-
A Waitlist Rant: Special Needs in Ontario
-
Weekend Warrior – Sensory Solutions
My amazing blogger friend over at adoption of jane has returned to her weekend warrior post and so I am once again inspired to contribute something from our life with Ainsley. My daughter Ainsley has sensory processing disorder and fetal alcohol spectrum disorder. None of this is her fault and yet many people in our world treat her as if she is able to control a physical brain injury that incurred prior to her birth. That is enough to make me crazy, and lately it is sadly wearing on her, as she gets older and starts to see differences between herself and other typically developing children. It is here in…
-
Grade One and Registration Day
Today I registered my fiver for grade one. It’s a monumental occasion for many. It’s a big deal for me and for her. Everyone who has a child with special needs will get what I mean when I say that my heart is in my throat and my fingers are crossed as I tentatively prepare to ship her off to public school. I have had a big knot in my stomach since I left the school this morning. And to think there’s another six months before she starts. It’s not that I don’t have faith in our public schools – my older child attends one and does quite nicely. My…
-
Smart books
I am taking a few moment today to organize as I just got back from another excellent conference, this time in Saskatoon. One of my take home ideas from the FASD (Fetal alcohol specturm disorder) conference last week put on by the Saskatchewan Prevention Institute was this – a manual on my children essentially. A tip I’m going to call my Smart Books, for lack of a better name. So this morning I made a quick stop at Shopper’s Drug Mart and bought two new binders to start my organizing. One will be for each of my children. Up until now I have been a big fan of the All…
-
09-09-09
On the ninth hour of the ninth day of the ninth month of 2009 we gathered in London’s Victoria Park for a pregnant pause to raise awareness regarding FASD Day. Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder, is an invisible neurological disability, affecting an estimated 300,000 Canadians. The numbers are staggering, but the people affected are the real story. For instance Jack, 8, adopted at 4, struggles with impulse control issues, violent behaviours, sensory issues and learning disabilities. He struggles in school. In grade one poorly supported by the home school he had moved to he was suspended six times in as many weeks. Then he was diagnosed with FASD and frankly things only got more difficult.…
-
Why Parts Language is Not Okay #Adoption
(This is the second installment of my NACAC inspired blog series running this week) It was easily two years ago when I first brought this issue up in a parent’s meeting at a school one of my daughters attended. Back then it was common parenting practice to say to a child: “I love you, but I don’t like your behaviour right now.” They call it ‘parts language’ now, but there was no term for it back then when it was standard practice. I had been guilty of using this phrase more than a few times and yet what I had observed after several months of this was that it simply…
-
My response to: Am 630 Edmonton CHED – re: FASD
In a post issued today by Bob Layton, an Edmonton radio talk show host there was a mention of Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder. Actual terms used were “fetal alcohol babies” and “mentally deficient souls.” This came to thriftymommastips’ attention by way of FASLINK, an Internet listserv that helps connect and support adoptive and biological parents to children with diagnosed and suspected FASD. Naturally given the closeness of this topic to my heart, the fact that my five-year-old has FASD and many of the children of the people in our adoptive parent’s support group are struggling to raise kids with this brain injury, I had to respond. This is my comment to…
-
An Ode to Toes – Siblings of Special Needs Children
Parents of children with special needs live on a planet most other people wouldn’t even want to visit, not even for a stopover flight. So constant are the stresses on these families that many break down. It’s hard to stay healthy when a child consumes everything, financially and emotionally. Stresses on siblings of special needs children run high too. Stresses on Special Needs Families I ran across a statistic recently that indicated 85 % of families who have children with special needs break down. It’s a stunning statistic that ought to make everyone – including government, social services and education – stand up and take note. When they are done…