For the first discussion, I’d like to ask that everyone simply introduce themselves, and tell us about your family – both your child/ren with special needs and everyone else! Feel free to give any info that you think will help us get to know your family.
I’ll start :O)
I’m Mrs. B. I’m married with 3 kids. My oldest is a 17 year old young man, then my 12 year old son, and finally my 10 year old daughter. My middle child was originally diagnosed at 3 as having PDD-NOS, but his diagnosis was later changed to “mild autism”. He is mainstreamed into the public middle school and is going into 7th grade. He is currently dealing with some issues of depression and anxiety. 6th grade was really hard on him. At the same time that he really came to the self realization that he is “different”, he started being bullied by a former neighborhood friend (an older kid who was well aware of my son’s issues, as were his parents). It even escalated to my son being physically assaulted on the school bus (but that’s a story for another day).
I don’t blog much about the big issues with my son. This is a combination of not wanting the “powers that be” to get too much personal info about what is going on if they stumble across this blog, mixed with wanting to protect his privacy to some extent, and topped off with a dollop of this blog being a place for me to escape from the everyday drama and issues that can be a part of raising a child with special needs (or really any child, lol!).
Ooo I love this idea. I'm Indi, a pagan mother of 2 little boys. Bear is my older son at 4 and a half and Bolt is 2 and a half. We are currently in the process of moving from East Coast to West Coast for my job and to be closer to family. About the biggest pagan-y issues I've had with my kids is the complete and total lack of secular preschools in my current area. I'd love to get involved with a Pagan Sunday School program for them as well.
I am at work and will post later but wanted to tell you…RIGHT ON!! Great Idea!
Hi Mrs. B. I'm E – I am a special needs teacher and work in day treatment for kids with severe emotional and behavior disorders. Right now I teach elementary grades, but I have taught this population from K-12 over the past decade. I am a single parent. I have one thirteen year old son who has various mental health concerns ranging from anxiety and depression to severe mood fluctuations (on top of the hormones…) Anyway, I am familiar with both sides of the IEP meeting table, so hopefully I can add to your discussion!
Hi there. I'm apryl, a caustically charming divorced mom of two…an 8 year old girl and a 11 year old son who is diagnosed as "high functioning autistic / aspergers". he's a fabulous child who is completely caught up in fantasy and only talks about his current "fixation"he is entering the 5th grade / middle school this fall and i am terrified but hopeful because he made his first friend this year. i'm very involved and i am determined that he will aquire the tools he needs to be independent and as happy as possible….but that being said… my 8 year old daughter has an entire set of needs of her very own…she is constantly caught between her peers and her brother's inability to interact at their level. i try my best to not put him on her shoulders but i do expect her to stand up for him or atleast remove him from the situation. to make up for this i spend as much time as possible having girl time with her alone…it doesn't seem to be enough though. there are a lot of tears and a lot of resentment..and lot of…"but he's supposed to be the big brother." he is a screamer and a cryer and often makes scenes…which no almost pre-teen girl wants to be associated with. when these meltdowns happen in public she gets embarassed and / or annoyed. when i try to talk to her about it she cries that it's hard to be his sister. i'm at a loss…any suggestions
Hi Again! Let see, I am going to be 46 here shortly and a mother of now…3… since my step daughter moved out the other day and I am not "really" her mom. My oldest (mine biologically) is going to be 20 in December. He has Aspbergers and is middle functioning. LOL My Middle son, 14, is Mentally Retarded, high functioning but sometimes, I do not feel that way!!!! My youngest, is 8 and she is going OK!!! THANK GOD!! I am married to a wonderful man, have a full time job in health care, am an artists and now completing my degree in social services!!RIGHT NOW…we are taking the district to a hearing because they want to remove our 14 from his placement in a special school to public school…that kicked him out TWICE!! GO figure!! BUT, he is doing so well in this school. My 20 year old is going to complete is final year of highschool for the third time in teh fall!! Right now, he is home and he does NOTHING all day. We are worried about his health, both mentally and physically. He is stubborn and hard to manage of starting tasks and completing them. I have worked really hard throughout the past year to get him past the violence, but just last week he had a physical fit in the car like the old days. It is scarey to think that after all we been through and where we are now, that those behaviors lay right under the surface!!
Just wanted to say hello and welcome to everyone! I hope everyone will stop in here often and offer each other an ear and any advice or encouragement that they might have to offer!I look forward to chatting with all of you!
