A lesson in love

Donna Kirk is the author of Finding Matthew: A Child with Brain Damage, A Young Man with Mental Illness, A Son and Brother with Extraordinary Spirit. Here she shares the challenges and joys in her family's remarkable journey to give Matthew (above left with his sister Kelley) a good life. Thank you Donna! Louise By Donna Kirk “Your son is a vegetable with a heartbeat.” The head pediatrician at the hospital dismissed our first...

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And the truth shall set you free

I remember when my son was still a baby, a psychiatrist told me that I needed to play a "PR role" in how I introduced him to others. He said people would make judgments and assumptions about my son's genetic condition, so I had to script a story that played up all of his strengths and minimized any impacts the syndrome might have on his health or development. This didn't seem like a bad idea, initially. I was...

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In autism, we confuse IQ with happiness

Does being smarter make you happier? Not necessarily, says Dr. Evdokia Anagnostou, a child neurologist and clinician scientist in the Autism Research Centre at Holland Bloorview.  In the general population intelligence predicts school success, which correlates with “getting a university degree and money, our two obsessions,” Dr. Anagnostou says. “But IQ doesn’t predict how good life is, the quality of your life, or life...

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How the suburbs swayed me

Last year Sue Robins wrote an anonymous BLOOM piece about her son's deteriorating school situation. "I see now that I felt I had to be anonymous because I feared the ramifications of speaking out for our son," she says. "I'm no longer fearful to use my voice to speak up." Here's an update on how things have gone since Sue's family moved 18 months ago to get her son into a more inclusive school. "While no situation is...

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Meet Arthur Fleischmann

Arthur Fleischmann, author of Carly's Voice: Breaking Through Autism, tracks the remarkable journey of his daughter Carly, who has autism and was unreachable till she typed a message on a computer at age 1...

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Our kids in the media

When I walked into Kumon today with my boys, I was thrilled to see a pile of ParentsCanada magazines on the table with a cover photo of this adorable toddler, Hudson. I looked inside, and was referred to page 8 for more on Hudson.  There we learn how a photographer suggested him as a model and the editors thought "it would be nice to feature a child with Down syndrome on our November issue." Why was it necessary to specify that Hudson...

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Who decides what's beautiful?

Carly Fleischmann, a University of Toronto student with autism and a prominent disability advocate, has launched a brilliant Facebook campaign calling for a COVERGIRL model with autism. Carly is a teenager who was unreachable until she typed a message on a computer at age 10. Her story's been covered widely in mainstream media and she co-authored Carly's Voice: Breaking Through Autism with her dad Arthur. Now Carly is asking:...

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Finding time to 'just breathe'

By Kate Wilson In my mid-20s, my father suffered a serious heart attack. One of the things he was prescribed to help in his recovery and dealing with stress was mindfulness. I didn’t know much about it except that he would make a daily retreat to the basement to lie down and “just breathe.” It seemed a bit odd and a bit simplistic, but it worked for him so I didn’t question it. I actually didn’t think much about it at all. Until, of course,...

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