In the center of New York Harbor on Ellis and Liberty Islands stands a lady, and her name is the Statue of Liberty: Lady with a Lamp. There are many stories surrounding those who have seen her and this could have been one of them. In the Communist country of Poland there lived a little Jewish girl named Sarah and her family. The year was 1946. World War II had recently ended and Poland was still suffering from the affects of war as well as the loss of their freedom to Communist domination. Sara

We were all introduced to our five senses — touch, taste, hearing, smell and sight — possibly as far back as preschool. However, did you know we do NOT have FIVE senses…we actually have EIGHT!

Contentment has been hailed as a virtue for many centuries as well it should; for, it IS a virtue to be pursued and obtained. The course of human history is riddled with examples of where discontentment can lead — greed, covetousness, anger, disappointment, feelings of futility, the list goes on. These have all, at one time or another, been the foundation of wars, of divorces, of suicides, of hopelessness. Thus, as one can see, contentment is a far better road than its counterpart. It is at this

It had only been eight months since I thought I married my “Prince Charming.” He was smiling, and his words were enticing. But, underneath the charismatic exterior, there was something evil lurking deep within him. Eight months after our wedding, I began to discover what that evil was — rage! We had had a small spat. On the surface it was nothing that anyone, even I, really considered extreme or significant; however, it triggered the evil within my first husband. It was then, in February 1992, t

Self-regulation is a person’s ability to adjust to environmental stimuli such as tactile, auditory, visual and oral input in a way that integrates them into their surroundings fostering productive interaction with the people and things in it. For most of us, this process is rather seamless. We enter a venue, public or private, and our brain assimilates us into the surroundings with such speedy accuracy that we do not realize the complex neural process it takes for us to be able to interact with

Meltdowns and other aggressive behaviors are expected when a child is under the age of three; however, as parents of toddlers and preschoolers, we are still faced with teaching and training our little ones that such behaviors are unacceptable.  When our son Andy (now 7) was two-and-a-half, we were faced not only faced with the usual challenges of parenting a toddler through the “terrible 2’s” but also the challenges of knowing how to discipline Andy in a way that he would understand so that what

In the eyes of many young people, the highlight of October is Halloween — the night where they get to dress up, knock on neighbor’s doors, and get a bunch of candy, happily generating a dental bill for mom and dad. Around our house being a Christian family, we are rather conservative about Halloween. We allow our children to dress up, though not in anything too scary. We knock on a few doors; and, this year, we may attend a fall festival or two held by local churches. To top off our Halloween fe

Visual schedules for children with autism can take many forms.  They can give an overall view of the whole day or just certain segments of the day such as the school portion of the day or the morning and/or evening routines.  They can also be instrumental in teaching the more abstract concepts of time such as now, next and later.  They can also be used as vocabulary building tools as the pictures used in visual schedules also have the text representation of the action on them.  They also come in

Perhaps the most frustrating hurdle that autism causes is the delay in the development of expressive language.  Your child’s inability to communicate basic wants, needs and emotions can cause myriad complications ranging from deep frustration to more aggressive behaviors such as self-harming behaviors and/or harming others.  At the same time, finding the proper tools to encourage effective communication in your child with autism can be equally as daunting and frustrating.

When I was a preteen (more than 30 years ago), the school I was attending at the time was located near a school for “special kids”; at least, that is how it was explained to me when I asked questions about them after noticing that they were different than the children who went to school with me. These “special” students would eat in the cafeteria of my school the same time I did; but, they were never allowed to mingle with us. Over time, I learned that most of these students had Down Syndrome. S