A Special Mother: Getting Through the Early Days of a Child's Diagnosis of Learning Disabilities and Related Disorders by Anne Ford

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Seventeen years before the Americans with Disabilities Act was enacted, I heard the words "learning disabilities" for the first time.

My daughter Allegra was diagnosed with severe LD, which affected every aspect of learning and created enormous challenges with friendship and social skills. Her disability became a looming presence in our family, always there, always influencing our lives in both small and large ways.

My life became consumed by it, with time devoted to doctors, testing services, tutors, pediatricians and neurologists, and, equally important, with time taken from my son without a disability. Everything changed, everything turned upside down and even though everything now seemed to revolve around my daughter's disability, I felt completely alone.

Read the rest of this op-ed on AOL News.

By the way, Gina Misiroglu of Red Room put me in touch with the AOL people, which is one of the great ways she's bringing traffic to Red Room and getting attention for Red Room's authors.