Parenting articles

1

Service Dogs Prove to Be Boon for Children with Autism

Service Dogs Prove to Be Boon for Children with Autism

LIVING WITH A DISABILITY BY JERRY LEVINSON When Guiding Eyes for the Blind realized that some of its trained dogs lacked the self-assurance to be guide dogs, it discovered that the animals could be retrained to help children with autism. Under the Americans with Disabilities Act, a service dog is any guide dog, signal dog,

121

Having the Conversation with Your Seriously Ill Child

BY LAUREN AGORATUS, M.A. Pediatric Starter Kit In the interest of full disclosure, I have a daughter with multiple life-threatening conditions who “coded” and had to be resuscitated on several occasions. So reviewing the Pediatric Starter Kit, which was designed by The Conversation Project to help parents of seriously ill children who want guidance about “having the conversation” with their children, was

100

Free

BY KIMBERLEE RUTAN McCAFFERTY  This past summer my family and I spent a day at Great Adventure. It’s the only place Justin, my severely autistic son, willingly stays for more than an hour (I have often joked with my husband that wherever we live has to be within a 30 minute radius of a Six Flags parks.) It’s usually

111

Putting the pieces together

BOOK EXCERPT The Spiritual Art of Raising Children With Disabilities I began thinking of the way mosaics are fashioned from broken shards of pottery and pieces of splintered glass… Think about the way our lives are shattered with that first diagnosis. … How we work and work at gathering up the pieces, attempting to rearrange them

124

Cooking up a winner

BY JASON BARON, M.S., Ed. Last semester, VIP’s Social Action group decided that they were going to run a food drive along with preparing a meal for families who stay for extended periods of time at the Ronald McDonald House of Long Island.  At the New York Institute of Technology (NYIT), nestled in Central Islip,

204

Can’t We All Just Get Along?

BY SHELLEY HUHTANEN Let’s start asking the hard questions and make the CDC and the news media bring everyone together, as opposed to creating witch hunts and dividing our parents. Vaccines. Yes, I said that controversial word – the word that can send thousands of parents running to their Facebook pages, screaming to the masses about why their view is the

1

Bullying … What Can Be Done? – Part 3 of 3

ANNUAL EDUCATION ISSUE BY SUZANNE PEARSON Nationwide, more than one quarter of the students in grades 6 through 12 are victims of bullying. News stories about the problem make regular appearances on television and newspaper outlets, sometimes with tragic endings. Bullying has moved from an adolescent rite of passage to a serious obstruction that is

1

Bullying: Prevalence & Resources – Part 2 of 3

ANNUAL EDUCATION ISSUE BY LAUREN AGORATUS In each state there is a Parent Training and Information (PTI) Center which provides technical assistance to families as well as professionals. PTIs provide information about the rights of the students and the responsibilities of the districts. Research shows that children with disabilities are even more likely to be

1

Taking A Small Step Back To Take A Giant Leap Forward – Part 1 of 3

BY WALTER MAYER, L.M.S.W. Proactively emphasizing and teaching positive expectations and values such as respect, acceptance, empathy, positivity, cooperation and peaceful coexistence can serve to establish a new climate. Lately it seems that, for better or worse, we have all become more aware of ‘bullying’ and its negative impact on children and school culture. Unfortunately,

aloudf

Read Aloud

BY KIMBERLEE RUTAN McCAFFERTY  Justin bursts into the conference room, sees me, and stops dead in his tracks. A huge smile engulfs his entire face, and he quickly resumes the trajectory that will invariably end in a hug and a kiss from me. The rest of his IEP team laughs at his exuberant welcome, and

Top