Author Archives: Marian Aiken

Daily Life and Housing: Experiences My Sons Face as Adults

I have sons living in almost every situation possible today. I would like to share my personal assessment and observations based on my experiences with my sons. There are so many pluses for adults with special challenges to continue to … Continue reading

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A Place for Alan

Alan and Donald returned home as a ‘temporary placement’ from a wonderful care home where they had lived for many years. Temporary for Donald meant a bit shorter time than it did for Alan. Finally, after 8 years of ‘temporarily’ … Continue reading

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Respect and Dignity

Trying to provide, understand and accept varying degrees of respect and dignity for my sons has been a struggle for many years. Recently this concept has become more challenging for me.  Am I old school? Burnt out? Has my expectations … Continue reading

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Conservatorship

When some of my sons turned eighteen years old, I applied for conservatorship for them. All of them were still living at home and for various reasons were, and still are, unable to make some decisions on their own. I … Continue reading

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Rusty

Parenting may be one of the most emotional experiences in life. At least it has been in my life and this week found me focused on Rusty. I have written elsewhere (Chapter 12 in my book DEREK) about Rusty’s medical struggles … Continue reading

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Journey of Faith and Loss

Several months ago an announcement was made in church that more or less left me in a state of shock. It took a bit for the information to sink in but by the time I drove out of the parking … Continue reading

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Planning Ahead

As a parent of adult sons who live with special challenges, I am learning how difficult and time consuming it can be to plan ahead for their future. To be honest, I have been aware of this for a couple … Continue reading

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Hiring Help

Trying to find people to help with my sons has been an ongoing challenge. When my sons were babies I thought it would be fairly easy to find someone to care for them while I was teaching classes or running … Continue reading

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My Experience with Hearing Aids

Today I did something I have been putting off for the past three and a half weeks – I went to Pacific Hearing Service to buy new batteries for my hearing aids and have the dry tubes in the earmolds … Continue reading

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Emotional Moments Filled with Pride

I normally don’t stop everything I had planned at the moment to write – but as I recall a conversation I had yesterday with one of my sons, I’m filled with emotion and gratitude. I am going to rename this … Continue reading

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