I just learned a new word: familect. It’s the idea that every family has its own language, its own dialect, the words and phrases that only make sense to a small…
TAKE THE NEXT STEP PODCAST E28 — Do you feel overwhelmed, isolated, or afraid of the future? Misty Coy Snyder knows those feelings well. After receiving a prenatal diagnosis of…
Somewhere along the way, my husband Peter and our daughter Penny, who has Down syndrome, developed an elaborate goodnight ritual involving a complicated handshake followed by cheering and naming sports…
Penny came downstairs the other day. We were packing up to go home. She said, “Mom, I’m doing fine with time, but I need some help with space.” What she…
Books, essays, podcast episodes, and more that I think are worth your time, plus recent cultural news that I’m paying attention to in the month of September… {Get my favorites…
We received an issue of Connecticut Magazine with a cover story about the cost of special education in our state: “Schools face cost, staff constraints.” As kids across the country…
TAKE THE NEXT STEP PODCAST E27 — How can my child with a disability learn and grow? What does it look like to cultivate capability while honoring their limitations? When…
Penny in 2011 with a copy of A Good and Perfect Gift Penny and I walked into a local clothing store over the weekend, and a woman stopped us and…
One of my favorite moments at Hope Heals Camp happens at the banquet Thursday evening. After days of being together, we all gather for a meal where we start with…
I’ve taken to calling it my whiteboard of shame. When Penny was a toddler, and we had four therapists coming to the house on a weekly basis, I kept a…
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