Last month, my son Brennan graduated from 5^th grade.  This was truly one of the proudest moments of my life as a mother so far.  This was a day that we had talked about for the last couple of years.  What Brennan had talked about most was what he would be wearing.  Brennan had goals of wearing a suit to his graduation when he was in 3^rd grade and we went to his friend’s graduation.  In 4^th grade, he talked about wearing dress slacks and a tie.  Every year he talked about his outfit for graduation so there was a lot of pressure already built up about h

Former Chicago White Sox baseball player, Paul Konerko, has designed a limited edition t-shirt that will help raise awareness of Sensory Processing Disorder (SPD) with proceeds going to STAR Institute for SPD (formerly know as SPD Foundation).

Being a parent is like being a calendar.  Every day is different.  You go to bed at night and awake to something new.

I’ll never forget the feeling of being lost in this new SPD world with no support. It swallowed me whole, everyday, all day. It affected my marriage. It affected every aspect of my life. We had determined that something was wrong with our son Jackson. We had known something was “different” since the day he was born. We told everyone including our parents, his doctor and nurses. We were always met with, “he’ll grow out of it” or told that we were over exaggerating his issues because the child I was living with was not the child they saw in public.

There is a story called “Welcome to Holland” by Emily Perl Kingsley that I always read to my expecting parents while I work as a prenatal instructor. The story talks about this perfect trip to Italy that you’ve been planning your entire life. The plane lands and as you exit the plane, the flight attendant welcomes you to Holland. Holland? That’s not where I wanted to go!