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Why I am Speaking Martian Again: FASD Looks Like This and I am Still Proud to be a Health and Special Needs Blogger
It’s been an interesting week here, in which several signs have made me realize again what I am supposed to be writing about. It’s funny how sometimes you, as a blogger, get tunnel vision watching stats and striving for growth and page views and SEO. These are the tools of the trade and we all get really great at understanding them. We watch our posts for engagement and comments and we tick them off and file them away with headings like: improved or needs improvement, or blogging goals for the year. We worry on a day when the stats dive and we question sometimes what happened there. We wallow. We question…
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Adoption and Family Tree Free Printable Activity for Kids
The Adoption Family Tree Printable is unique and intended to help kids visualize and process their place in the family and maybe even their understanding of adoption as a social phenomenon. Our kids often give new meaning to the proverb it takes a village to raise a child. Adoption and adoptive families are different. In more ways than most people can imagine. Once I wrote about some of the challenges of being an adoptive family here on CBC web site. Adoption is Not Like It Is In The Movies. Our kids often come with more challenges throughout life. They sometimes begin their lives with a loss that can remain…
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We Stay: Five Things I Never Told You About Special Needs Adoption
I am not unlike you. I love my kids more than anything on the planet. They are my heart. They are my life. They are my first glorious sight in the morning. (One of them bursts into my room every day at crack of dawn, but that’s another story) and one of the last things I see at night. There is nothing that can bring out the mama bear in me like someone wronging my child. My family is not perfect, but it is mine. Everything I do is to build a future for them. Most of you know by now that we are an adoptive family. I write about special needs…
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New Barbie Amaze Chase Feature
No big secret here that my kids are Barbie fans. So, when we heard this new movie featuring Barbie was coming out we had to see it to believe it. Some days I am still certain Barbies are hatching a plot to take over my house. My one daughter has collected Barbies since she was two. I have written about our Love for Barbie often over the years. I fact my daughter’s love of Barbies is well documented. But what about my Barbie beginnings? Timeless Toys Look Like This In the 70s and 80s I grew up with Barbie and I can still recall every last dreamy pink Barbie…
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Self Esteem Booster Craft for Kids Six and Up: In Five Easy Steps
Self esteem is one of the hardest things to build and it can be destroyed so easily it seems. So, when I found this adorable self esteem booster craft recently I was happy to share. Because raising girls is hard work in this decade. I heard a scary fact the other day when we were visiting a new therapist at Child and Adolescent OutPatient Clinic at the local hospital. A new therapist that helps with my daughter’s anxiety told me every single one of the girls she sees feels uncomfortable with their weight. Every. Last. One. No matter if they are healthy, athletic girls, average or curvy girls, slender…
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The Protective Factor of Diagnosis and Three Ways to Help a Person with FASD Now
When it comes to children and any form of disability early diagnosis and intervention is often key to success. Why is that? Because having a way to frame a child’s behaviour can make all the difference in the world to how you approach that child as a parent, as a therapist, a doctor, or a school. If you try to teach a fish to walk you end up frustrated, but worse than that you end up making the fish feel stupid. Proper diagnosis of FASD is critical to success. So why do we have such difficulty diagnosing and treating children and youth with FASD? And what is it? FASD, or fetal…
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How to Write an All About Me Booklet for Your Special Needs Child
This All About Me Special Needs Book is one of my favourite tools for my daughter. I’ve had one for Ainsley for several years now and it is always well received by teachers, coaches and others who work with her regularly. These All About Me Special Needs Booklets work well when your child is young and unable to tell people what he or she needs. We used them often for Ainsley, especially at camp. The idea is that you can use them as a tool for helpers, teachers or support staff when dealing with a child who has medical needs or disability of any sort. I’ve been promising my readers…
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National Adoption Month – and I See Me Books Giveaway
This I See Me Books Giveaway contains affiliate links as a service to readers. November is National Adoption Month, so I wanted to feature some adoption friendly merchants and brands here. Look for more this coming month. I found I See Me quite by happenstance. National Adoption Month and Merchandise I See Me has an incredible array of personalized products that you can order for your child. That’s pretty fun and unique, but what really got me excited was the Adoption section on their web site. It’s not overtly specific to adoption only. But it is applicable to adoptive families, which is unique. Why Does Adoption Friendly Matter? Frankly too…
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Why I am Relieved: On Autism, #Special Needs and Hate
Sometimes I wonder how does hate help anyone? It is a horrible vile and debilitating feeling to carry around as a human being. And it doesn’t help anyone in a minority community, not that hateful people consider that. How is hate allowed to fester? Of that, I have no clue, but it is in fact more prevalent in neighbourhoods and institutions than you’d ever believe. This week we saw that with this horrendous letter that circulated on the news and on line. My daughter last year. Sometimes this is what special needs looks like. By now you have all heard of the horrid hateful letter sent from a neighbour to an…
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Five Things I Know About Adoption – Adoption Facts
Without a doubt adoptive parenting is the hardest thing you will ever do. But it can also be the most rewarding. For us, adoption was the only way we were going to become a family. It is the greatest gift we ever received and we are always grateful. However, adoptive parenting is not the same as traditional parenting. From the start this journey is harder. You will go through all sorts of grief and loss just to get here often. And then it will be intrusive. It will be hard and also very worth it. But you might question that often. In the interest of helping somebody else maintain sanity…
