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Letter to All Parents

To All Parents, 

     

No one loves or cares about your children more than you do. A mother. . .a father. . . legal guardian. . .whoever you are, if you have a child you know there is nothing in the world that matters more. 

When I was younger I remember watching the news, and seeing parents rescue their children from an array of different things. I have even lost a friend who drowned saving her younger cousins life. I was always the one to jump into an argument and make peace. My house was like an urgent care center for friends and family. Who needed stitches removed or their arm steri-stripped. Even if you just needed a cup of coffee and an ear, "We were and still are, always here." 

It was very strange to me that when we were the ones who needed help, or an ear, how everyone called us crazy and spoke behind our back. When my son and myself became sick we began doing our own research. When we shared with people the information we found, they said our sources were not reliable. Even if the source was the CDC or the Mayo Clinic or even our physician! I learned a very valuable lesson at that point. "People, who do not want to see what is in front of them-- can be blinder than the physically blind!" 

People say that parents know when something is wrong with their child. Whether they are five feet away or five million miles. Well, I believe that goes not only for parents but caretakers, friends, family, anyone you care enough about to create a bond with. Have you ever brought your child to the doctor because you know they are sick and the doctor cannot find anything? However, later that night or within a few days, your child is running a fever. No one knows your child better than you do!

So please if you have a bad feeling about a food, medication, a vaccine, anything! Do your research. Search for answers until you feel alright with whatever it is you need reassurance. Please! For your child's safety and your own DO NOT let anyone force you to do something against your better judgement!

~Christine~

Belly Breathing of a RAD child!

There are many different ways to identify the signs, most are very similar to asthma. Wheezing, coughing, shortness of breath. However there are other signs such as "Belly Breathing." Breathing is usually associated with the raising and falling of ones chest, on the other hand, there is "Belly Breathing." Belly breathing is where the stomach (diaphragm muscles) raise and fall. This is fine as long as it is in time with the normal breaths and not contradicting the chest. Over time a child with RAD may cause a spread diaphragm, this happens with RAD children because they are overworking the muscle which is located between the lungs and the intestines.  In case you are unsure what to look for to determine whether your child is a belly breather, here is a video:

This is one of the hardest things to have to deal with. However if your child does have RAD, its better to find out sooner than later. Get your child the help they need before it becomes to severe and the damage cannot be reversed.

Every child is different. I can only speak of what I know. As of right now, my son uses a nebulizer machine. He is suppose to take two treatments of Budesonide (generic Pulmicort) and three treatments of Xopenex (Generic Albuteral) per day. In case of an episode I am to give him up to three treatments of Xopenex back to back. In other words one right after another (checking his status in between each). If the belly breathing does not subside I am then to give him one and half teaspoons of Prednisolone (steroid medication that aids in opening the airway). I know this sounds like alot, but my son is 5 years old and weighs 56 pounds as well as being 1 inch shy of four feet tall. Again each child is different and dosages vary according to height and weight. If this series of medication works, then we visit the doctor in the morning. If it does not. . . then off to the hospital we go.

**Call an ambulance! There is no equipment to help your child in your personal vehicle. **

Banning Toys in Fast Food Meals

In my recent post "Beauty Truth and Realization" I spoke about childhood obesity. Well a week ago today (Apr 28, 2010) HealthDay News released that "Officials in Santa Clara County, Calif., voted . . . to forbid fast-food restaurants from offering promotional toys with children's meals if those meals don't meet nutritional standards set by the federal Institute of Medicine."  I can understand this push but is this going a little too far as to say a child cannot have a toy unless they eat a salad and fruit?

They believe that "the new law would level 'the playing field by taking away the incentive to choose fatty, sugary foods over healthier options,' Ken Yeager, president of the board of supervisors in Santa Clara County, told The New York Times."

 

Officials are afraid that children associate the "fatty, sugary foods" with the toy they recieve in the meal. therefore "What [they are] trying to do is de-link the connection between unhealthy food and toys."

