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October 1, 2015
My essay analogy about life as a parent with a child with a disability being like trying to swim in a pool has been picked up by BLOOM, online magazine for Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital. http://bloom-parentingkidswithdisabilities.blogspot.ca/2015/09/its-hard-to-tell-when-special-needs.html There are some paragraphs in this version that weren’t in the earlier version. Tina
November 18, 2015
We adopted our first child when I was 28 years old. My plan had been to have at least one kid by the age of 25. We struggled with infertility and since I wasn’t having babies I instead focused on my career in early intervention. I worked my way up to my dream job and the same week I found out I got the job we also found out we were adopting a little boy. A little boy with big blue eyes and an endearing smile. Also a little boy that NEVER stopped moving and was constantly getting himself into trouble. I didn’t know it was going to be so exhausting day in and day out. It wouldn’t have been […]
December 2, 2015
I’m super excited that another of my writing pieces has been picked up by The Mighty You can read it here This just proves if you keep putting yourself out there you will finally experience success (I had submitted 3 times with 3 rejections before they agreed to publish this last piece). Have a great day! Tina
December 24, 2015
It’s almost Christmas Eve and the presents are all wrapped and under the tree. But I find myself at a loss as to what to get for you. A new purse, a book, a gift card – perhaps. Or what about this: When I look back on my childhood I often think of the difficult times like when your migraines were bad, or that time you got called for jury duty and the time the one side of your body was partially paralyzed and they thought you had Multiple Sclerosis. I think about how even good events, were often so difficult for you. There were things that could throw you into a fit – the wrong creamer for your coffee, […]
March 26, 2016
I have always believed in inclusion. Long before I had my own children I worked with children with disabilities and I helped those families to advocate to have their child included. When I would meet a parent or professional that didn’t believe in inclusion I would be aghast. Doesn’t everyone want to be included, to join in, to belong? Even before I had kids I joined a local grassroots not for profit that was all about inclusion. Then came my own kids each with their own challenges. We chose our local Catholic board as they believe in inclusion unlike the public board (their idea of inclusion was to let some kids join their grade for gym or art and spend […]
April 18, 2016
The first three and a half years of my son’s life was utter turmoil. Then we adopted him and gave him a stable home and the next seven years were spent going from doctor to doctor; professional to professional. Along the way we gathered diagnosis – Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD); Tourette Syndrome (TS); Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD); Intermittent Explosive Disorder; Sensory Integration Disorder (SID); Learning disabilities (LD) and held them tight as we researched them and received varied amounts of treatment for each. However, even after all of these diagnoses, it still felt like we had missed something. I tried to talk myself out of it – telling myself “enough is enough, now you are just trying to make […]