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My Daughter Has FASD – My CBC Parents Post
My youngest daughter has FASD. I have occasionally written a bit about that here, but I am adding a bit more content about this invisible disability and publishing in major national outlets to grow awareness. My CBC Parents Content Over the last two years I have been writing a lot of consistent content on CBC Parents. I am happy to be able to reach a wider audience and frankly freelance, of course, is where I began years ago when I started writing. A few of my posts have centred on our journey parenting kids with special needs, or mental health issues and disabilities. For whatever reason, that content resonates with…
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We Don’t Get That – Friendships and FASD (Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder)
“You know how everyone else has a best friend when they are small and they kind of grow up with them? Well, it’s like we don’t get that.” – my daughter, 15, who has FASD. Recently we found a peer support group for my younger daughter. This has been a long time coming. In fact, I’ve basically been looking since she was old enough to have been diagnosed with FASD (fetal alcohol spectrum disorder) at 4 or 5. For years, we had nothing. No support. No local FASD parenting group. I mean, I had a loose group of online advocates and we connected on Facebook and Facebook Messenger occasionally when…
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Courage and Parenting a Child with FASD
I wrote this in May when we had a not so great month here at school and home due to FASD and explosive behaviour. Sometimes I day dream about where I could go if I just left. Maybe for the day, maybe longer. Sometimes I contemplate never returning. Yesterday was one of those days. I love my kids, my family, my husband. But some days the scale tips. This past May was a month of this. When the Scale Tips – How it Feels Parenting a Child with FASD. Do you ever have those days where the scale tips? Where how much I hate living with FASD (fetal alcohol spectrum…
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Comfort Objects for Tiny Special Needs Travellers
Comfort objects are important to many kids. When you travel with a child who has special needs they can make all the difference to the transition process. We began travelling intentionally as a family when my youngest was about five. Why did it take us that long? Well, we were afraid to travel because my younger daughter has special needs. We thought it would be challenging, and it totally is. BUT, it is also abundantly worth it, and then some. Watching my daughter make friends with children from all over the world, getting her hair braided in Haiti, racing down waterslides with her at Atlantis and hearing her talk about…
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What Does FASD Look Like?
What does FASD look like? This is one of the most searched phrases that lands people here on my site. So, I figured it was time to share a few facts. Some of you know that we adopted both of our daughters when they were small. Both of my kids have unique needs. My youngest girl has sensory processing disorder and Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder. My oldest has anxiety disorder. I have a lot of experience as a parent of a child on the spectrum. Over the years I have also attended numerous conferences to gather information about how to parent a child with alcohol related neurological damage. Once upon a…
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Getting Pregnant – 5 Things to Do for You and Your Baby
If getting pregnant is something you’re thinking about, there are a few things you should do to ensure that when you become pregnant, both you and the baby can be as healthy and as happy as possible. Getting pregnant is about more than just conceiving. It’s also about preparing for what comes next. So do what you can to get your body and mind ready for the coming nine months and beyond. Getting Pregnant Prep Getting pregnant should be approached with a clear idea of what you’re getting yourself into. Pregnancy is nine months of being uncomfortable. It’s also nine months of monitoring everything you take into your body – longer…
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YOU NEED this – Caregiver Kick Start #specialneeds
There is nothing quite like attending a conference or a workshop and leaving feeling energized, validated and understood. You know that feeling, right? It’s like a giant sigh of relief and a reminder that this unique parenting is doable. But, then you leave that space and you return to your home. Maybe you maintain that zen approach for 3 days, or a week at most and something happens and you slide right back into that overwhelmed, exhausted state you were in before. How can you get back to that space where you are in control of your feelings and reactions? I have the answer: Caregiver Kick Start! A couple of…
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5 Brain Facts You Might Not Know #YOTB
5 Brain Facts You Might not Know Did you know the human brain is still largely not understood? Scientists know the basics of how it works and what the different lobes do, but that knowledge is a drop in the bucket compared to the ocean of what they don’t know. Did you know it’s the Year of the Brain? The brain is a fascinating topic matter and a new frontier where scientists and systems need to concentrate more research and health policy initiatives in future. From FASD (fetal alcohol spectrum disorder to autism to Alzheimer’s Disease, Parkinson’s, Huntington’s and acquired brain injury, there are dozens of brain based neurological disorders…
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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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What Pride Looks Like: On Report Cards, Respect and #specialneeds
Think they don’t care much about what is written on report cards? Think that little people are oblivious to how the teacher sees them and feels about them? Words matter, and never more so than when someone is assessing a child with special needs after a year of school. This is our first experience with a really accepting and lovely teacher who clearly understood and liked my youngest daughter. I am driving both my kids to Build-A-Bear to celebrate their last day of school when the little one cracks open her report card and starts reading it word for word. This, in itself, is a major accomplishment. She is not…
