I have written several times over the past few months about the stress of parenting an adopted child with special needs. My adopted child has attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) as well as across-the-board learning disabilities. The combination has made third grade just oodles of fun. Right now, dealing with my special needs adopted child’s many issues is the largest stressor in my life.

We have now reached the halfway point of third grade, and things are not looking good. I spend an hour on homework with him each day, and I have to walk him through every single step because of his learning disabilities. He cannot read long passages or process multi-step questions. He also reads by the word, not the phrase, and frequently “forgets” what he read by the time he gets to the end of the paragraph.

The Social Security website has not yet updated its data for the top baby names in 2009, but some websites are speculating on the results. They don’t agree with one another, so I am skeptical about any of them being correct. However, it is fun to see the suggestions, so let’s take a look. What will be the Top Ten baby names for 2009?

Here are the top baby names for 2009 according BabyFirstYear. As a Gilmore Girls fan, I love numbers 5 and 7 for the baby girls’ names, but I am skeptical that this is an accurate list based upon the trends I have followed over the past few years.

I recently read a magazine article highlighting the issues with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in soldiers. The article talked about the soldiers’ reluctance to admit that they were struggling with PTSD or talk about their experiences. Also recently, a woman shared with me that her father, who fought in World War II, told her about a battlefield experience that he had never told anyone before.

I always find it interesting to hear the speculations of people without PTSD about why those of us with PTSD do not share our stories because, in most cases, the speculations are way off base. I can tell you why – We don’t want to burden you. When you have endured something as horrifying as being locked in a box for hours covered in blood or feces, or storming a beach through the body parts of your fallen comrades, you don’t know how much the other person can handle hearing. We don’t talk about it because we don’t want to burden you with the horrors that haunt our nightmares.

Hi, Everyone.

I just wanted to check in and tell you why my blogging has not been as regular as it usual is. The last week of my life, that song from Hee-Haw has been running through my head because it seems like everything has been blowing up. You can read about it on my personal blog here if you want to know the gory details. I had hoped to start back to blogging this morning, but I was up half the night with hub throwing up, and I also have my ADHD son at home (again) due to the snow. (He hasn't gone to school since Wednesday.) Let me unbury myself from family illnesses, drama, and a broken shower and keyboard, and I will dive back in. If anyone knows a Superman, Super Nanny, or a super housekeeper, please send any or all to my house for the day! :0)

As I have been sharing all school year, third grade has been a very tough year for my adopted child with special needs. My adopted child has both attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) as well as across-the-board learning disabilities. In North Carolina, third grade is the year that students are required to take end-of-grade standardized tests (EOG’s), so this is the year that everything is blowing up.

As I have shared before, my adopted child has an individualized education plan (IEP), so he has all sorts of modifications in the classroom as well as during testing. Despite all of these modifications, my kid is floundering, and it is painful to watch. His disabilities include the inability to make connections between elements that he knows or process multi-step tasks, and he needs both of these skills to be successful in third grade. Rather than showing improvement, my kid is getting left behind.

My son and I both love his school, but hub and I are considering moving him to a private school that specializes in working with children with ADD/ADHD and learning disabilities. This will be a huge change for us (as well as quite painful for both my son and me). However, what we are doing now is not working, so we have to look into what is the best match for our child.