The Exceptional Parent articles from August 2000

The Exceptional Parent archives from August 2000

New Hope Toward Improving Healthcare.(for children with disabilities)
August 1, 2000... In this issue we are introducing three special reports that promise to have a great impact on the dialogue about healthcare practices for children with disabilities. "Parents as Partners in the Medical Home: Helping children with special...

Search & Respond.(Letter to the Editor)
August 1, 2000... S Dependent son with High IQ Our son is 15 and has spastic cerebral palsy. He is completely dependent on others for all of his needs. However, he has a normal IQ and is mainstreamed into regular classes with a full-time aide. He eats a...

Instant S&R.(Letter to the Editor)
August 1, 2000... S Need a beach chair My daughter is 5, and has spastic diplegic cerebral palsy. She walks with a walker or uses a wheelchair for long distances. My family spends a week at the beach each summer, and my daughter's walker will not work on...

Incontinence THE MEDICAL STORY.
August 1, 2000... Among the many challenges faced by people with disabilties, their parents, and families, the problem of urinary incontinence remains a high priority. This is because control of bodily functions is a personal and private concern involving the...

Just Like You.(boy with urologic and kidney disease and his mother write a book about their experience)
August 1, 2000... A mother and son offer support My son Ryan has incontinence caused by a neurogenic bladder, a rare type of nerve damage of the bladder and bowel from spina bifida occulta. He also had an obstructed urinary sphincter muscle, along with...

"Life is so much easier": a family's experience with bladder augmentation.
August 1, 2000... A family's experience with bladder augmentation Lisa Brandenburg, 9, from Frederick, Maryland, underwent bladder augmentation surgery last year. Born with spina bifida, Lisa had a vesicostomy when she was an infant because her bladder was...

Parents As Partners In The Medical Home: Helping Children with Special Healthcare Needs.
August 1, 2000... Helping Children with Special Healthcare Needs "I enjoy being involved in the Medical Home Project because it gives me a chance to share my experience in a positive way with the hopes of making a difference in someone else's life. For the...

GOOAAAAAL! BALL.
August 1, 2000... A unique sport that mixes purpose with fun According to the U.S. Association of Blind Athletes (USABA), an organization whose goal is to promote independence and ability through athletic competition, goalball is an entirely original sport...

A Disabilities Conference for Everyone.(First Annual World Congress & Exposition on Disabilities, November 10-12, 2000, in Atlanta, GA)
August 1, 2000... EP's upcoming conference, the First Annual World Congress & Exposition on Disabilities (November 10-12, 2000) in Atlanta, GA promises to deliver a broad scope of information, strategies, ideas, and information. A range of presenters, such as...

There Is ALWAYS an Alternative.
August 1, 2000... The past decade has seen a rise in treatment approaches that are called "alternative" therapies or medicine. Many of them involve "natural" medicines containing a variety of plant derivatives. There has also been a parallel rebellion against...

Bonfire of Love: how one family, through faith and persistence, found a solution to their son's drooling problem.
August 1, 2000... How one family, through faith and persistence, found a solution to their son's drooling problem. My adorable son Austin, 14, has an unfortunate problem: drooling. This can be a "social bummer" that words cannot begin to express. I do not...

Sending Out a Message of HOPE.(Helping Other People with Epilepsy Mentoring Program)
August 1, 2000... People with epilepsy get support and the benefits of community awareness from The H.O.P.E. Mentoring Program[TM] Nowhere to turn Ann Donnelly, of Florida, had a lot to cope with. Not long after learning her son Sean had cerebral palsy,...

TEENS Care About their Care.(teenagers with disabilities)
August 1, 2000... According to a recent survey, as teenagers with disabilities mature, they become more vocal with their feelings and opinions, saying they want and need a greater voice in their own healthcare. "Adolescents Want Control of Their Healthcare"...

Caring for The Caregiver.
August 1, 2000... Yes, I am a family caregiver Who am I? How do I define myself?. How do you know me? These are heady questions--ones we ask ourselves all of our lives as we try to establish our identities and find a place for ourselves in the world. I...

Pausing to Reflect on The ADA After 10 Years.(Americans with Disabilities Act)
August 1, 2000... Peter Thornburgh suffered a brain injury in 1960, when he was just 4 months old. At that time, our country was not very hospitable to people with disabilities. By the time 2-year-old Kenneth Fine was diagnosed with autism in 1996, much had...

Talk About a Good Time!(the annual Celebrate ... Communicate Day in central Pennsylvania for children with speech impairments)
August 1, 2000... Fun, games, friendships and a little learning are all part of the mix of magic and delight--the main attraction--of the annual Celebrate... Communicate Day (CC Day). Since 1997, children who have speech impairments from 17 school districts in...

STRAIGHT TALK ABOUT PSYCHIATRIC MEDICATIONS FOR KIDS.(Review)
August 1, 2000... STRAIGHT TALK ABOUT PSYCHIATRIC MEDICATIONS FOR KIDS Timothy E. Wilens, MD 1999;The Guilford Press, New York: 279 pages Available through the EP library: (800) 535-1910; code: GL11GN Cost: $15.95 plus shipping and handling Straight Talk...

A Passion for Advocacy.(Jane Browning, executive director of The President's Committee on Mental Retardation)
August 1, 2000... Jane Browning is executive director of The President's Committee on Mental Retardation. Her life experiences have made her an outstanding advocate for all individuals with disabilities. Recently, she reflected on what has influenced the parents...

A Closer Look at ADD/ADHD.(attention deficit disorder, also called attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder)
August 1, 2000... Shawn Shawn, a 6-year-old African-American child, arrives at the behavioral pediatrics clinic of a city hospital with his 55-year-old foster mother, who is a visibly harried African-American woman. The nurse cheerfully greets Shawn, but,...

The President's Committee on Mental Retardation.
August 1, 2000... When John F. Kennedy entered the office of the Presidency, no federal programs existed that addressed the needs and interests of people with mental retardation. Inspired by personal experience (his sister, Rosemary, has mental retardation),...

familiar faces.
August 1, 2000... KYMBERLI Kymberli Bowser, 6, dances the night away with her partner, grandfather Paul Flesch! Kymberli, who has spastic diplegic cerebral palsy, attends Miriam Morris Private School in Hamilton Township, NJ. She likes to play baseball,...

Testing for Disorders at Birth.
August 1, 2000... Newborn screening--testing infants for certain genetic anomalies, inborn errors of metabolism, and other disorders--has been commonplace since the 1960s but has rarely been a topic for public discourse. Within the last year or two, though,...

GLOSSARY.(Glossary)
August 1, 2000... Phenylketonuria (PKU). This metabolic condition results from the lack of an enzyme in the liver that converts phenylalanine to tyrosine. Phenylalanine is one of the essential amino acids found in all protein foods. Incidence is 1:12,000 and...

new products.
August 1, 2000... THE BUCKLE BOSS BELT GUARD[TM] The Buckle Boss is a seat belt lock protector intended for use with children with cognitive or emotional disabilities. The simple device consists of a plastic grill that covers the release button to the...

"Hippie Dippy".
August 1, 2000... Do you know someone with Rett Syndrome? I do--my 5-year-old sister Nikki. (Rett syndrome is a degenerative genetic disorder that is behaviorally similar to autism and leads to physical and mental retardation.) Nikki can walk, but she wears...