This new law is "the first of its kind in the United States, [and] was passed by the board in a 3-2 vote [which] will take effect this summer after [the] final vote in May, The Times reported."

So what I am asking is for my readers to give me their comments. . . Is this a good things or a bad? Is it just another way the government is trying to control its people. Dont forget fellow New Yorkers. . .we are next!! NY may soon have a new tax on soda and juice drinks to help lower the consumptions of these foods!!

**CLICK HERE** For those who are interested in reading the article, "Citing Obesity of Children, County Bans Fast-Food Toys" from the New York Times mentioned above.

Q & A With Christopher Cruz Cullari

Across the country college university's have programs for students with disabilities. I have recently visited the Office of Disabilities Services on my own campus to see what accommodations the CUNY College of Staten Island has to offer its students. The office was full of all kinds of students, some with clearly visible impairments and others with what I later learned are called "invisible disabilities." It was there where I spoke to Interim Director Christopher Cruz Cullari. He began our meeting by telling me a little bit of background information about their program.

C.C.- We have, over 500 students registered for services, which is approximately 5% of the undergraduate population. The vast majority of students who are registered in our office have what's called invisible disabilities or what's commonly referred to as an invisible disabilit[y]. The largest group of which are students with learning disabilities, which is approximately 70% of our total population. The other 15%, would be students with psychological or psychiatric disabilities. The remaining 15%, would include a range of other kinds of disabilities, invisible or not. It could be students who are blind or visually impaired - students who are deaf or hard of hearing, students with Aspergers Syndrome - students with chronic medical conditions - students who may be users of wheel chairs for a variety of reasons.

C.H.- Do you feel that people on campus are more or less aware of the other people with disabilities or do you feel that they kind of tend to fall more into the stereotypical type?

C.C.- People when they think of our office, I think tend to think of the visible disabilities that they themselves identify in people. So that may be a person who uses a wheel chair, or a person who is blind, or visually impaired, or a person who is deaf or hard of hearing. They can tell those things sometimes by the equipment they use or just you know through observation. People tend to identify us mostly with those kinds of disability issues, and although we do work with students with those issues. They're not by far our majority. There's a need there to educate the college community and the community at large more about these issues. So I guess the answer is yes if I remember your exact question.

C.H.- So you feel that the students here are more or less educated- they need to be more educated in your opinion or?

C.C.- The-General-College-Student body . . . I would say they would benefit from more education about the work that we do. Definitely. Yeah.

C.H.-  Here in CSI do you feel that the students are more understanding when they see someone with a disability. . . are they more inclined to help them or do you feel that they fall into the category of . . "You fear what you don't know," and so they tend to shy away from student with disabilities?

C.C.- Generally speaking I found the students at CSI, now I have been here three years and I have also been at other college's and universities but, I found the students at CSI pretty accepting of their peers with disabilities. Yea, I have encountered sometimes people avoiding, maybe a certain kind of disability issue or noted maybe a lack of understanding or even a fear [from] people who might not have a disability, but overall I felt that the students at CSI are pretty comfortable with it. Pretty cool with it. Pretty accepting in general. (Slightly smiles)

C.H. What type of programs or services do you offer?

C.C.- Our biggest function is to provide accommodations that are mandated by law for students with disabilities. So, I guess that's our first and biggest charge and those accommodations can range from extended time on a test to . . . possibly looking at a particular assignment in a class, or in a course and looking at how can we modify this assignment because of a disability related issue. [Yet] still maintain the key learning outcomes that the faculty member you know wants all students to be able to learn.

An example of one of those kinds of accommodations -- lets say a student has a very serious anxiety disorder. A diagnosed anxiety disorder and they're in a particular class that's asking students to do a class presentation. The student  generally is doing well in the class. Is testing well -- is attending class regularly and doing appropriate participation in the class. But that the idea of this, very formal presentation is a really difficult hurdle to jump -- we might suggest that the student . . .video tape his presentation and show it to the class; as opposed to doing the presentation in front of the whole class. . . in real time. So, that might be an example of an accommodation that we would use that might be a little more complicated, and involve some more deeper dialogue with the faculty member. To make sure that we are not compromising the key learning outcomes of that activity.

