About our Daughter

I am mother to four wonderful daughters, ages 17, 19, 21, and 23, and wife to the greatest husband on earth. God has given us a special child to raise one who was diagnosed with early-onset bipolar disorder at the age of seven, though she showed signs of it from the age of fifteen months. She also has ADHD, Sensory Integration Disorder (sensory seeking), Dyslexia, and Non-Verbal Learning Disorder-NOS, all typical comorbidities for a bipolar child. In spite of the trials, she enjoys lacrosse, running (finished her first marathon in October of 2014!), and reading and writing her own books. I will share with you the many joys and sorrows we have faced and will face in the future with the hope that you may find better understanding about this mental illness caused by both chemical and structural abnormalities in the brain. I desire that you will be encouraged by this blog if you are also dealing with a bipolar child. Thank you for reading and sharing in our journey.

How Did You Know She Was Bipolar So Young?

I wrote a long explanation of how we came to this bipolar diagnosis in a child so young under my post of March 19th of 2009. If your child or a child you know bears similarities, please seek out a good psychiatrist and don't wait for "things to get better." Often they will simply get worse, and the longer a child is unmedicated, the more damage their brain can accrue. Early diagnoses and treatment are key to providing these children with a chance at a successful life later as a teen and an adult.
Never change, start or stop a medication without the approval of your child's physician!

Saturday, November 13, 2010

The Danger of the Laptop

Having a laptop is a great benefit, but also a great curse.  I don't think any home with a bipolar child should have easy access to a laptop.  Because it is portable, it can be used in locations other than right in front of me or my husband, even if we say she can't have it in her room, etc.  We have passwords but I have found that she can figure them out sometimes.  I probably won't sign her up for online homeschooling classes since that would be too much of a temptation.  We will stick to as much non-computer based curriculum as we can but she still has to learn how to write and edit papers, put together power point presentations, etc.  We live in an age where computers are now a necessity,  but we need to protect our kids all the more!
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