Life On The Spectrum

Chrissy Kelly Special Needs

Change takes time to feel like a new normal. I always feel like I just got here though. No matter what “here” I'm talking about.

The Organ That Matters Most

Kristina Dooley Special Needs

While I might secretly wish that Isabella understood how different her life would be without T1D, it’s days like this that I’m reminded that she is not defined by this disease.

This Day DID Come…

Maria Jordan MacKeigan Special Needs

I wish you understanding, true love, happiness and most of all the gift of knowing and loving an angel here on earth with Down Syndrome.

He Doesn’t Have A Choice

Maggie Jones Special Needs

You see, a 4 year old doesn’t understand that without insulin, you die. A 4 year old doesn’t understand words like “incurable” or “chronic”—but they do understand that needles hurt and finger pokes sting.

We’ll Keep Dancing

Erin Duffy Special Needs

In doing our laundry and cooking our meals and taking care of our children, they were putting themselves on the road with us. We didn’t have to face the task of getting our family through this crisis alone.

An Unexpected Path: Hears to Ears

Daria Mochan Special Needs

First of all I just want to say that I am very thankful for ears.  And, I suppose just like other important body parts, I had just taken normal hearing and ear structure for granted.
When Gia was born, her left ear was deformed.  I figured that if it looked malformed on the outside, that something might be wrong on the inside.  I pestered the NICU staff about when the hearing screening would take place and I was not surprised when she failed.   They told me that it was not uncommon to fail the screening because it was a generalized test and the NICU was a noisy place.  But when she had her first sedated hearing test with the audiologist, her hearing impairment was confirmed.  Since then she’s had several more sedated hearing tests, wears bilateral hearing aids and we see the audiologists monthly.