C.H.- In the past I had a professor who was not very understanding of a fellow disabled classmate. Do you feel that the Professors are more understanding and that this was just a glitch in the teacher faculty here in CSI?

C.C.- While issues come up related to sensitivity or faculty understanding, I would say the majority of faculty "are" understanding and we try to do a lot of education with the faculty; although it is very difficult to reach all of them at any given time. With so many here as adjuncts and just with everyone being really really busy. But we try to visit every department at least once per academic year to kind of talk with the faculty. . . about disability related issues as they relate to higher education in college students. We feel that this is helpful. Will there be examples of faculty who maybe are less sensitive, sure, but if a student brings that to our attention we would be happy to have a [talk] with the faculty and sometimes they do. Regarding this issue that you bring up, if the student felt the need he could have come to me or another professional staff person and talked about it and we could have tried to address it.

C.H.- Do you feel that the programs could be improved or are they good the way they are?

C.C.- Well you know jumping back to some of the things our office does for a second and that might include what you are asking now- the first big thing we do is provide accommodations. The second thing we do, is try to have support services available for students - that go beyond what the law requires. We try to have tutoring particularly for first and second year students in the general education classes which is mostly reading writing and math.  So, we have things like that.

We have a program particularly for our freshman where we try to teach them about who they are as college students. Who they are as college students with disabilities. What the differences are between high school and college and what are some specific skills that . . . all college students should have to be successful. We do some technology training and we have a student organization that we sponsor that is open to students with, and without disabilities that's related to community service. We think that's good for a variety of reasons, but one of the reasons why we think it is particularly good -- is to kind of challenge the stereotypical thinking that students with disabilities or people with disabilities are going to accomplish less -- than people without. So, we have some really good key things regarding our program.

Do I think things can be better regarding our program? I mean yea, I do, and most of it would be related to resources. You know there is a limited number of resources so once we fulfill our mandated accommodation requirements that are essentially mandated by state and federal law. . .and also college policy-- certainly we have ideas for a more robust programing if we had the resources.

C.H.- When you talk about resources, what type of resources? Is it getting the authority to do it? or is it something the student body would be able to help aid in these programs?

C.C.- Probably not. I mean in a general way I would always say that I would be interested in working with students. Inside and out side the office, to see how we could collaborate to make life better on campus. Most of the issues really come down to funding and that's an issue that public colleges and universities across the state and really the country are limited by. So I would say even a fund raiser wouldn't necessarily be a fix to some of the systemic budget issues that colleges and universities have.

C.H.- In the time you have been here, has there been an increase of students with disabilities or an decrease?

C.C.- There has been an increase actually.

C.H.- There has been an increase?

C.C.- Yeah there has been an increase. We were in the mid 4's in 2007 and now we are in the mid 5's in 2010. So we have gone up considerably.

C.H.- Do you have any opinions on why that might be?

C.C.- There are a couple of things. I think one is that the K-12 system is probably doing a better job this generation of helping students with disabilities, be eligible for college. So there are more college ready students with disabilities in their senior year of high school, than maybe there was a generation ago. I also think that because of some programing changes that we've made through the years. I think, has helped us retain some of our students at higher numbers and increase student achievement . . . it's a combination of things.

C.H.- Do you think that people here (with the rate of disabilities rising,) do you feel it is coming out more because people are not afraid to allow everyone to know, that they have a disability. Do you feel they are more comfortable? allowing people to know they have a disability and getting the help that they need.?

C.C.- I think overall people are becoming more and more comfortable with those kinds of issues within themselves. I think some of it goes back to society getting more comfortable with those kinds of issues. Families addressing the . . . needs of their children more comprehensively and holistically including as it relates to self acceptance. So we are seeing a shift in that regard. Also the K-12 system is helping with that. There are still I think a critical mass of students with invisible disabilities though, who won't self identify with the office and will miss out on the accommodations that they could get.

