Q: My son is 7 years old and currently attending a public school in the first grade. It has been obvious to my husband and I for some time that he has some kind of learning disability and some behavioral issues, but he has never been diagnosed with anything, and we aren't really sure what to do. His teacher tells us that he isn't reading at a first -grade level and that his actions in class not only prevent him for learning but disrupt the entire classroom environment. We don't really know what to do or where to begin. I haven't received any support from the school in this situation, so right now I am just frustrated. I don't want my son to fall behind, but I think he needs help. His dis

My name is Melissa Mendoza, and my family and I live in a lovely neighborhood called Woodlake in Sacramento. We are your typical family of four, married for eight years with two beautiful children, a daughter and a son. Our lives seemed typical and ordinary until two years ago when our son was diagnosed with autism at the age of 2 ½. We were thrown into a world of psychologists, neurologists, speech therapists, occupational therapists and so many unanswered questions. My husband and I had just started our own web and database design business and were now spending countless hours in doctors’ waiting rooms and searching for answers to why our son was still not talking at the age of 2. Why w

I have had a very surprising past few days. I wanted to share it here because I think what I have experienced has happened to everyone at one point. The surprising part of what I'm about to share, the most shocking part of all came from the most unexpected place; the point of origin! The thing that caused me the most pain ended up surprising me the most and spun my head clean around. Being a Mom of 3 extremely active boys so close in age, I have gotten my fair share of disapproving looks. Looks that speak volumes without any sound like the, "you must need a glass of wine before bed" look, the "what are you crazy?!?!" look and so on. When you add the extra twist of having a son...the oldes

“I don't understand why they placed him like they did, when he is clearly not what they say he is.” At 18 months old, my child was diagnosed as autistic. Like any concerned and loving parent, I immediately began learning about his developmental delay as I gathered all the resources I could to help him. I learned of a frightening statistic; One child in every 166 births will be diagnosed with autism. He began receiving speech and occupational therapy from the Alta Regional Center. As I watched and participated in his hours of therapy per week, I saw my non-verbal but happy child make progress very slowly. Sometimes the constant mental prodding was just too much, and he would melt down. We

Interview & Article by Meg McDonnell What do Albert Einstein, Walt Disney and Muhammad Ali have in common? Loads of talent, for sure. But you might be surprised to learn that their talents had something of a common source: They were all dyslexics. Most of us think of dyslexia as a disadvantage rather than an advantage. “Because they think mainly in pictures rather than words, dyslexics are highly imaginative, intuitive, and insightful. They think in a multidimensional way,” said David Rosen, who will be offering a seminar on dyslexia Saturday, Oct. 2. “Most people might think that these well-known geniuses were successful despite dyslexia, but I believe that they were successful because

There is so much to be learned from planting, working and harvesting a garden. I’m excited to be a part of a new community garden at 58th & 2nd Ave, and can’t wait to see all our seeds grow. It’s amazing to me the growing number of community gardens in our Sacramento area. One such garden is on the high school campus of Rio Americano. A few years ago when I worked there full time in the Autism program, the teacher felt the need for his students to work with their hands out in a garden, and went about making it happen. The lessons ranged from building boxes, life cycles and cooking to the simplicity of knowing colors and what herbs are used for. While subbing in my old class this past week