Tag Archives: special needs

Actor Speaks Out About Special Son

Actor Colin Farrell is used to the media spotlight. In fact, the movie star use to revel in his reputation for being one of Tinseltown’s hard-core party boys. Which is why when news broke that Farrell had fathered a boy with his ex-girlfriend no one really expected him to cut-back on his nightly appearances at various Hollywood hot spots. After all, he had admitted in more than one interview that it was in his Irish blood to have a good time no matter where he was. That being said many of Farrell’s fans were quite shocked when the actor fell … Continue reading →

FLOOR TIME: Promoting Logical Thinking

This is the fifth and last blog in my 5-part floor time series. (“Floor Time” refers to getting down on the floor with your special needs child, and becoming his or her personal play therapist.) There is so much you can do as a parent to help your special needs child develop communication, motor, and social skills—and you only need to play with your child using a few particular techniques! If you’d like to start at the beginning of my five-part series, click here. At this point in your floor-time sessions, your child should be tolerating your presence, taking turns … Continue reading →

The Ladder of Cognitive Skills for Special Needs Kids

It’s often useful to keep in mind the kinds of skills we should be helping our special kids master as they grow and develop. The following steps are general guidelines you can use as you direct your child through floor time play at home, special education in the classroom, and social interactions with friends and family. As you read the following list, try to determine which steps your child has mastered and which ones need additional focus. Often times the child has a mixture of abilities and challenges on every rung of the ladder. And remember that in order for … Continue reading →

Principles for Talking About Special Needs

One adoption counselor was quoted as saying that all adopted children have special needs. Perhaps she was referring to extra sensitivity to separation or teasing, or to a need to have sensitive explanations of why they may have been placed for adoption or why their family looks different. Adoptive parents become accustomed to talking about differences and difficult situations. Those experiences can help not just adoptive parents, but all parents to discuss important issues with their children. Other parents are far more experienced than I am, of course. But here’s my experience. Some principles I’ve tried to maintain are: –Use … Continue reading →

Talking with Children About Special Needs

Many children who are adopted have some special needs. Children adopted from the foster care system may show emotional and behavioral needs related to neglect or frequent separations (although most of these kids do very well, contrary to the media focus on problems). Children from overseas may have a birth defect which is correctable by relatively routine surgery common in this country but not in theirs, for example a cleft palate or club foot. In some cultures facial differences can make life harder and these children may be more likely to be placed for adoption. Parents may consider a child … Continue reading →

Helping Those With Special Needs

It is important to be considerate of those with special needs in your ward. There are a variety of reasons why the family or member has special needs. It is important to make accommodations as much as you are able. Here are a few examples of special needs that many may not consider. 1) Members with food allergies need special consideration when it comes to church involvement. I know people who cannot eat wheat due to allergies or Celiac disease. If this is the case, the ward may need to provide special bread for the Sacrament. Since this may be … Continue reading →

A Pearl of Great Price

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During the period when we tried to assess Regina’s potential disabilities and decide if we could parent her, we wondered what effect raising a special needs child would have on our family life. Would we have to totally change our lifestyle to accommodate a rigid schedule of appointments and daily care? The image I persistently recall from this time in my life is the biblical parable of the Pearl of Great Price, the pearl of such surpassing value that the merchant was willing to sell all that he had to obtain this pearl. Could I give up my image of … Continue reading →

Letting Go of Control

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Meg’s biological sister’s prognosis now looked much more favorable, but there were still unknowns. I now admit that, while giving lip service to the idea “nobody’s perfect”, I still had in my head the longing for an ideal family. I felt drawn to special needs, but only to those I knew about, such as dyslexia, or could control or fix, like a cleft palate. I used to hear mothers of kids with special needs talk about the gifts the child had brought to the family. I heard them say they wouldn’t want any other child but the one they had, … Continue reading →

Are Asians Misdiagnosed with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder?

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My last seven blogs have told a very personal story, but it may not be as unique as I thought. The very next summer after our Two Months of Hell, a coworker at our church was in tears—her son and daughter, adopting from Korea, had received the referral and photos of a little boy the whole family had fallen in love with—then the doctor made dire predictions about fetal alcohol exposure. “We’re all just crying our eyes out,” the grandmother-to-be said. Later these concerns were proven unfounded. The child was adopted by this family and doing just fine. At least … Continue reading →

Two Months of Hell

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Obviously my stress levels were through the roof at this point. We waited and waited for new photographs of our daughter’s biological sister, hoping they would shed light on the prognosis of damage from prenatal alcohol exposure. My reading about Fetal Alcohol Syndrome and Alcohol Related Neurodevelopmental Disorder stressed that children with this disorder needed highly structured lives and predictable routines. I had to admit that we are just not that kind of family. We do a lot of really interesting things together, but organization and routine are not our strong points, to put it mildly. Still, I had been … Continue reading →