How do people with special needs receive permission to come to the United States for specialized healthcare? In this week’s episode of Parenting Impossible, host Annette Hines learns more about this complicated process from Immigration Attorney Linda Osberg-Braun. Ms. Osberg has served as the Deputy District Counsel for INS (now DHS) and was an Assistant Federal Public Defender in the Southern District of Florida. She is known for her ability to solve complicated immigration problems.…

Author: El Robertson | Pediatric Speech and Language Therapist BSc Before they can talk and even walk . . . babies love music. Whether it is dancing to music from the TV, clapping along to moms singing or banging spoons with daddy on the table, babies can’t get enough of those beats and tunes.  Music is a great tool (albeit noisy!) to unlock fun and playful opportunities to share enjoyment, experience, and communication. Do not…

Author: Annette Hines, Founder of Special Needs Companies When my daughter Elizabeth was young, I used to feel anxious and lose sleep over the transition from summer to the new school year, even as much as she was looking forward to it. Elizabeth was blind and in a wheelchair. She didn’t speak and used a lot of medical equipment to eat, breathe, and well, just live. But for me and so many other parents, the…

In this episode of Parenting Impossible, Host Annette Hines and her husband Mark Worthington discuss issues surrounding sending children back to school in the Fall. Annette addresses the additional challenges kids in the special needs community are facing during this transition period and shares her experience with distance learning. “This pandemic has given us an opportunity to look at our educational system for all children with fresh eyes – but particularly for our children with…

Back when my children were little, homeschooling was still a bit more radical than it is today given the current pandemic. For those of you who don’t know me, I was raising two daughters mostly alone after an early divorce. My oldest, Elizabeth, was profoundly disabled, blind, wheelchair-bound, intellectually impaired, and nonverbal. She was a 29-week preemie and very medically fragile. She was funny and sweet and loved butterflies. Diagnosed with a life-limiting mitochondrial disease…

Music therapy is a subject near and dear to Parenting Impossible Host Annette Hine’s heart. In this episode, Roman Music Therapy Services Executive Director Meredith Roman Pizzi joins Annette for an in-depth discussion on the difference music therapy can make in the lives of special needs families. Ms. Pizzi is a thought leader and a passionate champion for the music therapy profession. She’s devoted her career to developing business models for the delivery of music…

The COVID-19 pandemic has undoubtedly changed almost every aspect of our lives. This includes how we work, socialize, and learn. In Episode 59 of Parenting Impossible, Host Annette Hines and guest Dr. Ingrid Amorini-Klimek address what special needs education could look like in the future. Dr. Amorini-Klimek is a lifelong advocate for special needs families, the sister of a special needs brother, and has extensive experience as a special education teacher. For many years, she…