I hope everyone has had a wonderful summer. With the first day of school approaching I thought I'd share an email I received at the end of last school year. This highlights how amazing our kids are, and it even reminds me to appreciate all the effort required to be a human in this world. How often do I stop to recognize all that my kids can do and do on a daily basis? I know Daniel, the star in the story; he and his parents are a shining example of what having patience, allowing for mistakes and their natural consequences, and believing everything is possible really means.
One of Daniel’s teachers asked his job coach to make a list of what all Daniel does while on the job at the restaurant The Stringbean. I just want you to LOOK at this amazing list. I think it’s pretty cool! -- From, Proud Mom, Taralea
Doctor Uses Brain Imaging to Diagnose and Treat Kids' Cognitive Disorders
(Profiled on ABC's Good Morning America) By CLAIRE SHIPMAN and ARIANE NALTY May 20, 2008
Dr. Fernando Miranda, a neurologist at the Bright Minds Institute in San Francisco, says diagnosing children with behavioral disorders like ADHD and autism without looking at their brains is like trying to diagnose heart problems without actually looking at the heart.
[BOONZEE EXCERPT: One non-verbal nine-year-old was originally thought to have autism. "Now on ADHD medication and specific therapy for his decoding problem, Danny has a lot to say." The article goes on to discuss concerns with diagnosis by scans and EEGs.]
CHICAGO (Reuters) - Being deprived of sleep even for one night makes the brain unstable and prone to sudden shutdowns akin to a power failure -- brief lapses that hover between sleep and wakefulness, researchers said on Tuesday....
"Imagine you are sitting in a room watching a movie with the lights on. In a stable brain, the lights stay on all the time. In a sleepy brain, the lights suddenly go off," Dinges said in a telephone interview.
The findings suggest that people who are sleep-deprived alternate between periods of near-normal brain function and dramatic lapses in attention and visual processing.
Plans for 2009
A mom ran up to me at a Special Olympics picnic. She was so intense, my immediate thought was something had happened to my daughter. She exclaimed, "Boonzee has saved my family. I have been looking for a behavior specialist for years, asking doctors, therapists, and teachers. No one knew where to send me for help for my adult daughter. I finally found an answer to our prayers through your website. She would never have been able to come to an event like this without [this teacher's] training; after years of searching, we found her easily on your site."
Experiences like this family's are exactly what inspired Boonzee and compel us to push further. The internet can be an amazing tool, and we can use it to help our family - if we use it. Keep the momentum going by continuing to input your resources or tell us about resources in your area.
Over the next year, we will be writing grants and seeking sponsorships and partnerships to fund the next stage of our development:
Boonzee National (the current website) expanded to host a Boonzee site for each city.
We will be...
looking for representatives to build the community for each city.
expanding our support of great education programs through engaging more organizations' access to the events calendar
partnering with other non-profits to ensure community resources are used most efficiently without program duplication.
If you are interested in helping with any of these endeavors, contact Kathryn. If you have friends who might be interested, please connect us. If you have ideas about what you would like to see in Boonzee, bring 'em on!
Comments about Finding Time
We are in the process of updating our blog program so you can add your own comments. In the meantime, email me at kparsons at boonzee dot com and I will post them exactly as you send them.
COMMENTS FROM BOONZEE MEMBERS about FINDING TIME:
This article was wonderful. Years ago I heard the statement, "Children spell love T-I-M-E." I contend that everybody spells love T-I-M-E. Thanks for the reminder that we need to take T-I-M-E with our loved ones.
Finding Time - Is it Lost?
Boy, do I waste time. And, I don’t mean the good kind of time wasting – lay in a hammock, enjoy a summer day sipping lemonade - time wasting. I am talking about heading face-first down the rabbit hole of searching endlessly from link to link trying to find the exact thing I am looking for.
