Guest Post from the authors of Child Decoded

 

Inside the Book:






The last twenty years have seen a huge increase, not only in children with learning and behavior problems, but in children with bewildering combinations of them. These combinations can defy easy categorization and resist treatment. Figuring these children out can feel like trying to decrypt an especially complex code, without a cypher. Even professionals find it challenging.

We have seen family after family exhausted, overwhelmed and confused about how to sort through all the data and figure out how to proceed. There is certainly no shortage of information out there. What seems to be missing is guidance on how to synthesize it to create a larger picture that gives parents a clearly sequenced path forward.

This book presents a new kind of resource for a new kind of need. It includes:

Extensive checklists to help you see new possibilities and find avenues of support you may not have considered
Explanation of the hidden factors that may be worsening your child’s learning or behavior problems
Discussion of the difference between digging deeper for true causes and merely assigning diagnoses to the “tip of the iceberg” symptoms you are seeing
Descriptions of the major areas of developmental, learning and behavioral challenges, as well as common misdiagnoses.
Lots of useful ‘news you can use’ about what options are available to you, which practitioners do what, and what questions to ask along the way
Descriptions of both Western medicine and alternative medicine solutions
Sequence matters: helpful information on how to prioritize treatments in a complex situation
Stories of families who have been in the same trenches you have
Tips on how to work more productively with your child’s school; develop a plan of action that makes sense for your budget, your family’s schedule and your sanity; maintain a healthy connection with your child; and more!
Written by over 20 professionals, Child Decoded is a thorough, must-have resource that any family with struggling children should consult!


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GUEST POST:
Parenting a special needs child ain’t for the faint of heart. The overwhelm, the frustration, the exhaustion…it’s hard. I know. I’ve been there.

Since my own special needs son has just graduated from college, I’ve been thinking a lot about our journey with him. I’ve been talking to him about it, too, and some of his insights surprised me.

I can tell you every therapy we tried, every medical approach we used, every school support we fought for. Each was crucial. But, looking back from this vantage point, the little everyday things that saved our lives are less obvious. Here are three:

1.      Acceptance. It sounds obvious, but I swear, everything got so much easier when I finally accepted the whole situation. My son was going to have good days and really bad ones, and would never have a ‘normal’ path, and would often take two steps forward, three steps back.

And there was absolutely nothing I could do about that. A bad day was neither a reflection of my parenting nor proof he wasn’t trying hard enough.  It was just the way we rolled in our world. My job was to find the next steps and to love the stuffing out of him, and to let go of any attachment to who I wished he was.

I don’t mean to make this sound easy, by the way. It was just necessary. I was a much better mother when I wasn’t railing against reality. And, he now tells me, he felt much safer and more able to cope when I was calmer about it all.


2.      Find something your child loves just because he loves it. For my son, that thing was fencing. It’s an odd sport that he found when he was 10 and still excels at. After a weeklong summer camp intro, he took to it with an ease and passion that shocked us.

After a while, I could see what it was really giving him: a place to let go of all the therapies and pressure. He wasn’t “the kid being fixed” there. He was just himself, having fun. He really needed somewhere to be that.

3.      Love ‘em up. This insight came from my son, and it completely blew me away. I hugged him constantly during our toughest years. Sometimes, it was the only thing I could think of to do. I also told him what I loved about him, and showed him daily that his creativity and goofy humor delighted me.

When I asked him recently what he thought his saving grace was during those difficult years, he gave me the sweetest smile and said, “I always knew I was loved.”

I focused mostly on finding answers for my son. That was a given. But when I look back, I think the most important thing I did was actually to focus on him – who he was under the struggles, what his world felt like, what he needed in order to keep going. You wear a lot of hats, as the parent of a special needs child. “Person who loves you more than anyone else on the planet and won’t let you forget it” is one hat you never, ever take off.

