SpecialParent

This video just came across my Facebook wall. What a perfect feel-good video for what is a rainy afternoon here in NY. If you have 8 minutes to spare, go ahead and watch it. It’s a short video showing Jodi DiPiazza, an adorable 11-year-old girl living with autism who is given the opportunity to perform a [...]

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When my daughter Ava was very young, my wife and I consulted with a Stony Brook Medicine geneticist in an attempt to get a diagnosis and better understand the problems that she was facing. It was a painful and frustrating experience in no small part due to the lack of bedside manners and professionalism of [...]

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When I look at my six year old daughter, Ava, and the path in front of her, I am fearful. I often hear new parents comfort each other by saying, “It gets easier.” In my case, I fear the opposite. I suspect it’s only going to get more difficult and am continuously steeling my nerves [...]

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Few things frighten me more than the image of a child drowning. I am fortunate enough to have a pool in my suburban NY backyard. And though we have a tall pool fence with a strong magnetic lock, I still get nervous….endlessly so. What if my daughter uses a toy or a chair to climb over the [...]

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I love this video! This girl is adorable.  I am impressed when my daughter memorizes Barney dances. Well, she clearly has competition in the form of Clara Bergs, an autistic girl with DiGeorge Syndrome who memorized a complicated ballet dance. As the YouTube page explains, “We knew Clara loved the Coppelia ballet, but little did [...]

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As parents, we know all too well that lack of sleep can lead to a cranky child. However, a new study, published in Pediatrics this month, “found that children with sleep problems through the age of 5 were more likely to require special education by age 8.” Read the whole story at the Huffington Post. Photo Credit: [...]

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Twice, in the last couple of months, there have been high-profile stories of persons with disabilities being denied transplants due to their disabilities. Disability Scoop has an excellent write up covering the story. As they write, “Earlier this year, then-3-year-old Amelia Rivera made national news when her parents said she was denied a kidney transplant [...]

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This just came across my inbox: The New York State Education Department’s P-12: Office of Special Education has scheduled three public hearings to seek public comment on proposed amendment to Part 200 of the Regulations of the Commissioner of Education relating to special education programs and services for students with disabilities. The proposed amendment is necessary to [...]

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Here’s an interesting story that I just stumbled across. To quote the article directly, “An experimental drug that helps people who have Fragile X syndrome is raising hopes of a treatment for autism. The drug, called arbaclofen, made people with Fragile X less likely to avoid social interactions, according to a study in Science Translational Medicine. Researchers suspect it might [...]

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You have enough going on without having your identify stolen or precious files erased. In case you missed it, security researchers have identified a vulnerability in Internet Explorer which could allow a hacker to take control of your PC.  Worse, all you need to do is visit a site that has the malicious code. The bug [...]

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