How School Dress Codes Can Harm Your Daughter’s Education

Does the school your children attend have a dress code? Many of them do. Some schools opt for a specific, very limited, dress code. Others are a little less stringent. While a dress code might annoy your son, school dress codes can harm your daughter’s education. Here are some things for parents to watch out for. Ideally, a school dress code is designed to equalize students. Everyone has to wear the same type of uniform, with limited variations. (Typical variations include skirts for girls and pants for boys). Schools might choose to only allow clothing of specific colors. The goal … Continue reading

What’s it Like to Parent Two Mentally Ill Children?

Several years ago, Susan and Michael Schofield learned that their daughter, Jani, had been born with schizophrenia. The couple had a second child, a son named Bodhi. At first, they believed that Bodhi was born without any mental illnesses. As time went on, they learned that Bodhi also has some mental health issues. What’s it like to parent not one, but two, mentally ill children? Michael and Susan Schofield decided to publicly share their story about parenting a child with schizophrenia when their daughter, Jani, was six years old. As an infant, Jani did not sleep for more than half … Continue reading

Can Caffeine Harm You?

I just put up a Green blog about natural energy drinks. My husband is an energy drink junkie, but I’ve never seen the appeal. Plus, if I have too much caffeine, my heart flutters and that’s no fun. But, can energy drinks be harmful to you? The Food and Drug Administration did an investigation into Monster energy drinks after five deaths were believed to be linked to them. The investigation comes on the heels of a lawsuit filed by the mother of a 14-year-old girl who died after drinking two Monster drinks within 24 hours. Her autopsy showed a caffeine … Continue reading

Cameras, Airline Problems, and Medication Issues

This week, the Special Needs Blog included topics such as cameras in classrooms, airlines behaving badly, unaccepted apologies, and many issues with different kinds of medications. Here is a quick review of the blogs that went up between September 3, 2012, and September 8, 2012. Thalidomide Maker’s Apology Not Enough Gruenenthal, the maker of a drug called thalidomide (and Contergan and Distaval), issued an apology for the harm caused to those affected by their drug. Many are seeing this apology as insufficient, and believe that there should be financial compensation coming to the thalidomide victims. Harvard Newspaper Website Runs Ad … Continue reading

Ending Healthy Families Program Will Not Solve Budget Problems

California Governor Jerry Brown has decided to end the Healthy Families insurance program in 2013. Children covered by that program will be shifted into the Medi-Cal program. The purpose of this change is so the state can save money. Legislators see problems with this plan, and want Healthy Families reinstated. To understand this story, you will need a little bit of background. Healthy Families is a low cost public health insurance program in California that covers children and teenagers. It provides health, dental, and vision coverage. It is for kids who come from families who do not qualify for Medi-Cal, … Continue reading

Support Hotline for Parents of Children With Special Needs

All parents, no matter what their circumstances, can benefit from some support. Parents of children who have special needs also require support. In San Jose, California, a support hotline is being set up for parents who cannot leave home to attend a support group. In March of 2012, tragedy struck in Sunnydale, California. A mother named Elizabeth Hodgins killed her 22 year old son, George, and then killed herself. George had autism, and Elizabeth was his primary caretaker. Her husband, Lester, arrived home from work one day to find the bodies of his wife and son. He didn’t know what, … Continue reading

Special Needs Blog Week in Review – July 1 – 7, 2012

Once a week, the Special Needs Blog Week in Review gives you a brief summary of each of the blogs that appeared here in the past seven days. This is a fast way to find out about the blogs that you might have missed when they were first posted. The Special Needs Podcast Roundup went up on July 2, 2012. This week, I’d like to point out an episode of The Coffee Klatch podcast. The episode is called “The Best of the Coffee Klatch – Sensory Processing Disorder”. The episode features Dr. Lucy Miller, author of “Sensational Kids: Hope and … Continue reading

You Can’t Always Take Their Side

As a parent you are always your child’s biggest champion. You want the to succeed, to feel good about their accomplishments, to be proud of the work they do. But what about when they make a mistake, what do you do then? I’m not talking about typical kid things, being mean to a sibling, not cleaning their room, I’m talking about larger issues. Recently another single mother had a problem with her teenager. It seems she wasn’t getting along with some of the girls in school and they had all started doing mean things to each other. In these days … Continue reading

Insurance Blog Week in Review – April 22 – 28, 2012

At the end of every week, the Insurance Blog Week in Review gives you a quick and easy way to “ketchup” on all of the articles that hit the blog in the past week. There can be anywhere between 12 and 14 different blogs that have appeared. What did you miss this week? Renters Insurance Doesn’t Cover Bug Infestation A family in Bakersfield, California, rented a home that was infested with bugs. The entire family is suffering from scabies, and ended up throwing away their contaminated property. Would renters insurance covered any of this? Unfortunately, it would not. The Insurance … Continue reading

Uninsured Americans Get Dental Care From ER

What happens when an American needs a dentist, but doesn’t have dental insurance? Increasingly, the uninsured are waiting until they have a dental emergency, and then heading for the emergency room. This is less than ideal, for many reasons. It also points out a huge gap in insurance coverage. The Pew Center is an organization that works to advance state policies that serve the public interest. They analyze things that are going on in individual states, in order to figure out what works, and what doesn’t work. Recently, the Pew Center did some research that involved looking at hospital information … Continue reading