“After a hard days work, you don’t want to come home and be the therapist.” This statement was made by the father of an Autistic boy after a new therapy office specific to helping children with Autism opened up in our semi-small town. This dad wanted the work to be done by therapists, but he…
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making Halloween happier (adoption & foster care)
How do we stay sane during Halloween? It can be hard, even with kids who don’t have sensory issues, or attachment issues. The first goal is to make it fun for your child. For children with attachment issues, I don’t agree with the approach of removing everything fun in their life. If there’s no fun,…
Read Morebe big picture positive
We went to the pumpkin patch on Saturday, and we all had a good time! It’s not too often that family fun outings go really well. Last year we attempted the pumpkin patch and were disappointed when our trampoline LOVING son decided he hated the big orange bouncy thingy. Right, that was a shocker. To…
Read Moreputting the HOPE in HOPEless (adoption/foster)
You may wonder why I write this blog, why you should listen to yet another person who thinks they have an answer to helping hurting, traumatized kids. Why am I here? Because of what my daughter has come through, the great progress she has made. I try not to flag my faith here. My faith…
Read Morewhat invisible illnesses taught me about humanity
My home is filled with invisible disorders and health issues. Autism, depression, mood disorder, PTSD, Oppositional Defiance Disorder, Attachment Disorder, Sensory Processing Disorder. I guess some could argue that many of these aren’t invisible, yet most don’t realize what happens inside our home, which might be a good thing. I call them “invisible” because no…
Read Moredevelopment stage or attachment issues? (adoption/foster)
“My child is five and she lies a lot, is this a developmental stage, because I know some kids lie, or is it an attachment issue?” Questions like this come up often in the foster and adoption community. No matter the age of their child, parents wonder whether a behavior (usually one they don’t particularly…
Read Morewhen your adopted child doesn’t fit seamlessly into your life, what will you do? (adoption/foster)
To this day Dimitri’s bones ache when the winter cold settles in. As that chill cloaks him, memories of a frozen Uzbekistan scene play through his mind like a horror film. His father laying on the concrete floor of an abandoned building, drunk, and nearly dead. He’d wrapped a thread bare blanket around his sister,…
Read Morejust deal with it (feelings: part 4) – (adoption/foster)
Were you raised by a parent who told you to “just deal with it?” Were you taught to ignore your feelings or that they weren’t important? If we tell our hurting children to just deal with it without giving them a listening ear, and tools for how to handle their feelings, it won’t help your child…
Read Morebe available (feelings: part 3) – (adoption)
In part two of this series, I talked about labeling your child’s feelings so they can begin to put together what’s happening inside them, both physical feelings: hunger and sickness; and the feelings such as jealousy and disappointment. Today we are taking the next step, which is talking about those feelings. We can’t define a feeling…
Read Moreemotional balance begins with us (feelings: part 1) – (adoption/foster)
Some of you see the title of this post and scoff, “Well, that’s never going to happen, I guess there’s no hope for me.” Others see it and say, “Of course, that’s why I’m so calm.” And yet others fall in the middle, and I am one of them, or I hope I am. I…
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lovin' adoptin' & autism 