Hi, my name is Kate! 🙂 Let me tell you more about us.
I am a Christian and the owner of the A Special Needs Life blog, which has been running for about ten years. This remains an informational blog filled with tips, resources, and encouragement for special needs moms! You will find some downloadable lessons, ebooks, and activities for sale through links and in some of the articles.
Affiliate Disclosure: I do also share links to Amazon quite a bit, which allows me the ability to earn a little bit of money when you click on them.
I am the very proud mom to a special needs son. But, that isn’t all…I also have one typical adult son, a daughter-in-law, and three adorable grandchildren!
My son has multiple disabilities, including, autism, a host of sensory issues, and a speech disability, called apraxia.
I am not a medical professional in any way. Simply put, I write this as a mom and a former teacher, who cares for her special needs son in the face of a complete lack of decent medical care for special needs people in America, and around the world.
My Background is in Special Needs and Neurodiversity
I am also a former public school teacher, certified to teach in special education and elementary education. My time in the public school was split between both types of classrooms.
Further, my now adult special needs son became my primary job as a full-time caregiver as an infant. I have been implementing what I learned as a classroom teacher and in college for over eighteen years.
All told, I bring over thirty years of experience to this blog to help moms become better experts at what they do every day.
YOU ARE THE EXPERT of your kid.
Some “experts” we come in contact may attempt to silence you as a Mom, but remember this. An expert only brings to the table their very focused perspective of your child’s disability or special needs.
They probably looked it up on the Internet or in a manual and that is really all they know. In fact, they may not even know your child’s specific manifestation of any condition they are diagnosed with.
They move on to the next family and guess what? They begin the same process with them. When they come up for air, they may have suggestions to help you with a particular issue in your kid, but THEY ARE NOT THE EXPERTS on your kid.
I have even had (very good) doctors tell me this fact!
So, please sign up and look around. I don’t spam you like crazy with emails, and we are in this Special Needs Mom Club for life! Right? You may not even hear from me for months unless you message me about a question.
Thanks so much for coming! I hope I can help you find your Mojo and rock this special needs mom thing.
Why a special needs blog?
I mean, why not a book or something? Well, things are changing all of the time online and in the special needs world. We learn new things and come to understand things we did not know before.
Scientific and medical understanding of our kids shifts, and so do the procedures and medications. As you know, being a special needs mom means constant learning and research.
And the content on this blog will shift and change as long as I am able to learn it and write it.
When my special needs son arrived into this world, I found that even my own education prepared me little for all of the medical and therapeutic complications my son came with. I felt like I needed a manual just for him!
So, it became rather therapeutic for me to write out what I knew and tie it into what I could actually do as a MOM. Then, as I listened to other moms on social media, and asked myself the very same questions they asked, I just had to write out what I knew.
Further, while there are many medical and professional opinions about our special needs kids, they do not really solve our daily problems as special needs parents. Let’s face it, if you are not in the trenches as a special needs parent, you really don’t know what it is like.
And so, my mixed combination of everyday mom solutions along with knowledge came out on this blog.
And if you have been here before, you may notice I weeded out some of the natural remedies so that this blog focuses only on special needs.
Why? Because Google likes it that way. Lol
But, do check back for a link to the natural remedies blog which I am currently working on and has tons of tips on natural things you can do to help your special needs kids.
So, let’s dig in!
What is the Special Needs Life?
Special needs includes multiple disabilities and yes, Autism is in the mix too! In fact, some of us have kids with a labeled disability and a diagnosis of autism. So, if you have a kid with more than one major disability that impairs his or her life’s functioning, then this is your blog!
If your child suffers from a minor disability, you may find some topics that help you, but I may not be able to guide you much. But, do feel free to message me if you have a question!
I hope to collaborate with other parents as we journey along to finding answers for our kids. Please feel free to contact me on one of my social media outlets, or this blog! There is more to share and learn than I have listed on my blog, OF COURSE!
This remains an inclusive place for all special needs parents.
What do you mean by On The Spectrum?
On the spectrum is autism speak for the varying degrees of autism in a diagnosis. Autism has multiple characteristics and is often congruent with other special needs conditions, ranging from mild to severe.
We autistic families use the word spectrum to describe the huge range of autism!
