Publisher's Note: August/September 2007

Back to school stress

It’s hard to believe that a new school year is upon us. Some children will continue in their current schools, and some children will be starting new programs in new schools. But as we all know, transition is not only hard on our children but can be very stressful on parents and families.

Stress is something that parents of children with special needs are all too familiar with. In many cases the stress of raising a child with special needs takes a toll on families. Many people have used the term “we are divorced from our family” when referring to spending holidays and special occasions together. Many times family members don’t always understand the child’s disability and why the child can’t sit at the table and have dinner with all of us. Why isn’t the child playing with his or her cousins? This happens over and over, regardless of the amount of times that it has been explained to them.

The burden of justifying our child’s behaviors, actions, and their needs is extremely stressful. Parents find themselves continuously fighting for services, classifications, and appropriate school placement. In many cases all this fighting takes a toll on marriages.

I find myself continuously correcting and explaining to people that when they refer to our children please always refer to our child as a person first and the disability second. I must admit that I get very aggravated when I read reports by teachers, therapists and doctors referring to my son as the autistic child, or autistic boy, or I hear people say the autistic children.

I would like to see society accept our children as individuals with disabilities and not as disabled individuals. It’s our job as parents to make sure that we correct people and ask them to use respectful language when referring to our children. Children with mental retardation, children with Down’s syndrome or children with autism are exactly what they should be referred to. I think that if we refer to all special needs children, as mentally retarded children it is disrespectful.

Artificial Vitamin C

I got a call from my mother-in-law who pointed me to an article about the apple juice my son drinks. She told me that the label says, “Made in the USA,” but the bottle and its contents are made in China. Since my son drinks only this one brand of juice, she decided to call the company and get a clarification on exactly what the juice is made out of. I always thought that I was giving him a good brand. After all, it does say 100 percent apple juice and Vitamin C on the container.

After many phone calls we learned that everything takes place in China, including the growth of the apples. We don’t know where the water comes from. The Vitamin C? It’s in there, but it’s ascorbic acid, which I learned is artificially added. And, yep, it’s made in China. The problem with this is that China does not have any testing on chemicals that are used in their products, so whatever is getting used in my son’s apple juice is never really explained. Shouldn’t we be asking what exactly the Chinese are using to make their products?

Our job as parents never gets any easier, but I do believe that we learn how to better understand and fight for our children’s needs and health issues.