Kimmb, Ben's wife, and their kids

I’ve known Ben for about twenty years and am proud to say I danced at his wedding. His wife was with me the night I met my husband-to-be but over the years we lost touch. Life does that to you.

When we started this site I sent a note to my Facebook friends and Ben was one of our very first community members. He signed right up and immediately created the Language and Auditory Processing Disorder group on behalf of his daughter.

Ben is an emergency room social worker on weekends (he spent years working with homeless people) but most of the time he’s a stay-at-home dad. He runs his kids around to all their activities, he bakes bread and he posts funny (and sometimes not quite safe for work) Facebook status updates. He has a dry sense of humor and a wry way of looking at things, which comes off curmudgeonly but he’s also an old softie who loves bird watching and gardening. Currently he and his wife are rehabbing his childhood home, which they just moved into and also fixing up their old house to sell. That’s the impetus for his sometimes blog, This Old Mess. (Go comment there — maybe then he’ll update again!)

I wanted to interview Ben because we have very few dads on the site (so far — come on, fathers! We’d love to have you!) and with Father’s Day this weekend, it seemed like a nice touch. So sit down with us, get to know him and check out his group!

What made you start the Language and Auditory Processing Disorder group?

I decided to stat the group because there is so little information available on language and auditory processing disorders. I wanted to learn more and hoped that I would be able to find other parents who wanted to know more, or who already knew more and would be willing to share. I am particularly gratified that several people have helped me out with resources and that I already know more about language processing disorders now that I did when I started the group.

Since finding out about my daughter’s disorder I have felt also felt isolated and unsure where to turn for help. I started the group because I wanted to break out of that isolation. I wanted to give and to get some emotional support from other parents with similar problems. I already feel less isolated and I have certainly felt supported by other parents.

Do you have any goals for the group?

My first goal is have more people join the group. Once we have a critical mass of 20 or 30 people, maybe we could have regular chats or even get a speech/language professional on the chat to answer questions. I would really love that. [Hear that folks? We need your participation! Know anyone whose child has a language or auditory processing disorder? Let them know we're here! -- admin]

Are there any things in particular that are really working for you on the site?

I like to be able to save links on the site. This has been helpful for me in looking at links others have posted and has been a great way for me to keep track of links that I want to visit. I have also enjoyed being able to send and receive messages from other group members. I hope to be using the chat function soon, but have not used it yet.

Can you tell me about a way that the community has helped you?

A group member recently told be about a book called The Source for Processing Disorders which is published by LinguiSystems. I ordered it and have just begun reading it. So far it has been very useful in helping me understand my daughter’s disorder. I need to emphasize that I have been looking for a resource like this book for 5 years and no speech/language therapist or teacher has been able to give me a resource. I surfed the Internet and pestered professionals and found nothing. I had started the group and been on the site for 3 weeks when another member told be about this book. This is a huge deal for me because I finally have a book which describes my daughter’s disorder in detail. I am hoping that the book will not only help me, but will help her school teachers next year.

One last thing. I joined the site thinking only of my daughter. However, my son has his own academic challenges and he can be behaviorally challenging. The Behavior Issues group has been extremely helpful in giving me ideas about what do to with my son. The lesson for me is that once I joined the site I did not know exactly were it would lead me, but that so far it has led me to some pretty good places.

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