Meet an Author

Topics of conversation:

• What is Sensory Processing Disorder?  Signs, symptoms, and potential causes.
• Laird candidly talks about daughter Jamie's experience with SPD.
• Helpful resources for parents, plus inspiring advice and support from Laird.
• Current medical understanding of SPD, treatment protocols, public awareness.
• Lairds experience writing a memoir, publishing a book with a niche market, future projects including new book "Sensory Diet."

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Guest Post by Kaylin McFarren

Everyone during their lifetime is faced with the possibility of losing a dear friend, family member or loved one. Each of us along with terminally-ill patients has been known to experience the same steps of grief before coming to terms with acceptance.

1 – Denial

Upon hearing a disheartening report, the recipient immediately retaliates with a conscious or unconscious refusal to accept facts, information, or the reality of the given situation. It's a defense mechanism and perfectly natural. Some people can become locked in this stage when dealing with traumatic change and simply refuse to move on.

2 – Anger

Frustration can manifest itself in different ways. People dealing with emotional upset can be angry with themselves or with others – especially anyone close to them. Some lash out at God, avoid their workplaces, and even isolate themselves.

3 - Bargaining

This stage often involves attempting to bargain with a religious deity. Some individuals are driven to convert and others offer themselves in trade to save a dying loved one.

4 - Depression

This is the dress rehearsal or the practice run for the 'aftermath' although this stage means different things depending on whom it involves. It's a sort of acceptance with emotional attachment. It's natural to feel sadness and regret, fear and uncertainty. It demonstrates that the person has begun to accept the reality or brutal truth.

5 - Acceptance

Guest Post By Gale Laure 

Mr. Webster defines persistence as continuance in the face of opposition.  I have always thought of it as being stubborn and not giving up.  I suppose the opposite of persistence is procrastination.  We have all been faced with procrastination.  We become discouraged.  I have been no different.  When things get difficult for us, we, as humans, find it easier to procrastinate.  

When I decided to pursue my dream and publish my first novel, I believed nothing could stop me or even slow me down.  How wrong I was. 

This is my story. 

In August of 2007 after I had sent my novel to my publisher for publication, I received bad news.  During a routine check-up, my husband’s doctor had received some elevated lab results.  My husband had battled and beat cancer in 2004.  Was it back?  Terror filled my heart. 

In early September of 2007, my elderly mother was diagnosed with Bell’s palsy.  She kept me busy retrieving medicines.   My elderly father had a day of light chest pains.   Mid September my husband underwent a colonoscopy.  The results were negative.  I was relieved.  Later in the month came a repeat of the suspicious lab test for him.  Next came a body scan to search for the cancer.  I spent a whole day arguing with the insurance company for approval for these tests.   

Guest Post by  James Diehl

Between 1941 and 1945, tens of thousands of American men responded to the grave threat posed on the world by Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan. For nearly four years, these heroic men put their lives on hold to fight against evil on the battlefields of Europe, Asia and Africa.

They were selfless men who, almost to a man, felt they had a responsibility to defend the “Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave.” They’ll tell you today that they’re not heroes, but that they were merely doing their jobs.

Those beliefs and values are a big reason why men and women of that era became known as the greatest generation in history, as Tom Brokaw so eloquently stated a few years ago. The men who survived the horrors of World War II often withstood a dozen or more close calls with death – they are heroes, as are the ones who never made it home.

It makes me shiver to think what life would be like today had the Allies not won the war. America would certainly be a very different place in the 21^st century, as would the free world.

Think about it for a second. What if the Axis had won the war and imposed their will on the United States, mandating a similar fate to the one the Allies imposed on Germany in the post-World War II era?

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Guest Post by Yvonne Perry

If your child interacts with an invisible playmate, he or she is not alone or crazy. By the age of seven more than 60 percent of children have had at least one imaginary friend. Although not seen by grownups, the friend may be personified in a doll or stuffed animal. Some of these friends may reside constantly with your child while others simply drop by once in a while for a visit.

Sometimes an imaginary friend gets blamed for things that the child did. For example, my son’s imaginary friend named Peter got blamed for not picking up his wet towel and swimsuit after a visit to my mom’s pool one summer. It was actually my son who didn’t pick up his towel and swimsuit. Peter somehow missed getting in our car when we left Mom’s that day. I must have said something to discourage my son because when I refused to go back and pick up Peter, my son never mentioned his friend again. If I had it to do over, I would have turned around and drove back to Mom’s to get my son’s friend. When he was about five years old, my son’s son, Sidney, had sword battles with a group of playmates he called the Onks.

Is the invisible playmate contrived in the child’s mind or is having an imaginary friend a trait of a child who is interacting with the spirit realm? I’m inclined to believe that it is a sign that the child is in touch with his or her inner guidance.