About

My name is Jeannie Stone.  I am the mother of four wonderful children - the youngest three having special needs.  We live in a smallish college town (23,000) in the foothills of the Ozarks (that’s Arkansas). We are an hour away from Oklahoma, an hour away from Little Rock and two hours away from Branson, Missouri.  We are minutes away from the most beautiful vistas.

My husband is a hillbilly doctor working up the mountains (they have actually brought in a patient who lived in a cave) along with bears and elk and bobcats. He suffers from Asperger’s and an anxiety disorder.

My 16 year old son, Timmy, has Asperger Syndrome and Obsessive Compulsive tendencies. After going through a very rough early childhood, I home schooled him in third grade and again in sixth grade (actually, the school district considered him home bound that year) although he was able to attend school every day for band, gym and lunch with his friends as well as social skills therapy. 

My twins are nearly 14 yrs old.  My daughter, Caroline, was born deaf, with  bilateral hearing loss of 110 decibals.  She was aided at 17 months, received as intensive therapies as our state had to offer, attended St. Joseph Institute for the Deaf in St. Louis (left her in the dorm a week before her 5th birthday) for three years (our school district didn’t think she was smart enough to talk). The third year, we had an apartment in St. Louis (in addition to our home in Arkansas) because the commute had become so difficult physically and emotionally.

Her twin, Cater, is my child with Tourette Syndrome.  He was a chronic head banger from the time he was born.  I was so afraid for him as I heard him banging his little head so hard against the crib, and against the back of the car seat when we were in the car.  His rocking morphed into ticing with eyes rolling and shoulders twitching, etc… so that he was formally diagnosed in first grade.  Up to that point he was simply diagnosed with Chronic Tic Disorder. I just started home schooling with him in an attempt to lessen his stress (actually, he will be attending public school every day for band and an elective), so we might be better able to monitor his medication. He is the only one on meds.

I want you to know they are all doing remarkably well, but it has not been easy, and the issues just seem to shift as they get older.  Diligence, early identification and some place to scream and pray are the keys.

We have had to file for a due process hearing, home school, shadow our children in the back of the classroom for years, attend dozens of IEP meetings and parent advocacy meetings, meet with doctors, go through major surgery, and meet with therapists for years. So, although you may be dealing with totally different diagnosis, I bet we share some common ground.

I hope you find, in this site, a place to plop down and let it all hang out. We can help each other in this maze of raising children.  After all, it is the most signifcant duty we are charged with - to care, protect and love our children, and to help them learn to help themselves.  Happiness?  Yes, that is a grand and noble endeavor as well. May we all learn to glean a little happiness out of each day even if we have to squeeze till our hands are bloody!