Yoga classes may be beneficial for children, but should be taught by certified and responsible instructors, like all physically demanding activities for children and especially for those who have developmental disabilities, motor planning delays, physical challenges, or chronic health conditions.

Use of restraint boards or passive restraints for medical or dental procedures can be frightening and traumatizing for patients with developmental disabilities and those who are unable to communicate due to injury or illness; often insulting to Native Americans to refer to misuse as Papoose Boards.

Daughters with developmental disabilities may have even more difficulties than their mainstream peers expressing their questions and concerns about the physical changes that occur at puberty. Planning and preparing for a daughter's first period can help her become more adept and confident.

Studies of families who include a child with a disability show them to be fairly ordinary, even though inspirational stories may describe them as extraordinary. There is anecdotal evidence that many families raising children with multiple disabilities or chronic health concerns are somewhat strange.

Families question the uneven funding of research into treatment and support for Down syndrome compared to investments in prenatal testing. However, we should be encouraged by the comparative funding of treatment research now compared to even a decade ago. It also benefits the general population.

May is IEP season but for most parents negotiations for the next school year's individual education plan can extend into June or July, or be carried over to that start of the next school year. Incoming kindergarteners may miss special events welcoming mainstream 5 year olds to their local schools.

Children with asthma and allergies can live much fuller lives today than any time in history. Parents whose children have asthma and allergies educate extended family, school staff and other caregivers about the extra risks their children face every day.

Sometimes what seems like a thoughtless design incorporating a disability awareness message or function is misinterpreted by those who have not thought out the actual challenges that a person with that disability experiences or assumes the person with a disability has limits they do not experience.

Teaching children what Mother's Day means and seeing them delight their moms with gifts and cards is why the holiday was invented. Many kids with disabilities enjoy making a macaroni necklace, one of a kind bracelet, decorated photograph, computer designed artwork, advocacy pin or thank you note.

A quarter century after children with Down syndrome and other developmental disabilities demonstrated the benefits of mainstream kindergarten for themselves and their classmates, parents are still finding obstacles to enrolling their 5 year olds in neighborhood schools with their mainstream peers.