Blog entry defending Stapleton attempted murder down players

Page 3 of 4 [ 55 posts ]  Go to page Previous  1, 2, 3, 4  Next

ASPartOfMe
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 25 Aug 2013
Age: 66
Gender: Male
Posts: 34,240
Location: Long Island, New York

25 Sep 2014, 1:31 pm

I don't know if this helps but we could be happy and not show it in a normal way. I often am asked what is wrong?, what is bothering you? because I am grimacing. I am that way usually because I am hyperfocising on something that interests me. We have had several threads here about this.

I wish that scientists would work on ways to have autistic s and NT's to communicate better. Signing has been an effective way for deaf and hearing worlds to communicate. Translator and now translation software have allowed people who speak different languages communicate. So why can't it be done for us? The answer is the money, time and resources that could be used for that purpose we is being used to "cure" us or make us as NT's like.


_________________
Professionally Identified and joined WP August 26, 2013
DSM 5: Autism Spectrum Disorder, DSM IV: Aspergers Moderate Severity

“My autism is not a superpower. It also isn’t some kind of god-forsaken, endless fountain of suffering inflicted on my family. It’s just part of who I am as a person”. - Sara Luterman


btbnnyr
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 18 May 2011
Gender: Female
Posts: 7,359
Location: Lost Angleles Carmen Santiago

25 Sep 2014, 3:37 pm

I know some parents of non-verbal teenager, and they built a whole system to teach him academic subjects like math, science, reading, which keeps his mind engaged and his cognition developing. He seems happy and focused on what he is learning, and he is not aggressive or violent. He also tests out as severely intellectually disabled on all standard tests, because he doesn't seem to understand the questions. But using a teaching system that he can understand, he is able to learn. And this system is legit to directly teach academic subjects in a way that fits who autistic people think, not something bizarre and voodoo like rapid prompting. It seems that one way to prevent development of aggression, violence, frustration that leads to both, improve communication and attention, etc etc etc, is to teach interesting things from an early age instead of having the child go through 40 hours a week of behavioral therapies in which they don't understand what they are doing. Their minds at not engaged on anything interesting, and they don't learn much communication skills, and usually kids who remain non-verbal past age five or so find it impossible to pick up language from standard therapies.


_________________
Drain and plane and grain and blain your brain, and then again,
Propane and butane out of the gas main, your blain shall sustain!


WelcomeToHolland
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 5 Jan 2014
Gender: Female
Posts: 583

25 Sep 2014, 5:40 pm

ASPartOfMe wrote:
I don't know if this helps but we could be happy and not show it in a normal way. I often am asked what is wrong?, what is bothering you? because I am grimacing. I am that way usually because I am hyperfocising on something that interests me. We have had several threads here about this.

I wish that scientists would work on ways to have autistic s and NT's to communicate better. Signing has been an effective way for deaf and hearing worlds to communicate. Translator and now translation software have allowed people who speak different languages communicate. So why can't it be done for us? The answer is the money, time and resources that could be used for that purpose we is being used to "cure" us or make us as NT's like.


My husband's concentrating facial expression looks angry to me, too. But he also smiles. Anyway, my son has a video camera and he makes videos every day, and also takes pictures (it does both). I print all of his pictures and he likes to look at his pictures and place them in a particular order (not chronological). His videos are also very strange. I have brought this to all of his teachers and therapists and they tell me it's random and it means nothing. I know it means something because when he's organising the pictures, there is no way that's random. It's very purposeful. But I don't understand it. It may not be intended for me because he never brings me over to look or anything, but I would LOVE for someone to take me seriously and actually look at this and translate it! But of course anyone who "translates" it now, I'd have to wonder if they were right- I always worry about people putting words into his mouth, since he can't correct them.

btbnnyr wrote:
I know some parents of non-verbal teenager, and they built a whole system to teach him academic subjects like math, science, reading, which keeps his mind engaged and his cognition developing. He seems happy and focused on what he is learning, and he is not aggressive or violent. He also tests out as severely intellectually disabled on all standard tests, because he doesn't seem to understand the questions. But using a teaching system that he can understand, he is able to learn. And this system is legit to directly teach academic subjects in a way that fits who autistic people think, not something bizarre and voodoo like rapid prompting. It seems that one way to prevent development of aggression, violence, frustration that leads to both, improve communication and attention, etc etc etc, is to teach interesting things from an early age instead of having the child go through 40 hours a week of behavioral therapies in which they don't understand what they are doing. Their minds at not engaged on anything interesting, and they don't learn much communication skills, and usually kids who remain non-verbal past age five or so find it impossible to pick up language from standard therapies.


I wrote a novel here, so anyone can feel free to skip over this...sorry.

