The Mindstorm

Category: parenting

  • An Open Letter to Judith Warner

    Good Morning: I’m reading your book right now, “We’ve Got Issues“. It was recommended to me by my friends Susan Resko and Nanci Schiman who run the Child and Adolescent Bipolar Foundation (I’m one of the volunteers who helps moderate their twitter account and writes a weekly post for the bpkids.org blog). I’m only about…

  • To IEP or Not to IEP

    We talk quite frequently on the CABF support groups about the difference between an Individual Education Plan (IEP) and a Section 504 designation when it comes to our kids and school. There are differences, and one or the other may be more appropriate for your child, given your child’s individual diagnosis, symptoms, and needs. Since…

  • Teachable Moments

    Someone praised me recently for being so understanding and patient with Tim and all of the symptoms and behavioral issues that go along with a diagnosis like Schizoaffective Disorder. I was not being modest when I replied that I’m anything but. Read the rest at CABF.

  • 16

    Tim turns 16 years old today. There were times when I doubted he’d make it to his 16th. I know, I’m woefully behind on blog posts, and I want to spend some time this weekend writing a new one. But I didn’t want today to pass without a short note to all you other parents…

  • Summertime

    When I was a kid, summer was the time of year I most looked forward to. Does it get any better? No school, lots of daylight, warm weather, and little structure. I ran around like a banshee as a young child, hung out with my friends at the beach or the mall as a tweener,…

  • All Stressed Up…

    I love Paula Deen. It might stem from the years we lived in Georgia and fell in love with Savannah, or the fact that Tom and I love to cook low country comfort food. Paula is a true success story. She arrived in Savannah with two children and a few dollars in her pocket, and…

  • Body and Mind: Taking a Break

    I’ve mentioned in a previous blog post that my son Tim is in long-term residential treatment. He was admitted last August, and right now, his estimated discharge date is sometime during the summer of 2011. It’s incomprehensible to me that he will be gone from our home that long. I can only digest it in…

  • Managing

    Timothy has had rages since he was two years old. I remember the first time I realized he was raging out of frustration or anxiety – he was a tiny little thing, with a head full of brown curls. He didn’t have very much language yet; maybe a word here or there, and he was…

  • If We Knew Then What We Know Now…

    Every once in a while, someone asks me if we knew Tim was going to have a mental illness, would we still have adopted him? It’s an interesting question. Maybe I’m just used to being asked all kinds of questions about my two youngest children, since Tom and I are white, our oldest biological child…

  • A Strange Sigh of Relief

    I remember the day my mom saw Jani Schofield and her parents Michael and Susan on Oprah. Jani is a beautiful young girl who suffers from childhood onset schizophrenia. Mom called me the next day, after watching the show off her DVR. I expected my mom’s tone of voice to be one of sorrow, or…