Monday, July 18, 2011
One mom’s quest to find a diagnosis leads to a crusade to fight labels.
I went searching for a label. I thought that if I could get my son a diagnosis, we could beat it. Unfortunately, naming it didn’t help. Aspergers has no cure. Instead we are faced with years and years of therapeutic treatment and medication to help integrate him into the world. My 9-year-old son is extremely bright and perceptive, but he has trouble reading social cues and playing with friends his own age. If someone keeps checking their watch during a conversation, I know they are looking to go. E would keep talking, not catching the nonverbal hint. Simple things that come so easily to us must be taught to E like a math equation: person + frown = unhappy. In order to keep E social, we have been advised by his therapist to enroll him in …
Monday, July 4, 2011
In order to keep her kids from summertime boredom, this mother made sure to schedule plenty to keep them busy—but is it too much?
“Can I have a friend over today?” C asks, as I pack the swim bag with towels and sunscreen. “Sorry, kiddo,” I say. “We’ve got too much going on this week. Maybe next week.” I pause and think, or maybe the week after that. The fact is, in my effort to assure the boys would be kept busy this summer, I may have overscheduled them just a smidge. There hasn’t been much time for play dates or just simply chilling at the house—but in my defense, I have yet to hear the utterance of two of the whiniest words in kid-dom, “I’m bored!” When I was in elementary school, I waited on the edge of my seat for the final school bell to ring to signal the beginning of summer vacation. The excitement in the classroom was palpable and I’m sure the teacher was as…
Monday, April 18, 2011
You're never given more than you can handle, right?
April is Autism Awareness month. Did you know that approximately 67 million people in the world are affected by autism? If you don’t know someone who is on the autism spectrum, would you even give this fact a second thought? Quite honestly, I’m not sure I would if I didn’t have a son that was diagnosed with Aspergers, an autism spectrum disorder. When E was 2 years old, his daycare contacted us to set up a meeting. We were shocked when the director gently suggested we should have E evaluated for autism. Some of their observations included the way he would not interact with his friends while playing—choosing instead to play alongside them rather than with them. He also had a certain way of lining up the trucks he was playing with. He didn’t…
Saturday, December 18, 2010
Columnist Holly Hunt has the toughest job in the world: Motherhood.
When I was 10 years old, I had a plan for how my life would turn out: I would grow up and marry one of the Duke Brothers from the Dukes of Hazard (Bo or Luke, I wasn't picky). We would have twins: a boy and a girl, of course. We would drive around town in our silver Corvette and live in a dream mansion, not unlike Barbie's, on the beach. Woody Allen once said, "If you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans." Though I didn't marry one of the Duke boys, I did manage to snag me a good ol' farm boy. Our beachside mansion looks more like a cookie-cutter suburban home smack in the middle of America. Our Corvette is suspiciously SUV shaped. While I never had a girl, I was blessed (or cursed, depending on the day) with two rambunctious little…
A. W. Nutter
4:35 am on Tuesday, July 5, 2011
First of all I loved the article. As a parent I believe a cerain amount of planned extracurricular activity is good for the child. How much needs to be determined by the individual parent as each child is different. I do believe children need to be left to their own devices to entertain themselves. If everything is in a structured environment, creativity and imaginations are hampered. Sometimes … more ›