TINY TIM IS ALIVE AND WELL
by J. L. Greger Many holiday stories focus on perfect children who are only naughty enough to be cute. In the real world, no child is as perfect as the ones in these tales. Maybe that's part of the appeal of Tiny Tim in Dicken's A Christmas Carol. Today we could call him a special needs child; in Dicken's time he would have been called #handicapped or worse. What are special needs children? Legally these children have been determined to require " special attention and specific necessities that other children do not." These children and their families may have to cope with physical problems (such as muscular dystrophy, chronic asthma, epilepsy), developmental impairments (including down syndrome, autism, dyslexia) and/or behavioral and emotional issues (like attention deficit disorder and bipolar disorder). In general, each #special-needs-child is unique, but all need the loving support of their family. In my #psychological #mystery Dirty Holy Wat...