Our teens are suffering. As a parent, it is heartbreaking to watch our (bigger) babies hurt so badly. In addition to normal teen angst, teens are grieving the loss of many in-person milestones that the pandemic made difficult, such as graduations, dances, proms, field trips, athletic games and tournaments, school plays and theater, and the… Continue reading Teenage Depression: What to Look For

As parents, we bear the brunt of childcare, home management, event planning, and social coordinating, often while holding full-time jobs. Although we may have friends and family who support and help tend to the many moving parts of our daily lives, the mental checklists and the energy that we invest in maintaining inventory of household items, coordinating… Continue reading Preventing Parent Burnout

In any job there are certain tricks of the trade. When you work in IT like my spouse, you learn to think in code. When you teach high school English like I did, you learn a different kind of code – how to interpret silence and which body language translates to “I am texting under… Continue reading Why New People in Your Child’s Life are Hard (But Also Necessary)

There is a concept in trauma therapy often referred to as a “glimmer.” Most people are familiar with the idea of triggers – certain people, places, incidents, sensory stimuli – that cause your nervous system to go on high alert. Your body becomes aware of a potential danger nearby and then floods your system with… Continue reading How Finding the Glimmers Helps Heal Trauma

For Children with Special Needs, Telehealth Visits Are Here to Stay My son Charlie was born with a rare genetic condition which increases his chances of developing certain cancers in the kidneys and liver. For the early years of his life, he was required to get ultrasounds every three months and blood draws every six… Continue reading Telehealth Visits Are Here to Stay

Let’s Hope Pottery Barn’s New Accessible Line is a Trend that Becomes the Norm I thought I knew what it meant to make my home accessibility-friendly by the time my son Charlie received his first wheelchair. We ripped up carpet and replaced it with durable wood floors. We installed a lift in our garage. We… Continue reading Pottery Barn’s New Accessible Line

My Teen with Special Needs/Disability is Interested in Dating Teens are teens, regardless of special needs/disability or not. Puberty hits, sparks start flying and we, as parents, have no idea how to handle this new phase in your adolescent’s life.  Within the special needs community, there is controversy as to whether dating is a good… Continue reading Teen Dating for Adolescents with Disabilities

What a Difference a Decade Makes Ten years ago, our new family of three went on our first beach vacation. Like most Tennesseans, we hit I-65 and headed south and did not stop until we hit the ocean somewhere along the Florida coast. But unlike most Tennesseans, we had a seven-month-old son, Charlie, who was… Continue reading The Difference a Decade Makes

Over the years, I’ve worked with many parents who have children with meltdowns or behaviors that are overwhelming and constant. Parents often come to me with the question of, “How can I change my child?” My answer is usually not that gratifying in that my approach is to focus on what the child needs and… Continue reading Emotions and Parenting: Why Do My Children Trigger Me?

Celebrating Milestone Birthdays with My Special Kid By Jamie Sumner I threw the biggest birthday party you can imagine the year my son Charlie turned one. “Party” is too small a word. It was a bash, a gala, a festival, a jubilee! It was all of this in the most literal sense – an extra,… Continue reading Celebrating Milestone Birthdays with My Special Kid