Comments

• On the article Will Federal Government Doom Voters' Initiatives to Legalize Marijuana?

  

  Diane Dennis

  8:50 pm on Wednesday, January 2, 2013

  Come on! I'll share! ;) Maybe you'll find that you enjoy it. ;) Just don't bring your guns. ;)

• On the article UPDATED: Kathleen Edward, 9, of Trenton—Who Had Been Taunted on Facebook—Dies

  

  Diane Dennis

  2:40 pm on Thursday, January 12, 2012

  Agreed loud and clear Trina! My son has Asperger's Syndrome as well and his experiences have been the same.

• On the article UPDATED: Kathleen Edward, 9, of Trenton—Who Had Been Taunted on Facebook—Dies

  

  Diane Dennis

  2:37 pm on Thursday, January 12, 2012

  Whether she should or should not have had a Facebook account isn't the issue. The issue is the adult(s) across the street bullying a 9-year-old girl, and a dying 9-year-old girl at that.

  To say she shouldn't have a Facebook account sounds like you're saying she asked for the bullying.

  If that's what you're saying, and I reiterate IF, then is the way a woman dresses (no matter how provocatively), or the fact that she's had a few drinks (no matter how drunk she is), responsible for her having been raped?

  The female adult bully Jennifer Petkov would have found a way to bully her even if it wasn't through Facebook. Don't know the back story but no child, even a 9-year-old girl who is dying and has a Facebook account, should ever be the target of an adult bully.

  And chances are, it's not the first time this woman has bullied someone.

• On the article Twins with Special Needs Inspire Mom To Help Others

  Diane Dennis

  7:28 pm on Tuesday, June 14, 2011

  Nice story but I find this offensive:

  "While other parents might have relied solely on therapists and educators to overcome the problem, the Dehmlows, with the help of a cousin who works in the special education field, dove in and educated themselves"

  In my experience, and the experience of EVERY parent that I know that has a child on the spectrum, it is IMPOSSIBLE to "rely solely on therapists and educators to overcome the problem". The parent(s) lives this day in and day out and will (indeed has no choice but to) educate themselves as much as possible to make things better and/or more manageable for their child/ren.

  Plus, many of us don't have a family member who works in the special education field. So we're doing it without that extra help.

  Congratulations to her for being able to publish a book about it and I hope it is indeed helpful to other parents. But don't make a blanket statement like that about other parents.

  Indeed, A) parents without a family member in the special education field are doing a wonderful "job" even without that 24-hour on-call specialist and B) MANY of us don't have the time available to write a book, mostly because we don't have someone who is qualified to sit with our child whenever we need it (such as to have the time to write a book).

  Vince Vieceli, think about how you're going to word something before you put it in print.

  Reply

• On the article The Roller Coaster of Raising a Child with Asperger’s

  Diane Dennis

  4:12 pm on Thursday, March 24, 2011

  I relate. For a very long time, my son's obsession was the office supply store. He couldn't understand why we couldn't just go there whenever he wanted and spend hours there looking at the various supplies. He has a few items that are huge obsessions (3-ring binders; pens; mechanical pencils; Ticonderoga pencils; to name a few...). He can tell you which 3-ring binder you need for whatever it is you're doing, and why you don't want the other binders. He can tell you what a pencil is by smelling it and he can tell you which pencils have good erasers and which do not. He knows what brand pencil he's holding by how it feels in his hand. He'd sit with a basket of pens I gave him and be fascinated for hours. Whenever we went to other stores, he'd immediately want to go to the office supply aisle (grocery store, drug store, Kmart, Walmart, etc.). And of course, with all things his taste runs to the most expensive as spending money is another obsession. Many parents will say, oh that's normal, money always burns a hole in kids' pockets. But it's not normal after a while. Shoes were, and still are to an extent, an obsession. One obsession that has never waned is Yu-Gi-Oh cards. Again parents will say, oh that's normal. But after a while it's not normal. He will talk to me for HOURS about Yu-Gi-Oh and what the various cards do and his strong decks, etc. I'm looking for career ideas that align with his obsessions. :) Take care! Diane www.aspergers-and-pdd.com