Big Kid
It Might Be ADHD. Now What??
What to do when you suspect that your child has ADHD. We share our favorite resources and BTDT techniques that have worked with our families.
Big Kid
Learning for Fun (and Not Just Gaming) During Coronavirus
Help! My autistic young teen loves these stay-at-home orders for COVID and just wants to play video games. How do I keep him interested in learning?
Holidays
Message in Teal & Blue Pumpkins (for Halloween Safety & Inclusivity)
On Halloween, pay attention to the Teal pumpkins and Blue candy buckets as they exist to make it a safer and inclusive holiday for kids with food allergies and with autism.
Education
A Commonsense, Non-Scary Guide to Your First IEP Meeting
My young child’s eligibility/IEP determination meeting is coming up soon and I’m nervous they’re going to tell me she’s caught up enough and I’m still concerned. How do I pushback, but nicely?
Toddler
When Your Child Can’t Talk (and You Don’t Know What to Say About That)
How does one handle the unwarranted comments and advice you get about your speech-delayed child? We have experience and thoughts.
Big Kid
Preparing Without Scaring: Before ADHD Testing
A reader wants to know what (and how much) to say before her daughter is evaluated and tested for ADHD. As you might suspect, I have some opinions on this topic.
Education
Pushing Back on a Pushy Therapist
Mom is in a sticky situation with a speech therapist who is insisting that her preschooler needs weekly therapy. But finances are very tight. Is there workaround to propose?
Education
Special Needs Services: Public, Private or Both?
A mom is getting increasingly more special needs diagnoses for her toddler and has been DIYing her therapies so far. She asks about the pros and cons of going through the Early Intervention process.
Health & Safety
Separation Anxiety in Overdrive
A toddler has been experiencing atypical separation anxiety since her first few weeks of life. Her mom is not satisfied with the answers she has received thus far. What should she do now?
Big Kid
Help, My Best Friend’s Kid is Being Mean to My Kid!
A reader asks for help with a tricky situation: a best friend’s child with developmental issues is bullying her own child.
Young Child
The Shoe Tying Battle, Revisited
What to do when your kid knows how to tie his/her shoes but chooses to not retie them. Is it a battle worth fighting or do you let it go?
Big Kid
College Application Time: Should Your Special-Needs Student Disclose?
When it’s time for your special needs child to apply to college, should they disclose? I think you know which side of this debate I’m on.
Big Kid
A Big Transition: Hello, Public High School (Goodbye, Homeschool)
My tips for a mother who is transitioning her high school freshman from homeschooling to public school.
Health & Safety
Speech Delay: To Evaluate or Not To Evaluate
A mom is being told to have her toddler sent to a speech therapist but wants to understand the benefits of doing so first. Amalah has very strong opinions about this.
Big Kid
Senior Year: The Last First Day and The First of Many Lasts
I thought getting my oldest off to college was the hardest transition, but now it’s time for the last everything as her little brother heads into senior year.
Big Kid
When the Parenting Formula Fails to Solve For X
We talk about cranky babies and unwieldy toddlers; why don’t we talk more about struggling teens? We fear judgment, but that’s just got to stop.
Resources
Muscular Dystrophy Association Summer Camp and How to Live Unlimited
The kids are kept super busy at the MDA camps, many getting to do things they never thought they could do. And they’re not embarrassed if they don’t do it well, either, because it’s all in the trying, not in the results.
Big Kid
The Good, the Bad, and the Dorm
I’ve been focusing so much energy on getting ready to let go of my college freshman, I forgot I was going to have to do a trial run with her brother, first.
Toddler
Timeouts, Triggers & Toddler Tantrums
A toddler has a hard time calming down and recovering from tantrums when asked to follow simple safety requests, rules and consequences.
Big Kid
Drive, Baby, Drive: Time for my Youngest to Step on the Gas
As we ever-so-gently force my youngest to get behind the wheel, he’s learning he’s more capable than he thought, and I’m delighting in watching him do so.