C.H.- Do you feel some people with disabilities, some with less severe disabilities tend to abuse their privileges? (ex. parking and transportation)

C.C.- That is not the majority by far I mean are their instances where there are students abusing some of their rights and privileges? Yeah.  But, that is true in our office and that's true outside of the office. I would not say that happens at a higher rate here. But it does happen and when it does happen and we are made aware of it, we will confront the student on what we perceive is an appropriate use of the rights that come with having a diagnosed disability at the college level. So we will address it when we are aware of it.

**Remember a disabled person has feelings just like a non-disabled. If they need help they will ask. If you want to help them. . .ask. Sometimes being too over helpful may make them feel as though others do not believe they can do it themselves.**

**A special thanks to Christopher Cruz Cullari and the Office of Disability Services for being so kind and helping.**

Office of Disability Services

Christopher Cruz Cullari, Director (Interim)

Joanne D’Onofrio, LEADS Counselor

Gloria Alfano, Office Assistant

Location: Center for the Arts (1P), Room 101

Phone: (718) 982.2510

Fax: (718) 982.2117

Email: ODS@csi.cuny.edu

Graco Crib Recall

Parents purchase products for their children believing they are safe. People rely on well known companies to test the products and know what is being released. I am not speaking about someone lighting their shirt on fire and suing the place they purchased it. Adults should know a child left unsupervised in a swing that they did not buckle- IS GOING TO GET HURT. However, this morning walletpop.com's writer Mitch Lipka posted an article titled: Graco, Simplicity recall cribs after babies get trapped.

"About 217,000 Graco brand drop side cribs made by LaJobi Inc. are being recalled after nearly 100 reports of hardware failure that allowed the drop side of the crib to detack[sic]. Six children reportedly fell through the resulting opening and two others became trapped, the CPSC (Consumer Product Safety Commission) said." These are not the first "side drop cribs" to be recalled. There were also reports in 2008 when "a Massachusetts toddler suffocated after getting stuck between the mattress and the frame," and again when "the tubular metal framed cribs [were reported for] bending or coming apart." These malfunctions are not the parents fault, but I do feel that some of these incidents could have been prevented. As a parent any small noise an infant makes while sleeping, is a good enough reason to check on them. If as a parent you know there is something wrong with equipment, do not put your child in something you do not think is safe.

A child should be moved from their crib into a toddler bed as soon as they are too physically active or has outgrown the weight limits. It is understandable that some try to keep their children in the crib as long as they can to try to save, but it is not worth the safety of your child.

What Vitamin? In What Fruit/Vegetable?

Once Upon a Time. . . I had no idea which vitamins were in what foods. After being diagnosed with Pernicious Anemia, (a form of anemia mainly caused by the lack of vitamin B12) I had to teach myself which foods were high in which vitamins in an attempt to boost my immune system. This only worked slightly due to the fact that "Pernicious Anemia" is usually brought on because the stomach is failing to absorb the vitamins necessary for a balanced well being. The following "Color Coded Fruit and Vegetable Information and Examples" are provided by  http://www.disabled-world.com/.

** Click Here ** To link directly to the chart website for more information on "the nutrients found in the [below] fruits and vegetables," and to see which "have a significant impact on our health."

Red Fruits and Vegetables-

Contain nutrients such as Lycopene, Ellagic acid, Quercetin, and Hesperidin. These nutrients reduce the risk of prostate cancer, lower blood pressure, reduce tumor growth and LDL (Low-Density Lipoprotein) cholesterol levels, scavenge harmful free-radicals, and support join tissue in arthritis cases.

