Angie Holmes's Page

Today was as heartbreaking as any I've had in the 6 1/2 years I've been a parent. My son, Sage, has had his share of doctor's appointments, therapy and difficult moments in the journey of being autistic and recently diagnosed with ADHD and anxiety.

He does have awkward social skills and tends to run from one place to another so quickly, you have to wonder what is going on that brilliant, yet busy, mind of his. But he is a sweetheart and loves all people without prejudice.

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I didn't participate in Facebook's 25 Random Things About Me because I didn't think I could come up with 25 things. But for Valentines Day, I had no problem coming up with 25 things about the whirlwind journey with my husband, Jeff. This is just snippet of the first year-and-a-half of our nearly 14 years together.

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Children of all abilities were given a boost Thursday when a special court ruled that parents claiming certain vaccinations caused their children to be autistic are not entitled to compensation.

There has been a belief among a large segment of those affected by autism (and their lawyers) that the MMR (measles, mumps and rubella) vaccines and thimerosal-containing vaccines can combine to cause autism. This has caught fire with celebrities like Jenny McCarthy speaking out on the topic.

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As a mother of a 6-year-old on the autism spectrum, I found reading Laura Shumaker's memoir "A Regular Guy: Growing up With Autism" at times funny, heartbreaking and just plain terrifying.

Shumaker chronicles her experiences as the mother of an autistic son, Matthew. Her journey begins with how her perception of those who are disabled was molded by her mother's cousin, Uncle Henry, who had a severe case of cerebral palsy. Growing up, she couldn't help but privately laugh at Henry with his awkwa… Continue

Husband: "Can you make it home by 6:30 so I can take pictures at the basketball game?" Me: "I'll try." Sure enough, when I pull in the driveway at 6:28 p.m., he is standing at the door ready for me to take over the duty of watching our son.

Such is the life of tag-team parenting which certainly isn't confined to my house. With our professions (my husband is a recovering journalist and I'm still bitten by the sickness), our schedules have always been rather non-conventional.

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It’s amazing how some people are the perfect parents – of somebody else’s child. That kind of thinking has been going on since the beginning of time but has only been exacerbated with the Internet and its endless stream of information.

I’ll admit when I heard John Travolta and Kelly Preston’s son, Jett, died suddenly last month, I did a search on the family. I wasn’t aware of Jett’s medical problems and immediately became sucked into the comment sections of articles on them. Many of the entries… Continue

Before I became a parent I was one of those who questioned others' parenting skills and had no patience for less than little angels. All children were created equal weren't they?

I also jumped on the bandwagon that diagnoses like Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, better known as ADHD, were just a crock and cop out for bad kids. And prescription drugs like Ritalin were just a way for pharmaceutical companies to make a buck. I fell into all of the one-sided arguments about lazy parents wh… Continue

Several days into my son's Ritalin regimen, we have halted it. The stimulant, commonly used to treat Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), is supposed to help with focus and concentration.

Unfortunately with Sage, it did the opposite. He is usually a chatterbox and busy body but this magnified everything. He talked louder and more continuously. But the worst trait it brought out was agressiveness, something that has never been an issue with him.


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When Janet Rorholm received a call from a social worker in April 2006 asking her if she could take in two foster children, she was slightly taken aback.

Two? She was just expecting one; especially on her first stint as a foster parent. But when the social worker said it was best not to separate siblings, Janet agreed. Not quite three years later, Janet has officially adopted the siblings, Thomas and Katie.

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