Special Family Network

This is a teen-made video on how easily a child can be exposed to peanuts. It is very good, especially for a teen-made production.

This article reminds us of how wide spread food allergies have become. If you have a child with food allergies, it is very important that you inform the school that your child attends so that they can be sure not to accidently expose your child to that particular food.

Parents who do not have a child with food allergies must learn to accept that the quick and easy peanutbutter sandwhich that you fix every day just might prove fatal to another child. It might not be as easy for you, but think about how you would feel if it was your child who had the allergy and could die from the exposure.

This is a good vidoe on how to use an Epi-Pen. It is very important that everyone knows how to use this life saving device with the rise of allergies in this country.

Doctors in Colorado have been experimenting with Alzheimer Disease drugs and they believe that these medications may help reverse the learning deficits that are associated with Down Syndrome. This article is very informative and shows a lot of promise for the 350,000 plus people with Down Syndrome in this country. There is also a video on the left hand side of this article well worth watching.

While this article does show promise, it also reminds us that Down Syndrome receives the least amount of funding of all the diseases and disorders that the government gives funding for research. If you have a child with Down Syndrome, it is very important to have a voice and use it to help those you love. Write letters to your representatives, tell people about your child. There are medications that may help people with Down Syndrome, but unless more money is given to research, we may never see these drugs used in our life time.

I think that if a person has “normal” vision that it is very difficult for them to imagine what it is like to be visually impaired. This is an interesting video that shows how some people with visual impairments see. It certainly gave me a new perspective on how life would be different if I started to lose my eyesight.

This is an informative video about Calvin, a 10 year old boy with Type 1 Diabetes and the struggles that he and his family faces every day.

This is a wonderful article about a mother who has two daughters with Down Syndrome and how she encourages parents who have babies diagnosed with Down Syndrome before birth not to abort their children.

An article about the 35th annual National Down Syndrome Congress convention held in Kansas City shows how much times have changed in just the past 25 years.

As many of you probably know, dealing with health insurance companies is almost worse than dealing with your child’s condition. This is a video about a family who has a child with Hemophilia and all of the struggles that they are going through with insurance. For those of you fighting with evil insurance companies, know that you are not alone.

An interesting article on how fish oil might help protect the eyesight of premature infants. This is a very informative article and it brings hope to the parents of preemies everywhere.

This is a very heartwarming video about a family that had two premature children one year apart from each other. For those of you with preemeis, know that you are not alone and there is so much hope now for those born too soon.