And now we are back to the expectation that parents of autistic children are all super humans with unlimited abilities. Some are- I'm not. That's great for those people and it probably does indicate that I'm just doing it wrong, but without knowing what I should be doing, that's not helpful. Maybe they should write a book. I've tried really, really hard to figure this out. I've read a lot about autism, and different methods of teaching, and so on, and I'm open to "outside of the box". One thing I think I've succeeded at is making an autism-friendly environment at home- our lives are completely tailored around them. You have to understand that my failure at everything else is not due to lack of caring or effort- I've done everything that I know how to do. I'm not under the impression I've got this all figured out- I am always open to ideas of things to do.

I have no idea how I could teach my son science, math, or reading because he doesn't project anything back. For all I know, he may know how to read and do calculus, but I have no way of knowing because he doesn't do it. He doesn't look at books, has no interest. He doesn't draw or write. He doesn't actively seek out materials for science that we did (we do things like a sheet of baking soda and then dropping a mixture of vinegar and food colouring on the baking soda). So I don't know how to teach him complex things- all I know how to do is build on whatever he is doing and hope he's getting something out of it. He does a lot of visual stimming, and I try hard to provide lots of interesting things to look at (mirrors, magnets, marble run, shiny things, lights, etc.). He loves looking at the marble run. That's about all I know how to do. For therapy, he doesn't do any standard ABA anymore (hasn't done straight up ABA in ages now). In language therapy, they are attempting to teach typing (he can do letter recognition but that's it) and sign language (he knows some but does none spontaneously).

Currently he only regularly responds to fewer than 10 one-word commands... HOWEVER on very rare occasions, he will respond to something really complex (I always talk to my kids as if they are listening and understanding, just in case they actually are). When he was around 4, they had ZERO success in ABA- nobody could get him to do anything- it took one person operating his arms and another person "playing catch" to get him to play catch. Ridiculous (that's why I'm not a big ABA fan). Anyway....one day my husband bought a cake for a birthday and he hid it. I asked him where it was in front of our son, and he said something like "In the top left-hand corner opposite the fridge behind the coffee maker" (something fairly complex). The next minute my son was on the counter and I watched him instead of stopping it- he went straight to the cake (he knew exactly where it was, and there was no way he could have known that before because he wasn't there when it was hidden)! That was 11 years ago. So I KNOW he has the ability somewhere. I know there's stuff going on his mind. I don't treat him like he's an idiot because I'm 100% certain he's not- but I still don't have much success. And he's still aggressive - his aggression is much less towards me- it's mostly towards himself and other people (like his teachers).

The hopelessness is not because I think my son is a useless thing with no potential. It's that I don't have the answers and neither does anybody else that we are in contact with. It's depressing to know that you have failed your kid, and your failure has meant they are so unhappy that they bite their hands until they are completely scarred, and bang their head so it's constantly bruised, and they will never have any independence, or be able to make choices in their life, and when you die, they'll probably wind up locked up and sedated.


_________________
Mum to two awesome kids on the spectrum (16 and 13 years old).


aghogday
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 25 Nov 2010
Age: 63
Gender: Male
Posts: 11,561

25 Sep 2014, 8:33 pm

^^
A great difficulty in resolving the real difficulties with Autism, is the concept of Autism is a behavioral one based on generalities of successful human reciprocal social communication.

http://katiemiaaghogday.blogspot.com/20 ... ho-is.html

I did an exhaustive study of the complexity of defining it per any one person with consistency at the link above, rather than taking up too much space here.

Autistic people range so differently that really only each individual can hope to relate what works for them that might work for someone else.

I was a non-verbal child until age four, but had what my mother called almost 'telepathic' ability in understanding what was going on around me non-verbally. As an example one day she was muttering about losing her keys and I ran into the bedroom before I could speak at age 3 and brought her keys to her. Another time I fell on a comb and lacerated my cornea, and the doctor said don't touch that bandage, and no I never did. Yes, again, before I could speak.

My condition of Autism ranges in about 10 percent of cases and is associated with Hyperlexia per pattern thinking, precocious reading, verbal language delay, and difficulty with comprehension of remembering fictional stories as repeating them back requires active verbal skills, but with the caveat of extremely good rote memory, which kept me at the top of my class all the way through college; there were no strict requirements for oral presentations and I had to wing a lot of 'paraphrasing' to get a paper written, as I really didn't develop good verbal or writing skills until my 40's and 50's.

But never the less, I made good grades, was well mannered, and was good at computers, and somehow those skills in government work, were enough to get me financially independent, albeit permanently disabled for five years with a five year stint with Autistic Burnout, aka total Human Exhaustion, and 19 medically documented disorders.

