These were LuLu’s first words Sunday morning as she bound out of bed on the long-awaited day. LuLu had set and reached a personal goal: to sing with the children’s choir on Palm Sunday. LuLu, who for years has not participated in children’s choir because the children make “unexpected noise” that overwhelms her senses and her behaviors have always alienated her from interacting with the other children, watched with great envy as the choir sang at Christmas.

“I wish I could do that,” she sighed. I told her I thought she was able, if she wanted. But that she... more

Several years ago, before we matched with Amigrace’s birthmother, we tried to adopt a new born with Cystic fibrosis. We did quite a bit of research on this life threatening disorder and even found out where our local support groups met. We understood that the disease causes severe lung damage and nutritional deficiencies but we were committed. Therefore, we were quite disappointed when another family was chosen to adopt the baby girl. However, God had another plan for us so that one wasn’t meant to be. Sometimes that is hard... more

Last week LuLu damaged some of Kay’s toiletries in a move of pure jealousy. It was not the first time. LuLu, in the height of her puberty, has decided that Kay is the target of her frustration. It is sibling rivalry in which the sides are definitely uneven. Kay does nothing to provoke these incidents, but her response is so dramatic that LuLu gets a “thrill” out of upsetting Kay.

No amount of explaining the logic of staying calm to Kay seems to be working. Kay’s logic is that she’s not “doing anything” to LuLu, so why should she have to put up with LuLu “doing things”... more

Von Willebrand disease is a bleeding disorder that slows the process of blood clotting. This condition often causes bruising, nosebleeds, prolonged bleeding, oozing after an injury, surgery, or losing a tooth. Women with this condition experience excessive bleeding during menstruation (menorrhagia). Spontaneous bleeding without an injury may occur in severe cases of von Willebrand disease. The condition, if mild, may not become apparent until abnormal bleeding occurs following surgery or a serious injury. Symptoms of von Willebrand... more

Today’s children who are becoming teenagers are using inhalants more often than marijuana or prescription drugs. A new government report shows that inhaling common household products is the preferred way to get high for those becoming teenagers. According to health officials, household products like shoe polish, glue, aerosol air fresheners, hair sprays, nail polish, paint solvents, degreasers, gasoline, and lighter fluid are all possibilities for getting high. The results of the study were presented on Thursday at the National Press club in Washington, D.C. The National... more

Sexually transmitted diseases are in the news again shocking people with their skyrocketing numbers. A new government study suggests that over three million teenaged girls have at least one sexually transmitted disease (STD.) They say that boils down to one out of every four teenage girls having an STD. There is worse news yet if you look inside of those averages. Nearly half of all African American teenage girls have an STD compared to about 20 percent of Caucasian teenage girls. Then when we look at statistics for the sexual... more

I am guilty. I admit to running out of children’s Motrin in the past and just giving my child half of an adult tablet. My thinking, like so many parents, was that children need the same medicine as adults, just in smaller doses, because they are smaller. However, that is not always the case. Some medications affect children much differently than they affect adults. When it comes to giving our children medications, we need to remember that they are not just miniature adults.

If you are fostering children, or if a child is placed with you, but not yet adopted, you need... more

At some point in time, every child on the planet doesn’t want to go to school. So, parents of children with disabilities aren’t surprised when this happens with our children. However, what do you do if your child chronically complains about going to school and begins to show signs of anxiety about attending?

Parents of children with disabilities are in a precarious place when they leave their children at school or other places, like daycare. The child’s disabilities may prevent her from being able to communicate about her day or let you know what’s happening.... more

Every day at day care centers and preschools around the world, parents drop off young children who cling tightly to their legs, reluctantly letting go of their parents. On average, when a toddler is between 12-18 months, he will experience a bit of separation anxiety. This is considered developmentally normal.

How the adults in his world react can make a great deal of difference in how the child responds. There are many out there who will make the crucial mistakes of not giving a child time to adjust to new caregivers (in other words, just place the child... more

A recent example involved treatment with a new cutting-edge drug for brain cancer. This promising treatment for medulloblastoma brain tumors short-circuits tumor growth at a molecular level. The drug, HhAntag, is a signal transduction inhibitor (STI) which has been successful in treating about one-third of brain cancers in adults with non-toxic safe results. HhAntag targets the so-called "hedgehog" pathway and shuts down a signaling mechanism critical to the proliferation... more