What a great idea! I'm Sarah, pagan mother of 3. My oldest is an 11 year old boy and neurotypical.My middler is 4 and has been diagnosed with mild autism and RSS (Russell Silver Syndrome). We tried developmental preschool with her but she reacted poorly. We're waiting for an appointment with a developmental ped for advice on how to handle it…And my baby is 3. She is an enigma of sorts. She has CF but tests out odd for it. She has trunkal hypotonia, and her left side is notably weaker than her right (and her left leg is smaller), along with a severe case of tibial torsion that is not self-correcting yet. Because of her hypotonia she also has dysphagia. On top of all of that, she also has anger management issues. Oh, and she's also (because of the hypotonia) a sensory seeker. So, shes an enigma, and a handful
That's me and my kids…
Hello all. I am a Wiccan mom of 2 girls, though I am not raising them in the faith as much as I expose them to it.My oldest is 14 and has been diagnosed with depression for over 2 years (on medication for just over a year). More recently we have added formal diagnoses for ADHD and Oppositional-Defiant disorder.Additionally, she has self-esteem issues that relate to having significantly larger breasts than her peers (JJ/K cup) and acts out via nervous habits (skin picking/hair pulling).She was "classified" at school in time for 8th grade and this is following her into high school. The main thrust of her IEP is that she is allowed "extra time" and has a second teacher in the room.We are hoping that if High School starts off "ok" that we can try and wean her off of the mood-altering medication, though we expect to see her staying on the ADHD medication for the rest of her academic years.Blessings allKelly2witches.com
Hi, I am Renee, a polytheist, and mother of two boys.My eldest — age 7– has severe speech delay. When he was 3 he could only say three words and knew some signs. He was put into a speech therapy preschool where they also addressed his sensory and auditory sensitivity and reluctance to make eye contact.For about 6 months the therapists were thinking he had aspergers, however, with continued therapy most of his "symptoms" have resolved themsevles.At age 5 they tested his vocab at a 12 year olds and we were told that he was in the genius range for that.Last year he was diagnosed with having a tied tongue and had surgery to correct it. Since then we have seen a marked improvement.He's an incredibly intelligent little boy but he's articulation is still well under his age and so he'll continue speech therapy for at least another year.
Hello all, my name is Jen and I am a pagan mother of 2 children with special needs. I also have a husband with SLE (Systemic Lupus). I have my hands FULL!!!! My oldest son, Colin was diagnosed as PDD- NOS but they have recently changed it to Autism. He had issues with aggression but on his current medications is much better. He is almost 13!!!
My youngest is 11. He was originally diagosed with OCD and now they feel he has Asperger's. I rely on my beliefs ALOT. I am very pagan oriented as are my kids. We try to see life as a celebration and deal with the struggles as they happen. We do rituals together. There is not a large pagan community here in Indiana. We have a small group of friends we practice with. The last school we had the kids enrolled in found out we were pagan and we had some issues related to that. It stunk. We were in the country and well, it just sucked. Now, we live in the city and as people find out, it is amazing how any people don't care or are interested. I have done spells for neighbors. It is pretty cool!
Hi Im Willow (many might know me as Tonie or sacredoak).I have 2 kids a 5 year old Girl who thinks if the spot light moves a smidged off of her the world will end.And a 3 soon to be 4 year old son. He was dignosed with autism. They will not be able to do further testing until hes older. At the moment he is in PPC program in public school. He wore those helmets to help reshape his head. But the plates fused too early for it to do much good. They do yearly MRI's to track the growth of his brain functions and try to predict when and if he will have seizures later in life.We also deal with his sensory issues, he is very picky about food and there textures. I have every autism cook book (thanks family!) and even Mrs. Sinfeilds disguising food cook book. He doesn't eat any meats what soever, he wont even touch it. The only why he gets protein is by peanut butter and those pedia sure drinks. He doesn't talk we have integrated pics system as well as sign language into the daily life. He hears fine and you can tell he wants to say words.Being pagan in East Texas has its difficulties, on top of that I run the only Occult metaphysical shop the other closest one is about 200 miles away in Houston where my son gets the best care from the children's hospital. Life has been interesting since we lost our first child. But I wouldn't trade it for anything
Hi Mrs BI'm Jenn and I'm a stay at home mom of 2. Gracie is 2 and Hanna is 9 months. Hanna is blind and has microcephaly.I love the 'discussion" idea, (even tho I'm EXTREMELY late responding tp this one!)
blessings!i'm tisha and a pagan mom to 5 awesome kids.my oldest is turning 21 tomorrow and just left for the weekend.he is responsible and too mature for his years.my 11 year old boy has high functioning autism, adhd and anger issues. he has started getting aggressive as his hormones are coming out. he throws fits, yells, hurts his sisters but still wants to sit on my lap and needs constant affection from me.i am often at a loss with him.my middle child is gifted. that in itself is a whole set of problems. she can't understand why i won't let her do things she intellectually knows. i say she is not emotionally ready. i have to police her reading material, movies and tv, she is only 9.lastly come my twins.they were ttts, very premature and each had pneumonia before a year old.ivy also has lymes.they are both ppd-nos, very delayed, adhd and ivy has spinal biffida aculta.they both need stimuli so twirl, flap and fidget.they have no fear and no sense of personal danger. they need constant watching.they are highly affectionate though.well, there's my story…thanks for listening!
I'm a polytheist mom to a 15 month old former 27-week preemie. Our little acorn has a tracheostomy, g-tube, and is currently on a ventilator, but we're working on weaning him off, 3 hours a day now, and more each week.
Merry Meet all , i am a Pagan Mom to a serverly autistic son ,Geoff is the light of my life , although his autism is very severe and he is non verbal , i cant still see My gift of impathy and sensitivity to the spirit world have definalty been passed down to him . my son is 18 years old and we are on our own ,since his father left .