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Jul
14
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 When my son was 3, he had a friend in preschool who had diabetes. One day while at the pharmacy, he saw diabetes supplies displayed under the counter. He announced loudly, “When I get diabebes, I am going to buy those!” Everyone in line thought he was so cute. Over the last 10 years we have laughed fondly at that “kids say the funniest things” moment. We are no longer laughing. Just 6 weeks shy of his 14th birthday, my son was diagnosed with Type I Diabetes.
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Archive for the ‘Other Conditions/Diagnoses’ Category
Blog Posts by Emmie
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Jun
14
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Last week I was sitting in the auditorium of our town’s high school, listening to my son play saxophone in the 5th and 6th grade All City Band Concert. As I was enjoying my “proud mother moment” two things stood out to me: one was how great they all sounded for eleven- and twelve-year-olds. The second was how far we have come as a family in the last three years. About three years ago, my son was diagnosed with an anxiety disorder. When he was diagnosed I finally had the answers I needed as to why there were aggressive outbursts and why he was impulsive in school as well as when we had guests over. We finally knew why daily life with him had become such a battle. With his diagnosis, it was as if I finally had the key to a door that had remained locked within him. At last I was able to communicate with him more effectively as I began to understand more about why he would get so angry. I was able to manage his triggers, but also withdraw from him if that was what he needed. I was starting to see my son return to me. But one thing I failed to do was recognize how having a diagnosis would affect him and how he would feel about himself going forward.
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May
25
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As my son comes into the home stretch as a senior, I am overcome with pride as this chapter of our lives comes to an end and a new one begins. He has become the young man we all knew was buried inside him somewhere. His past school experience had been nothing but negative. He had no friends, his grades were poor, and he had no motivation to attend school. He was depressed, nasty, negative and angry. I could not take him to my friends’ social gatherings and he had no social circle of his own. This was a bright and gifted child, yet very few teachers knew how to reach him. My hopes for him were fading. I was sure he was going to drop out of school without some serious intervention. I pictured delinquency, drugs, worse… The journey to get him into a school more suited to his needs was treacherous, but thankfully he was accepted into a therapeutic day school for eighth grade. | |||
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Feb
25
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What parent hasn’t considered the possibility of postponing or rejecting routine vaccinations out of fear of a link between vaccines and Autism? Over a year ago, and with little fanfare, Dr. Wakefield’s 1998 study indicating a link between the Measels, Mumps and Rubella (MMR) vaccine and Autism was exposed as a fake. Â At that time, medical personnel worried that calling attention to the inaccuracy of the study could lead to a resurgence of vaccination avoidance and stir up the debate again.
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Jan
25
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My child’s behavior issues started at age two. Out in public, he would appear to strangers to be a spoiled, indulged kid. Strangers would glare at my ineffective parenting. I kept quiet and secretly thought about printing up business cards to explain our situation.
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Jan
13
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My husband Jerry and I sat down eagerly to listen to the first lesson in the audio portion of the Total Transformation program. We had already completed the introduction and couldn’t wait to hear the good news: How to stop our son Thomas’ obnoxious, abusive and disrespectful behavior! Thomas is our 11 year old son (from my previous marriage) and he happens to have special needs which include Asperger’s, Oppositional Defiant Disorder, Bipolar Disorder and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. Quite the mouthful and handful!
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Nov
20
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As a parent of a special needs child, one often does not know where to begin. It all can depend on how old the child is when he or she is diagnosed. If a child is age 3 or older, one of the first things a parent should do is to request his or her child to have an individualized education plan (IEP).
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