Tip Yourself – Become Your Own Barista

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One fateful day, five years ago, my husband and I were driving on a highway between New York and Pennsylvania when we stopped at a rest stop, most likely because I had to pee. While we were there, he bought a vanilla latte at the Starbuck's. Back in the car he offered me a sip, saying that I might like it because it was sweet. I don't like coffee, no not me, I am a tea drinker. But, I took a sip Continue Reading

Testing Masha—Why the Results Matter

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Masha will be seven next month. She is in Kindergarten for the second time now. They tell me she is doing much better than last year. She knows the routines, participates in the activities, plays nicely alongside her peers even sharing toys, and is generally a pleasure to have in class. The thing is, she still cannot consistently count to five, name all the basic colors, write anything legible, Continue Reading

Fit to be Glued

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Gecko is a sensory-driven kid and always has been. As an infant he would reach up and hold my hair while he nursed. Later on he learned to collect hair from my brush and ball it up into what his older sister TK affectionately referred to as his muskrats. I still find muskrats in his bed. He holds them in his hand as he drops off to sleep. I would not go so far as to label him with a sensory Continue Reading

Trypophobia—The Stuff of My Nightmares

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I was reading through the latest copy of Scientific American Mind the other day and found out that my complete aversion to clusters of holes has a name: trypophobia. I have a fear of holes. Not huge potholes like the kind that litter the back roads of Romania, and not even the medium-sized mole holes that disrupt my lawn. No, I get skeeved out about little holes, lots of little holes, especially Continue Reading

Appropriate Post-Rape Behavior—A New IEP Goal

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In 2010, William Jeffrey Dumas was arrested for allegedly raping and sodomizing a 24 year old woman with Down Syndrome. The case went to court in October 2012, and Dumas was found guilty and sentenced to 25 years in prison. Last month, Appellate Judge Christopher McFadden overturned the jury’s verdict and granted a request for a new trial. In his ruling the judge wrote that the woman "did not Continue Reading