Family Stories

Read or write and share with others. The stories shared in this space may be funny, heartbreaking, frustrating, or even ordinary. But they will all be real stories, from real families. Interested in contributing and sharing your story? Share A Story!

Barbe’s Story – Part I

September 9, 2014 By Tory Shanklin Leave a Comment

So here I am pretending I know what I’m doing in writing a “blog”, and to be completely honest, I have no idea what I’m suppose to say. Nor have I ever written “outside-the-box” (well, there was a couple poems for the magazine “Seventeen” many moons ago). People often ask me, how I got in Learn More

Today we celebrate!

August 20, 2014 By Tory Shanklin 1 Comment

Not so long ago, just a few short years , on the first day of school, I sat in the parking lot of my son’s school sobbing my heart out as he started school. He experiences autism, and needs a very high level of support.

My Journey to understanding respite…

July 25, 2014 By Tory Shanklin Leave a Comment

Nearly three years ago, all at once, my spouse and I became parents to three children, two of whom experience FASD. During the first year, we lived in an absolute dichotomous reality. The day was either good or, more frequently, hellacious. Nothing in-between. On good days, activities were predictable, routines went undisturbed, modifications were simple, Learn More

Graduation Day!

May 23, 2014 By Tory Shanklin Leave a Comment

Graduation Day. It’s here. After more than 15 years of school. A day filled with pride, excitement, anticipation…and relief. A day we were never sure we would have the opportunity to celebrate. There were no guarantees he would graduate. And, as with most things concerning Connor, he kept us guessing until the very last assignment Learn More

DREAMS WITHIN REACH: Parents Teach Reading

May 19, 2014 By Tory Shanklin Leave a Comment

Blond heads tilt together. My 5 year old son’s slender arm wraps affectionately around his 6 month old sister’s shoulders. Gently he grasps and moves her hand to stroke a picture in the book and then continues reading to her. Kaleb’s face beams and eyes shine as he shares one of his favorite activities with Learn More

The world from another point of view…

April 10, 2014 By Tory Shanklin 2 Comments

Let’s face it, being the parent of a child with special needs can be one of the most amusing jobs on earth. There are a lot of emotions that we experience as parents and family members. Often, the ones we talk about the most are negative and difficult to deal with, but sometimes, it is Learn More

My Guilt and its Impact on Caregiving

February 24, 2014 By Tory Shanklin 2 Comments

Susan Tanori is a mother of a daughter with autism and a Stone Soup Group Parent Navigator in Fairbanks, Alaska. Below she describes how a recent training she provided “became a confessional.” Read on to see how she opened up about some of the most difficult aspects of being a caregiver. Recently, I presented a workshop on “Caring for Learn More

How A Girl Overcame Her Fear Of Dogs To Enjoy The Family Pets

January 31, 2014 By Tory Shanklin Leave a Comment

Susan Tanori is a Stone Soup Group Parent Navigator in Fairbanks, Alaska. Her daughter has been diagnosed with autism. This is her story of how her family dealt with some of her daughter’s phobias using Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) and a process called “desensitization.” My daughter began to show signs of being afraid of dogs Learn More

Don’t Look Now, Your Behavior is Showing!

January 28, 2014 By Tory Shanklin Leave a Comment

When you are mad do you go into a stripped down room, sit down and think about what why you are upset? Most likely no. So then why do we do this with children? Education consultant Jo Mascorro takes a look at how we interact with children and challenges many popular parenting and teaching methods. Learn More

Welcome to the Stone Soup Group blog!

January 20, 2014 By Tory Shanklin 1 Comment

We are creating this space to share stories and spark conversation between our families and yours. We want this to be a safe, thoughtful, informative, practical connection for parents raising kids with special needs. As SSG’s Executive Director, I was asked to write the inaugural blog post. And, to be honest, I’ve procrastinated. I’ve started and stopped Learn More