My son is autistic, but he also has a genetic syndrome and several other disabilities. Being on the spectrum means my son lives on the autism spectrum along with his genetic syndrome.
ALL special needs people, no matter what their condition is, have a spectrum of needs. Some come with mild manifestations of a genetic condition, and others arrive here with severe complications.
Inclusion needs to be a part of our vocabulary instead of pushing a kid who simply cannot do something another kid can because he or she has a mild disability.
The goal for our kids needs to be to help them be the best special needs person they can possibly be! Not what someone in a book says our kids should be able to do.
I started this blog in the face of poor medical care for my son.
While we do have health insurance, it amazes me the things we have gone through in the medical community. When my son was an infant, one doctor told me that my son would only sit (dumbly) in front of the television all day long.
Another doctor told me that my son’s deformities weren’t worth receiving medically needed surgery because of his genetic syndrome.
As special needs parents, we get this a lot. Our kids struggle with a fill-in-the-blank issue and they send us home.
Another time, my son was given growth hormone injections to normalize his weight loss. The psychiatric meds they gave him to offset his out-of-control mood swings, completely eradicated his ability to lose weight. And, some of the meds put him into a deep sleep.
Finally, when no one could stop the mood swings, created by the hormone, the psychiatrist refused to treat him, the hospitals wouldn’t take him and the insurance company refused to pay for the meds.
Their cures were as bad as their solution! In the end, the endocrinologist finally admitted he had had a “bad” reaction to the hormone injections prescribed by another endocrinologist. Then refused to see us again…
I ended up looking for my own solutions to help my son.
Is that fair? Well, no. But, that begins another battle in the background with the medical system.
I gave my son all of his own therapy
Why? Because I laugh in the face of danger?!
No, not really. But, therapists are few and far between in our area. Our family cannot even get anyone to come out to our home. Or, we must drive an hour one way, disrupt the entire day, only to go to therapy. That’s insane.
By the time we are through, my son who struggles with energy is wiped out and cranky.
Instead of serious therapy resistance (Been there!), we have fun therapy at home that does work!
We cannot just cure our kids
The lesson we all need here is that the special needs resources out there are only available to a select few. This goes for education, therapy, medical care, and even recreation resources.
Every step of the way, I have had to find solutions for my son’s medical, behavioral, educational, and therapeutic issues that have come up. While medical professionals can help in some ways, they certainly don’t have all the answers, no matter what some of them say!
And, honestly, our kids have special needs that cannot just be fixed. I know that some moms struggle with this issue, but until there remains a medical miracle that fixes genetic issues in people, we are left with doing our best.
While I am learning more every day, I certainly don’t have all the answers. I do know that God has gifted each one of us, as Moms, to fulfill a role in our kids’ Special Needs Life. As I learn and grow, I will share what I can and leave the rest to others.
As parents, we need everyday resources to assist our children to live their best lives. In order to help our children thrive, we need therapeutic, speech, educational, dietary, and homemaking resources to help them thrive to the best of their ability.
Your child could be in a wheelchair, have cerebral palsy, Prader-Willi Syndrome, or any other genetic defect or syndrome. It does not matter because we are all looking for the same solutions, but just for different reasons. All I can do is share what we have learned in our family.
We all have much to contribute to the special needs community as moms and caregivers
THERE IS HOPE FOR THE FUTURE!
I do get it the long road, and my son is now an adult. I try not to look too far into the future, but I also try to plan ahead as much as I can. Finding joy in the journey comes when things are quiet and calm.
It is in the challenge that we begin to lose perspective, but always remember, the road will straighten out again.
There is hope for the future. Why? Because God is good and He does have a great plan. Our pain and frustration is only temporary.
If you are walking in darkness, keep pressing to find the answers that you need.
Don’t give up, because God does have an answer. Special needs is a lifelong journey of problems and solutions.
Blessings to you and your family~Kim
My Disclaimer: I am not a licensed medical professional. Further, I do not strive or promise to diagnose any health problems or to treat and cure any disease, however, I will do my best to provide you with the latest natural remedies and research, as well as a few personal experiences of healing. This site in no way is meant to take the place of a licensed medical professional.
A Special Needs Life 