Peer-led groups treat distress in moms of kids with autism

By Louise Kinross Parent-led groups in mindfulness meditation and positive psychology significantly reduce stress, depression and anxiety in mothers of kids with developmental disabilities like autism, according to a July 21 study in Pediatrics. Two-hundred and forty-three mothers—65 per cent with children with autism and the rest with other developmental disabilities—were randomized into either a Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction group...

Read More

Gabrielle steals the show

By Megan Jones Gabrielle Marion-Rivard doesn’t enter a room. She arrives. Underneath her thick mop of curly brown hair the actress’s eyes and her smile widen. She radiates. “It’s her magical light,” says Canadian film director Louise Archambault. “She has that presence on screen and that magic in her eyes. It’s rare.” The two women met several years ago at Les Muses in Montreal, an organization that offers performing arts classes to people...

Read More

Never alone

By David M. Perry Minutes after my son Nico was born, as he lay on the warming table, I noticed his eye was having difficulty opening. I asked Michelle, our nurse-midwife, if there was anything wrong.  "No, his eye is fine," she replied, "but did you have any genetic testing done?"  “No,” I said. This was true, not because of any philosophical plan, but because for various reasons we didn't know my wife Shannon was pregnant...

Read More

Watercraft

Here are Ben and D'Arcy on Lake Ontario at Cherry Beach. But there was another boat Ben was more interested in. ...

Read More

Watching the shadows

By Louise Kinross I found something that my son and I love to do. It involves going for a leisurely walk up to our local shops. We stop at a number of benches along the way to rest and watch the people go by. In the past my son wouldn't do this walk because of pain in his legs and the trip is still a major exertion for him. But on the weekend I convinced him to do it twice on days with a cool breeze, and we spent a couple of hours out...

Read More

When language fails

By Louise Kinross I was trying to explain to my therapist how having a child who didn't speak had let me off the hook in terms of answering tough questions about his disability. I was expressing concern about my son's future as an adult, but feeling stuck in terms of how to discuss it with him. While I had talked a lot about how his disability affected him when he was little, I hadn't in recent years spelled out clearly that he wouldn't be...

Read More