Coming Soon: Joan Celebi’s Latest Lunchtime Teleseminar Mark your calendar and plan to tune in for a FREE teleseminar on Tuesday, April 27. Joan Celebi, founder of SpecianNeedsParentCoach.com, and special guest Susan Parziale will discuss decluttering and staying organized during Special Needs Parents: Time for Spring Cleaning! The seminar will be held at 12:00 noon, Eastern Time. (That’s...

It happened again. A stranger read A Different Dream for My Child, sent an email and became part of my life. Meet Amber Baker The stranger-turned-friend is Amber Baker, an extraordinary mom of five. Three of her children “were grown inside of her” as she puts it. The other two came to the Bakers through adoption. Both those children have medical needs so one of their friends, Victoria...

Because this website is for parents of children with special needs, my personal recollections focus upon the issues our son faced as an infant and toddler. But this month, I’ve been thinking a lot about my dad who was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1959. Through him, I learned so much about how people with disabilities can live with dignity. You can read about the lessons he taught by...

Not to long ago, an email from Elizabeth A. Coplan hit my inbox. She informed me of a recent post featuring DifferentDream.com at her blog, www.awildride.net. Sure enough, I clicked on the link she provided, and there was a sweet blurb about the website and a picture of  A Different Dream for My Child’s book jacket. www.awildride.net I poked around the website and got more and more excited...

How can the parent of a child with special needs live a balanced life? In Balanced Living All Year, Joan Celebi shares the strategies that help her accomplish the feat. Meet Joan Celebi Joan is the mother of two children, one of whom has special needs. She’s also the creator of www.specialneedsparentcoach.com, a website featured in a DifferentDream.com blog post in December of  2009. Each month,...

Recently, I found a letter written by my father, and it reminded me of something urgent I need to do for my kids, something my Dad couldn’t do for me. EParent.com The whole story is posted at my EParent.com blog. If you read it and decide you need to do the same thing for your kids, come back here and leave a comment. Or if you think of another legacy parents should leave for their children,...

If you were to ask me to recommend one resource for parents of kids with special needs, Terri Mauro’s site at About.com would be it. About Terri Mauro According to About.com, Terri is the mother of “two teenagers with special needs: a 19-year-old with language-based learning disabilities and a 16-year-old with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder, both adopted from Russia in 1994.” ...

A few months ago, DifferentDream.com was part of a blog tour for a new book, So You Want to be a Work-At-Home Mom. Since then, I’ve met many moms, some of them with special needs kids, who want to work from home but don’t know where to start. They keep coming to mind, and I keep wanting to help them. Since I’m not an expert on the topic, the best thing I can do is refer them to someone...

You know, sometimes I come across a story that puts a smile on my face. The story of Morgan’s Wonderland is one of them. What Is Morgan’s Wonderland? Morgan’s Wonderland is a theme park under construction in San Antonio, Texas. It’s slated to open in February of 2009. Now that may not sound like anything unusual. But when it’s finished, the theme park will be the largest...

Special family events during the holidays are supposed to be fun. But parents of special needs kids know that the excitement and extra stimulation those occasions create can be recipes for disaster. about.com Terri Mauro’s article at about.com has some great advice about how parents can engineer more successful holiday outings with special needs kids. Among other things, her common sense suggestions...