I'm a mother of 8 children. 6 of them are still living.
We live in The Netherlands, a tiny country in Europe below sealevel.
I speak Dutch. English has become a kind of second language. I can understand German well, and French and Swedish a bit, and Japanese less.
I think I make terrible mistakes at times, but at least I try!!!

I like to do many things, but usually there isn't enough time for: singing, making music, knitting, crochet, gardening,etc etc.
I've been a dedicated balletdancer and -teacher, and if someone would ask me I would start teaching immediately. I love making choreographies.
I also like to draw, but there's not enough rest to do so.
Partly because I'm studying to become a bagpiper.
So I'll design my own pages and I value the work of others dearly. Occasionally I make an adoptable.

I don't have the easiest family and I feel that my studies in psychology and education are of great help.

Nyo (14) is diagnosed as being autistic (or PDD-NOS with strong autistic features).
After a reasonably quiet time at school during the first years, the last year of primary school was a disaster, mainly due to a very inexperienced teacher and a principal, who tried to hide every problem untill they were too big to handle, and who wasn't able to feel into the world of a child that struggles with himself.
It resulted in me homeschooling him, which is not very common in our country.

He's visiting a school for special education the last 1 years, but he's got grave problems with social interaction. The school is very well equiped to solve learning problems, but the people dealing with him are not very equipped to handle problems of autistic children.
they're very willing though, which has resulted in teambuilding around Nyo.

Nyo had had therapy, but it didn't have much result. He needs constant careful guidance and repeated learning of social skills.

Thami (15) is suffering from an information processing disability, with symptoms like dyslexia and ADHD.
With him we went through the wellknown story of mom complaining about dyslexia and the school ignoring the problems.
I won't tell you how often the school looked at me in such a way so I knew they thought I was lying when I told them we'd been bussy with Thami's homework for hours and hours on end.
Last year after the summervacation he started to go to a school for special education, and things are going far better.
In fact, since he's on Ritalin (not very willingly started by us) his behaviour has improved a lot.
Thami has danced with a bulgarian ensemble and was on tour to Bulgaria last summer.

Sadly the ensemble has stopped.
He's now deep into puberty, experimenting to cross the boundaries.

We expect one of the twingirls: Djenne, to battle with the same problem as Thami, but she doesn't show hyperactivity.
She's behind in reading more than 12 months!!! Can't believe that after all the effort I've put into it.
This schoolyear is a difficult one as the school doesn't have a remedial teacher and a pedagogue (an person diagnosing and treating learning disorders) anymore. Luckily she's very intelligent and has a great memory, so she compensates a lot.
This schoolyear she's got one of her favorite teachers, who keeps a closer watch than her former teachers on her prgression.

Djenne loves to observe people, she already did as a baby.

She loves drawing, ballet, learning the bagpipe, barbies (the fake ones. LOL!), glueing things together and a lot more.
She's got brown eyes, brown hair, and a skin that tans easily.

Yinti, her twinsister, has had 2 years ago an awfull year with a teacher that was a bother to both child and parents.
I'm not going into that at the moment.

Last year she was happy with her new teacher. No problems going to school or coming home anymore.
We see her big smile again every day as she twirls through life.
This year she's got the teacher she adores untill janyary. After that a teacher we don't like, so we'll wait what happens then.
Yinti is a very slim girl that can eat tons! LOL!
Who would have thought that during the exchange transfussions after birth? (Both girls were rhesusbabies).

Yinti is one of the best sleepers I know, and she does need a lot of sleep. When she's awake she's always bussy with the same hobbies Djenne has.
She loves to created dances and likes to crochet at the beginners level.
She's got grey eyes, blonde hair and her skin is milkwhite (or red. LOL!).

The oldest of 20 has got severe forms of Asperger syndrome and ADD.
There's nothing wrong with his intelligence, but his short term memory is very bad. (It's worse than Thami's.)
He went rather well through his first years of life, but the last years he seems to deteriorate.
He functions far behind his age and needs a lot of persuasion to do things.
The way it is now, he'll never be able to live on his own.
As he wants to learn to live on his own we're trying to find a facility where he can live in a house with young people with the same problems and where he gets enough guidance.
We already know that's a long and difficult road, but maybe he learns more from strangers...

He can cook well though and he's great at teaching elderly to use the computer.

Right now he's studying ICT.

And there's Lars (17), the second boy of the four.
He already crawled in his crib, much to the amusement of the nurses.

And when they turned him on his back he had such a look on his face that they called him "the mayor."LOL!
Well, we'll see if he'll even be one. LOL!

He went to the ballet-academy in another town (travelling long hours each day) untill he got a permanent injury.
He then started skateboarding and photography.
He has learning problems too and is going to a school where he's prepared for a job in the graphical world.
His ambition is to become a photographer and a filmmaker.
He's already made quite some good skateboardingshots. With his friends he makes little videomovies. Preferrably from skateboarding.

Last year he worked for school for some time at a printing bussiness and enjoyed it very much.

Their father shows autistiform behaviour too, which became very apparent the last few years.

The first years of our marriage he seems to be pleasantly calm. LOL!

Two years ago we were in the middle of a divorce, because we have no partner life at all, but we stopped the procedure after the government changed some very important financial things, and it became clear that after a divorce we wouldn't be able to provide enough support for the children to go through their schooltime.
So we stopped the legal divorce.
He lives here and with that all is said.
We agreed that if ever I'll meet someone I'm free.

He works in another town and leaves aerly and is at home late.
So almost all decisions and actions for the family are mine.

So I'm the leader of the nuthouse, the therapist of my husband and children, trying to change the world on my own. LOL!

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