To be honest I had no idea how my non-verbal expressions looked on the outside of me to others, until I started taking selfies just last year. In fact, I never saw myself as particularly male of female, as the stereotypes of gender expectations never seemed to apply to me, in either direction really.

Additionally, my major problem as a child identified in the 60's as an infant as hyperactive, is we live in a world where one is expected to sit still, remain motionless, and stay focused on a teacher and a lecture, almost all day. Perhaps my biggest problem was I lost myself so intently in the focus of the learning process, i often did not even think about moving. Thank goodness for some individual sports like Tennis, or I might have never learned to even get around this world. And seriously, I was not comfortable in my own skin as far as standing still or walking alone, until I started dancing in a TAI CHI like balanced movement that I have made as art, with no lessons. Almost amazingly, in doing this, my non-verbal communication and emotional life became much richer, and I actually went from an extreme introvert to extrovert, as many hyperactive children are, per ADHD, when truly set free in the world.

Your comment about your son liking to look at his pictures, made me think of my experience with selfies so I thought this comment might encourage you, as it may really eventually connect him better to non-verbal communication and emotion too.

And if he ever wants to dance in the middle of Super-Walmart.

My advice is to let him do it.

I did 2000 miles last year, in all stores as my wife shops, as measured on my Nike GPS sports watch, and i've never looked back.

Of course I no longer have to meet the social norm, as I am retired. This 'little' adventure therapy has also eliminated all anxiety including fairly severe social anxiety out of my life, from most of the rest of my life, with severe anxiety and panic attacks at the time of total human exhaustion.

In a lot of ways culture is prison; both for folks on and off the spectrum.

I dance; I connect; I Love life; but no there was a stretch of 5 years a little over a year ago, where I could not connect to anyone in real life, and the potential of ever dancing and singing again, or even feeling love, was the farthest thing I could possibly imagine.

But the great thing is, the study of epigenetics and neuroplasticity shows that humans have great potential for change in one lifetime, to adapt to the environment, if properly challenged. The bad thing is that epigenetic and neuroplastic change can be negative with improper challenges that can and do vary depending on each individual.

It's a journey, but what I know from my life is, there is always hope, even if one cannot feel it at all.

I wish your son the best; let him create whatever he can, and perhaps he one day, will be happy and free too. I certainly HOPE so...:)

And I have always had extreme empathy where I could not even separate myself from other people. And that, in part, is probably why the selfies help. My Psychiatrist tells me that some Autistic folks are almost born without an ego, and I can vouch, personally, that is true, per many things of not getting attached to cultural expectations and truly limitations where ego is involved per religious association, gender roles, etc.

I create my ego now with an active process of the selfies, with emotional communication, and it is like being the director, producer and actor of my own play.

There are so many people in our world my age and older and younger, that have found amazing ways to adapt; and will never be diagnosed on the spectrum. If not for the total human exhaustion and medical illness, I probably would still be doing the 9 to 5 grind.

Whatever works is what is important. Finding what works, yes, can unfortunately take decades. That is why I take the time and effort to share my experiences whether or not someone else can relate verbally or not.

I know there are people like you reading in the audience, and if I could prevent one person from experiencing the hellish parts of life I have experienced that alone will most definitely mean my existence here is important, as I truly believe that about every human being no matter the challenge or gifts of life, that many of do share, and many of us don't. Diversity is what makes us human. And I dam sure celebrate mine now, in almost every eccentric way imaginable, but at least for me, no one will be able to say 'Kilroy was not here'. ;)@least for now. :)


_________________
KATiE MiA FredericK!iI

Gravatar is one of the coolest things ever!! !

http://en.gravatar.com/katiemiafrederick


btbnnyr
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 18 May 2011
Gender: Female
Posts: 7,359
Location: Lost Angleles Carmen Santiago

25 Sep 2014, 10:09 pm

The parents already started a nonprofit to spread their work to the local school districts, but there were many parents who believed in 40-hour a week of behavioral therapies that had little positive effect and probably negative effects, just like they had zero effect on this kid and others like him. It is true that parents did not know what to do when their kids were young, so they could only believe the professionals telling them that behavioral therapies were the answer, but then eventually the professionals would also say that their kid has hit a plateau of development, is unlikely to make further gains, now has a bunch of behavioral problems to manage, and should be institutionalized. The whole system of ABA and speech therapy doesn't work for a big part of the autism spectrum, such as non-verbal kids who have severe problems with abstract thinking. It makes them miserable and blocks their development in positive ways. These are things that are true for many kids, and if their parents did not see through the system early, then the kids stayed in it and likely didn't make much progress. Once the parents reject the system, they usually blame themselves for wasted years, and it is emotionally horrible for them to know that they didn't make the right decisions. But it is what it is, the past can't be changed, can only move forwards some bester way.