Meet the Authors:



Kim Gangwish has  been  practicing  in  the  fields  of  mental  health  and  applied physiology for the last 18 years. Ms. Gangwish specializes in a form of acupressure that focuses on  neurological  integration,  called  LEAP  (Learning  Enhancement  Acupressure  Program).  She works  with  both  children  and  adults  who  have  learning  or  sensory  issues,  or  mild  traumatic head injuries. Her passion for educating caregivers has led her to present at international health conferences,  educational  programs  for  school  districts,  and  parent  and  adoption  support organizations,  where  she  emphasizes  the  importance  of  exploring underlying  causal  factors that contribute to learning and sensory issues. Being an adoptive mother herself, Ms. Gangwish is  very  active  in  the  adoption  community.  She  has  written  an ongoing  column  in  Adoption Today  magazine  and  founded  a  non-profit  organization  that  supports  adopted  children  and their families through an integrated team of therapeutic professionals. Ms. Gangwish runs her practice,  The  Life  Enrichment  Center,  in both  Louisville  and  Denver,  Colorado.  Kim  is also  the founder    and    CTO    (Chief    Technology    Officer)    of    a    biomedical    company,    Genovus Biotechnologies  Inc.,  which  is  developing  a  peripheral  neurostimulation  device  to  help  people with degenerative  neuromuscular diseases. She  lives in Louisville  with her two sons and many animals. You can read more about her and her work at www.neural-integration.com.  



Dr. Robin McEvoy is a developmental neuropsychologist practicing in Denver, Colorado. She evaluates and diagnoses a wide range of learning disabilities and learning needs in children, adolescents, and adults. She then works with the family to develop a treatment plan to  remediate  weaknesses  and  accentuate  strengths.  In  addition  to  her  private  practice,  Dr. McEvoy   is   an   assistant   professor   at   the   University   of   Colorado   Health   Sciences   Center. Although  evaluation  is  the  heart  of  her  work,  Dr.  McEvoy  also  loves  the  educational  process  - speaking  to  parents,  schools,  or  other  health  professionals  about  learning,  development,  and parenting  in  this  new  age  where  many  learning  and  developmental challenges  are  more frequent.  
Dr.  McEvoy  and  her  daughter,  Tessa,  have  published  a  children’s  book, Buddy: A Story for Dyslexia. This book has a lovely endorsement from Dr. Sally Shaywitz, a leading authority in
the  field.  Proceeds from  the  book  are  being  used  to fund  reading  remediation for  low  income children. You can find the book at www.learningmoxie.com. You can read more about Robin McEvoy at her website www.robinmcevoy.com. She blogs about  learning  and  learning  challenges  at  www.learningmoxie.com.  You  can  follow  her  on Facebook  at  www.facebook.com/DrRobinMcEvoy  or  on  Twitter at  twitter.com/RobinMcEvoy. She will try to be fascinating.  



Marijke Jones got her BA from Cornell University, and finally settled down in Colorado after living in Japan and traveling throughout Asia and other parts of the world. She has been a copy and developmental editor for over ten years and has worked on a number of manuscripts, McGraw-Hill textbooks, website content, and other miscellaneous projects during that time. She has also published essays, mostly about her experiences raising, homeschooling, and trying to figure out her twice exceptional son. Ms. Jones is passionate about helping families with struggling children find answers and peace of mind. She believes that for each thing a child can’t do, there is something amazing that he can do. A former therapist who specialized in trauma, she also believes that monitoring children’s emotional and mental health is every bit as important as remediating their learning issues. She lives with her incredibly patient husband in Louisville, Colorado, where she enjoys the beautiful Rocky Mountains and all they have to offer. Occasionally, her two adult children come home from college or Europe or wherever they have been having more adventures than she has.

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Tour Schedule

Monday, March 6
Book featured at Yah Gotta Read This

Tuesday, March 7
Guest blogging at Write and Take Flight

Thursday, March 9
Book featured at Books, Dreams, Life

Friday, March 10
Interviewed at Confessions of an Eccentric Bookaholic

Monday, March 13
Book featured at Nicole's Book Musings

Thursday, March 16
Guest blogging at The Book Czar

Friday, March 17
Book featured at The Hype and the Hoopla

Tuesday, March 21
Interviewed at As the Page Turns

Thursday, March 23
Book featured at Inkslinger's Opus

Friday, March 24
Book featured at My Bookish Pleasures

Tuesday, March 28
Book reviewed at I'm Shelf-ish

Wednesday, March 29
Book featured at Mello and June

Thursday, March 30
Book featured at Just Us Book Blog

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