Picture: This is Methylphenidate which is a generic drug. Many people think of it as Ritalin but this is a brand name.

I am slow.. I just spotted this comment on my blog. And it made me think and do some research of my own. Interesting questions...

I adopted my son from Russia. He is now 5 1/2. He was diagnosed with ADHD last summer. We have been testing different meds and found one to be working well since Jan. I am also a special education teacher - I teach middle school students.... more

I asked is it Better to Have an Angry Child?

I should have asked is it easier to help your child heal if they are aggressive or withdrawn. I think the answer is aggression (as long as people aren't being hurt) because the child is interaction with the parent.

I have used anger to help my darling daughter Natasha. This was... more

I have been writing a series about Dealing with An Aggressive Child and reading Nancy's Reactive Attachment Disorder Blog. And this led me to think about an old Robert Frost poem. (I believe the poem is in the public domain. Someone correct me if I am wrong.)

Fire and Ice

Some say the world will end in fire, Some say in ice. From... more

Picture: My darling Natasha at 3.5 years of age. This was taken prior to her adoption being finalized in 2000.

What lessons about human development have been learned from feral children?

What is helpful for parents adopting Post Institutionalized children to know?

Feral children, infants or children abandoned to the elements who miraculously survive and are returned to civilization, are nature's attempt at the Forbidden Experiment. As it turns out prolonged social... more

My mind turned back to feral children because Oxana Malaya is in the news again. Some people don't list her as feral because her case is one of extreme neglect. From 3 years to 8 years of age (before Ukrainian child protection authorities became involved) she mainly socialized with dogs.

23-year-old Oxana Malaya from a village in Ukraine is a feral child, one of only about 100 known in the world. When she was three, her alcoholic parents left her outside one night and she crawled into... more

I was in high school when I first heard about feral children. What I actually heard was a story about The Forbidden Experiment. It went like this...

In 1211 the 16 year old King of Sicily (who became the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II officially in 1220) ran an experiment. He was a very modern man.

(Freddie was married at 14 years of age and his wife quickly gave birth to a son. So he was very much of an adult at 16 years of age.)

He could read... more

My darling daughter has ADHD and language based disabilities. It can take her twice as long as the "average" person to learn something new. And I wonder what her adulthood is going to be like. Will she be a happy and productive citizen?

I really wonder what I should focus on. Should I make Natasha practice her handwriting more? It is really awful. Or should we be drilling on spelling? Again it is awful. (Natasha... more

The LA Times published a funny, snarky, obnoxious, nasty [fill in your own adjective] article titled How to Shop for Kids the Brangelina Way. It is suppose to be a sarcastic article aimed at Jolie. She made a comment that that she and Pitt are "looking at different countries" for their next adopted child. Of course, she just gave birth. And Brad hasn't adopted her 2 children yet. Jolie is getting way ahead of herself.

This ... more

Symptoms of Language Based Learning Disability are located here. This blog is about Natasha's specific symptoms. They are seen by anyone who interacts with her on a daily basis.

I have collected some conversations with Natasha to show what I am talking about. First up is a conversation about Snicki. He is Natasha's 7 month old puppy. According to the lady on the street corner, (Snicki entered our lives about 2 months ago but that is another story :) ) Snicki is half Boston Terrier,... more

I saw an article last week, which flashed me back to November 2004 when my daughter was diagnosed with Dyslexia. Blogs on my flashback are found here and here.

I started looking for symptoms lists for Language Based Learning Disabilities. It impacts verbal communication more then most people realize. So I went back to my favorite book on the subject; Overcoming... more