of my daughter’s disabilities/disorders. I have also learned there’s a whole world of tools out there to help.

LuLu struggles mightily with reading. Perhaps it is this struggle that made her behavior significantly worse when she was sent to a separate classroom for reading instruction each day. Perhaps it was exacerbated by a young teacher and inexperienced parapro. But most likely it was because reading taps a variety of her... more

One of the big changes we’ve seen as LuLu continues to use the Fast ForWord therapy to help with her auditory processing, reading abilities and other language and processing deficits, is that she is more keenly aware of what she’s not aware of. Before, so much information got by her that she didn’t realize in some instances what she was missing. When she did, she reacted with severe frustration.

While she still reacts with frustration, something... more

Here’s an interesting article from www.medicalnewstoday.com on new studies of the dyslexic brain. The prevailing theory of dyslexia is called the “magoncellular hypothesis” or belief that the neuron involved in processing fast visual information is responsible for dyslexia.

But researchers are challenging that, saying that auditory processing in noise and the ability to filter out and ignore distractions is much more likely a culprit. Three studies, conducted by the same team... more

Again, there is so much about Amy Eldridge’s open letter to those adopting from China that needs to be heard. And one of those things is that being raised in an orphanage changes who you are. And that being taken away from everything you know (even if it’s not a healthy situation, even if it’s an orphanage) causes further grief and trauma.

Now most people know that on the surface. We laughed during our recent viewing of A Night at the Museum, where Ben Stiller’s character confronted Attila the Hun, who ultimately broke down in sobs as Ben described Attila’s rough childhood and lack of love and affection and how that made him into... more