In the season of giving thanks, I often think of a family I will call the Renfields. Their first child, Ray, was diagnosed early in life with moderate autism spectrum. Some parents are overwhelmed by such a finding, but the Renfields stayed positive. “This is a child with real strengths,” the dad told me. “We’re so lucky to have the
“Abbie is a complete puzzle to me,” her mother, Julia Mason, confided. “Last year in first grade she had a meltdown at the class Halloween party. She wouldn’t talk to anybody. She stared at the floor. Finally she just went out and sat on the stairs and when people tried to get by her, she cried and said they were
The 3rd grade teacher, Mrs. Sweeney, held out the vocabulary assignment that Francie Baker’s mother had seen her daughter do two weeks before. “I found it blowing across the playground,” Mrs. Sweeney said. “Francie said it must have fallen out of her pocket when she was upside down on the jungle gym. It’s one more of those things she never
When I think of the difference mothers make in the lives of their children, I think first of Alesandra Arimany – a fiery, bright, determined woman who swept into my office with her arms full of charts and paperwork. She explained that her child had a problem, and in Guatemala, where she was from, people who have wealth go to
About a year ago,it was looking like my friend Lucy’s business might fail. But she worked 80-hour weeks, got some new clients, and turned things around. She also realized that for the past few months nobody had invited her 6‑year-old daughter Emma for a play date. At Lucy’s urging, Emma asked a girl from her class to come home with her
Josh’s mom was beginning to worry. Her 11-year-old son was complaining of stomach aches. His pediatrician could find nothing wrong, but they were more and more frequent, nearly every morning, and often so severe that Josh missed school. They seemed to be affecting his schoolwork too: the child whom teachers described as “extremely bright” wasn’t turning in assignments, wasn’t preparing for