eSpecially Ben

Ryan took this photo while visiting Linville Caverns in the mountains of North Carolina. See other photos at www.5minutesforspecialneeds.com

This summer has taken some getting used to - I think I may have mentioned it here a time or two. In an effort  to create some sort of a schedule, we started renting Red Box Family Movies every day. Tonight the boys are watching Free Willy while eating popcorn. Last night it was Beverly Hills Chihuahuas . It has been a relaxing way to end the day and spend time with each other. Another mom blogger recently wrote about how summer is a stressful time for parents with children with special needs. She mentioned how most other families lavish the thought of days filled with no schedules. For parents with children with special needs, it can be a challenging time. We are fortunate to have a therapeutic recreation division within our county parks and recreation department. They coordinate an eight week camp for children with special needs. The schedule includes weekly swim sessions, field trips, music therapy and gymnastics time. The ratio for the camps with smaller children is almost 2

 Logan, our 5 year old son, designed this vase to give to his teacher on the last day of school. He used markers to decorate the glass, a bow to tie around the top and added small pictures inside instead of flowers.

Since March 2009, I have been taking 1/2 of a Benadryl pill every night before bedtime. It all started that winter when we were horribly sick with colds, bronchitis and ear aches for months on end. Someone was always up at night. I got in the habit of waking at 3am whether someone needed me or not. I need sleep every night, at least 8 hours worth. I did one all-nighter in college using No-Doz and that was it for me - never again. If I did not get the studying done at a decent hour, well then it was not going to happen. Anyway, I began taking the Benadryl every night. I did not need it to fall asleep because I am usually zonked by the time I get to bed, but I did need it to stay sleeping. Well, March 2009 turned into March 2010. I thought about stopping, but the fear of not getting a good night sleep would take over and I would pop a half a pill, which is 1/4 of a full dose. My chest would tighten when the thought of trying to go to bed without one entered my mind. A mild form of p

These last weeks have been harried - and with school out and camp in - posting to this blog has been tough to do. However, I did get some posts out last week - one of my favorites being about Ben petting the goat at an ecology center. I wrote about what a great job he did using gentle touch. You can call it Perspective, Irony or just Life - but the day the post came out, I got a call from the camp director letting me know that Ben had bitten another child. The child was fine, Ben was given timeout. The incident was handled well by the camp staff. But, I guess we have some more work to do.

Three months ago when the word "seizure" entered our everyday vocabulary, I knew little about the term. I cannot say that I understand too much more now - there are so many different types. Most everyone thinks about the " grand mal seizures " that come with convulsions, biting the tongue and horrendous side effects. Ben's seizures are commonly known as " silent seizures " or Absence Seizures . Just falling forward marks a seizure for Ben. For Ben, if I understand the information from the neurologist, we need to manage his seizures. This involves finding the correct medication at the right dosage without too many side effects that prevents the seizures from happening. I am not sure how long it should take to figure this all out, but Ben is still having seizures at home and at camp, during therapy or while sitting at home. He has had multiple bumps to the head and just this week, a bad skin scrape after a face plant to the concrete. The doctor is re

Ben has been a very happy camper since school's been out! See other photos at www.5minutesforspecialneeds.com