Though she is present in every essay I write, I have yet to describe my youngest daughter in all of her beautiful, complicated glory. My...

Today's short post is brought to you by RoRo, JJ's nine-year-old sister. She is my very first guest blogger! Please welcome her and enjoy...

When it comes to special needs families, the topic of sympathy can involve a surprisingly diverse range of emotions and elicit a wide...

A few days before kindergarten was set to begin, I gathered up all the school supplies I needed to deliver during my daughter’s Back to...

It should come as no surprise that advocacy is a large part of special needs parenting. More times than I can count, I have had to fight...

I don’t believe in making my blog a political site. I want all people with all views to feel welcome here. However, government...

One day, when I was feeling particularly sad and alone, I googled “special needs parents” and “mental health.” I wasn’t surprised to find...

Before I had JJ, I never thought much about hope—at least not in any profound way. To me, it was just another verb to slip into...

This creative non-fiction essay won first prize in the Memoir/Inspirational category of the Kansas Authors Club state-wide writing...

Having a child with disabilities can introduce a host of issues into a marriage or romantic partnership. While researchers don’t agree on...

The world of special needs parenting is full of paradoxes. One of the most unexpected is how we and our children can both be highly...

The birthday party invitation was very much like the others we had received and rejected in the past year. There was only one small...

When we first learned that my youngest daughter, JJ, had Rett Syndrome, I felt like I had stepped into a nightmare world. I gathered...

My gym has a bank of televisions placed right above the only line of available treadmills. I’m not a fan of daytime television or local...

When we first learned our daughter had special needs, my husband mentioned it to his physician at his yearly physical. It turned out that...

I am in a writing group with three other women. The genres we prefer are very different, but our stories have one thing in common: They...