I "retired" when I was 38 and have been a family man ever since.
Having a BA in Psychology has been a great boon in helping me understand family dynamics.
My Certificate in Early Childhood Education has also proven a valuable asset in that regard.
My son was diagnosed with Stickler's syndrome and was plagued with
countless medical problems. He also faced learning and behavioral
difficulties.
In dealing with all his afflictions, I gained extensive medical knowledge and invaluable coping skills.
I've chronicled the events that placed extreme stress and undue
challenges on our family in a book, titled "God's Gift." In reading it,
the reader will be drawn into our struggles and tribulations, and will
come away having gained valuable insights into areas such as behavior
modification, temper tantrums, dietary concerns, night-bottle syndrome,
scoliosis, Reye's syndrome, Stickler's syndrome, and so much more.
Visit my webpage: http://www.freewebs.com/mario5o/
Fact sheet:
Reye's
syndrome (Page 64)
Reye's syndrome is a potentially fatal disease that causes numerous detrimental effects to many organs, especially the brain and liver. It is associated with aspirin consumption by children with aspirinviral diseases such as chicken pox.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reye%27s_syndrome
Cataracts
(Page 78)
A cataract is a clouding of the eye's natural lens, which lies behind the iris and the pupil.
The lens is mostly made of water and protein.
As we age, some of the protein may clump together and start to cloud a small area of the lens. This is a cataract.
http://www.allaboutvision.com/conditions/cataracts.htm
Cleft Palate (Page 82)
Oral-facial clefts are birth defects in which the tissues of the mouth or lip don't form properly during fetal development.
A child with a cleft lip or palate tends to be more susceptible to colds, hearing loss, and speech defects. Dental
problems - such as missing, extra, malformed, or displaced teeth, and
cavities - also are common in children born with cleft palate.
http://www.kidshealth.org/parent/medical/ears/cleft_lip_palate.html
Behavior Modification (Page 98)
Behavior modification is the use of empirically demonstrated
behavior change techniques to improve behavior, such as altering an
individual's behaviors and reactions to stimuli through positive and
negative reinforcement of adaptive behavior and/or the reduction of maladaptive behavior through positive and negative punishment."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Behavior_modification
Stickler's syndrome: (Page 130)
Stickler syndrome, also known as hereditary arthroophthalmopathy, is a multisystem disorder that can affect the eyes and ears, skeleton and joints, and craniofacies. Symptoms may include myopia, cataract, and retinal detachment; hearing loss that is both conductive and sensorineural; midfacial underdevelopment and cleft palate; and mild spondyloepiphyseal dysplasia and/or arthritis.
http://www.healthline.com/galecontent/stickler-syndrome
Scoliosis (Page 131)
Everyone's spine has natural curves. These curves round our
shoulders and make our lower back curve slightly inward. Some people
have spines that also curve from side to side. Unlike poor posture,
these curves cannot be corrected simply by learning to stand up
straight. This condition of side-to-side spinal
curves is called scoliosis.
http://orthoinfo.aaos.org/topic.cfm?topic=A00236&return_link=0
Allergies (Page 170)
Allergies are abnormal immune system reactions to things that are
typically harmless to most people. When you're allergic to something,
your immune system mistakenly believes that this substance is harmful
to your body. (Substances that cause allergic reactions, such as
certain foods, dust, plant pollen, or medicines, are known as allergens.) In an attempt to protect the body, the immune system produces IgE antibodies
to that allergen. Those antibodies then cause certain cells in the body
to release chemicals into the bloodstream, one of which is histamine (pronounced: his-tuh-meen).
The histamine then acts on a person's eyes, nose, throat, lungs,
skin, or gastrointestinal tract and causes the symptoms of the allergic
reaction.
http://www.kidshealth.org/teen/diseases_conditions/allergies_immune/allergies.html