Examples: Beets, Blood Oranges, Cherries, Cranberries, Guava, Papaya, Pink/Red grapefruit, Pomegranates, Radicchio, Radishes, Raspberries, Red Apples, Red Grapes, Red Onions, Red Pears, Red Peppers (including bell and chili), Red Potatoes, Rhubarb, Strawberries, Tomatoes, and Watermelon

Orange and Yellow fruits and vegetables-

Contain Beta-Carotene, Zeaxanthin, Flavonoids, Lycopene, Potassium, and Vitamin C. These nutrients reduce age-related macula degeneration and the risk of prostate cancer, lower LDL (Low-Density Lipoprotein) cholesterol and blood pressure, promote collagen formation and healthy joints, fight harmful free radicals, encourage alkaline balance, and work with magnesium and calcium to build [strong] healthy bones.

Examples: Apricots, Butternut squash, Cantaloupe, Cape Gooseberries, Carrots, Golden Kiwifruit, Grapefruit, Lemon, Mangoes, Nectarines, Oranges, Papayas, Peaches, Persimmons, Pineapples, Pumpkin, Rutabagas, Sweet Corn, Sweet Potatoes, Tangerines, Yellow Apples, Yellow Beets, Yellow Figs, Yellow Pears, Yellow Peppers, Yellow Potatoes, Yellow tomatoes, Yellow Watermelon, and Yellow winter/summer squash

Green vegetables and Fruit-

Green vegetables contain Chlorophyll, Fiber, Lutein, Zeaxanthin, Calcium, Folate, Vitamin C, Calcium, and Beta-Carotene. The nutrients found in these vegetables reduce cancer risks, lower blood pressure and LDL (Low-Density Lipoprotein) cholesterol levels, normalize digestion time, support retinal health and vision, fight harmful free-radicals, and boost immune system activity.

Examples: Artichokes, Arugula, Asparagus, Avocados, Broccoflower, Broccoli, Broccoli Rabe, Brussel Sprouts, Celery, Chayote Squash, Chinese Cabbage, Cucumbers, Endive, Green Apples, Green Beans, Green Cabbage, Green Grapes, Green Onion, Green Pears, Green Peppers, Honeydew, Kiwifruit, Leafy Greens, Leeks, Lettuce, Limes, Okra, Peas, Sno Peas, Spinach, Sugar Snap Peas, Watercress, and Zucchini

Blue and purple fruits and vegetables-

Contain nutrients which include Lutein, Zeaxanthin, Resveratrol, Vitamin C, Fiber, Flavonoids, Ellagic Acid, and Quercetin. Similar to the previous nutrients, these nutrients support retinal health, lower LDL (Low-Density Lipoprotein) cholesterol, boost immune system activity, support healthy digestion, improve calcium and other mineral absorption, fight inflammation, reduce tumor growth, act as an anticarcinogens in the digestive tract, and limit the activity of cancer cells.

Examples: Black currants, Black salsify, Blackberries, Blueberries, Dried plums, Eggplant, Elderberries, Plums, Pomegranates, Prunes, Purple Belgian endive, Purple Potatoes, Purple Asparagus, Purple Cabbage, Purple Carrots, Purple Figs, Purple Grapes, Purple peppers, Raisins

White fruits and vegetables-

Contain nutrients such as Beta-Glucans, EGCG (Epigallocatechin Gallate) , SDG, and lignans that provide powerful immune boosting activity. These nutrients also activate natural killer B and T cells, reduce the risk of colon, breast, and prostate cancers, and balance hormone levels, reducing the risk of hormone-related cancers.

Examples: Bananas, Brown pears, Cauliflower, Dates, Garlic, Ginger, Jerusalem Artichoke, Jicama, Kohlrabi, Mushrooms, Onions, Parsnips, Potatoes, Shallots, Turnips, White Corn, White Nectarines, and White Peaches

***Remember these are only vegetable and fruits! You still need to eat other foods such as meats and dairy to fulfill a healthy diet. Consult a food pyramid if you are unsure. At http://www.mypyramid.gov/ they will help you create your own personal pyramid, see the differences between fats and oils, the contrast in the amount and products children should eat "vs." what adults should eat.***