Mornings at my house are rather chaotic. So I thought I would post an opening for a “Mom” to replace me so that I can sleep in one weekday. If anyone is interested in this position, contact me at your earliest convenience. Job Position: Substitute MOM (Well, at least for one morning.) Date Available: Immediately Job Description: Start rousing six of your seven children at 6:50 a.m. Dispense medication. Get into a discussion with your ten-year-old about why orange doesn’t match with purple, and how there’s a big ketchup stain on her shirt and why didn’t she put those clothes … Continue reading →

Children with special needs, and especially those with behavior problems, can get easily overwhelmed. As your child becomes more verbal and enters pre-adolescence, you’ll likely face numerous meltdowns and family fights. If you’re not careful, you might find yourself swept into the battle and getting as frenzied as your child. Soon everybody is yelling, crying, or complaining. Before things escalate out of control, step in and call for a family “chill out.” Here’s how it works: Mom or Dad calls a “chill-out.” Everybody has to stop talking, or making any vocalizations, for ten minutes. Whatever the current problem is, put … Continue reading →

Last night my sixteen-year-old son Garrett was talking about his biology class. Apparently they had viewed the movie “Gattaca” and then went on to discuss genetic engineering. His teacher suggested that within fifty years we will have the ability to make genetic corrections to a developing embryo in the womb. She suggested that we could then correct conditions such as Down Syndrome by genetically repairing the twenty-first chromosome before it replicated itself erroneously. This got us talking about whether or not such a thing was ethical, and whether we should do it at all. Garrett asked me whether, knowing what … Continue reading →

Yesterday I was sitting in the Children’s Hospital waiting room while my son had some lab work done. As I watched the clock (along with some obnoxious kids program on TV), a family entered the room. They could have been any family in the United States. There was nothing terribly unusual about them–a balding bespectacled father, a slightly heavyset mom, a teenage daughter with an Ipod hanging around her neck, and a red-headed, freckled son who looked like a young Ron Howard. They were the kind of family you might picture living next door, or appearing on a sit com. … Continue reading →

The following is a story Randy started writing in Microsoft Word. It was only a few weeks after the boys came to live with us. The moonwalk is actually a trampoline. The dog was sixteen years old and has since died of old age and the boys now have a younger, friskier, bigger dog that loves kids and we have added one cat to the collection. Other than that, I think it is still a pretty accurate account. LIVING THE GOOD LIFE BY RANDY Hello it was hard getting here. I was not doing well before and so we came … Continue reading →

I am sure when people look at children with disabilities some have pity for them. I however have not and will never pity my Mia. Mia is so much more than her disability. This is my tribute to her and all the things she does to melt my heart, and why I love her more and more each and every day. 1. When she wakes up and says, “I hungwey.” 2. When as soon as she is dressed she HAS to put on socks and shoes, even in the house. 3. How when she runs out of juice in her … Continue reading →

As a parent with a special needs child you all, I am sure, have at least one family member or close friend that thinks you should baby your child. I know I have come across this in my short time, as a special needs parent. My family wants to feed her and not let her walk freely, but carry her everywhere. It can be very frustrating when we, as parents, are trying to teach our child independence but as soon as they are around grandpa they revert back to an infant. Here is an example; when we first got Mia … Continue reading →