_________________
Drain and plane and grain and blain your brain, and then again,
Propane and butane out of the gas main, your blain shall sustain!


ASPartOfMe
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 25 Aug 2013
Age: 66
Gender: Male
Posts: 34,240
Location: Long Island, New York

26 Sep 2014, 3:45 am

I won't pass my self off as a severe autism expert. All I can do is use my autistic brain to be logical about what I read. If he is being less hostile to you then others or himself then maybe you not the failure you think you are. I strongly believe you have the right instincts about him not being random.



Loooooong shot suggestions you have probably tried, but just in case you haven't
Show him videos of

"Let it Go" from "Frozen" the Autism version
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-DXy8F2TOYM[/youtube]
You have probably have heard of Carly Fleishman the severely autistic girl who was similar your son while still non verbal blogs and became an advocate.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xMBzJleeOno[/youtube]

If he is a visual stimmer and word commands are not working he might be a visual thinker.


_________________
Professionally Identified and joined WP August 26, 2013
DSM 5: Autism Spectrum Disorder, DSM IV: Aspergers Moderate Severity

“My autism is not a superpower. It also isn’t some kind of god-forsaken, endless fountain of suffering inflicted on my family. It’s just part of who I am as a person”. - Sara Luterman


WelcomeToHolland
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 5 Jan 2014
Gender: Female
Posts: 583

27 Sep 2014, 8:30 pm

Thanks aghogday, that was inspirational. Also thanks ASPartOfMe, I'd not seen the autism Frozen video - very cool. I've read Carly's book and a lot about her. It's great but it always feels like that someone else's kid and that's not going to happen to us (although that would be the end goal by attempting to teach him to type). He doesn't really watch things on TV/youtube- he might glance over but then he's back to stimming, wanders away.. I did put it on for him though. Who knows maybe he absorbs it anyway...


_________________
Mum to two awesome kids on the spectrum (16 and 13 years old).


PlainsAspie
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 25 Jul 2014
Gender: Male
Posts: 518
Location: USA

03 Oct 2014, 4:01 pm

Here's an article that hits the nail right on the head http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2 ... -phil.html



WelcomeToHolland
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 5 Jan 2014
Gender: Female
Posts: 583

03 Oct 2014, 5:45 pm

PlainsAspie wrote:
Here's an article that hits the nail right on the head http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2 ... -phil.html


I don't watch Dr. Phil and I have yet to see this show (I'm waiting for an opportunity to watch it. My son hasn't sleeping more than 3 hours per night, and I'm obviously not going to watch it with him, so that hasn't happened yet). But I think Dr. Phil is generally known to be really crappy TV, no? So is their show set up well? Probably not. But that doesn't mean there isn't an issue here with regards to services (which are sorely lacking) that needs to be discussed. If this is the kick in the hindquarters to jump start it, then that's beneficial for other children (our government is currently undertaking a massive cut of services for the disabled so apparently it's not very far-reaching).

Also, I don't understand the copy-cat claim. At all. Even this article states that there's no evidence to support it, so why is being claimed so frequently? I know a lot of parents of children who have special needs- my entire network is made up of parents of children with special needs (lots of autism but also a variety of other things). And I don't think we're a bunch of heartless irrational murderers- I have a lot of faults, but that's not one of them. Most of our lives revolve around our kids and are doing the absolute best we can do give our kids the best lives they can have. I don't see what is gained from putting down parents even more than they already are (by that, I mean stripping away all the services for our kids and not having anywhere in public that welcomes them).

I posted on a previous WP thread about the murder of an autistic child, stating the mother was mentally ill- and of course I immediately got shot down with "Not all mentally ill people are murderers!" so let me first be very clear: I know the majority of people will mental illness are not murderers (or even dangerous) and that's not what I'm saying. Please take the time to actually read what I'm saying before jumping at me. What I'm saying is: this mother's behaviour was clearly irrational. I feel that if you behave in a highly irrational manor and attempt to kill yourself and your child, that sounds like you are "mentally ill", in the sense that your mind is not working rationally... There may not be an actual diagnosis for it- I don't know- but something was not "working right"- whatever you want to call it. It is NOT NORMAL to attempt to murder your child. I think it's a huge mistake to vilify all parents of children with special needs after the action of one. Who does that help? I can't think of anybody.

What I'm hearing from "the other side" of this argument (and I'm putting that in quotations because I would NOT consider myself on this mother's side- I don't see any organisation or person representing my views) is: If you have difficulty with your autistic child, you're just a bad parent, and if you had done a better job you wouldn't have this problem, and parents of children with special needs are just waiting for the excuse to murder their kids. When the autistic self-advocates blame you, insult you, and turn you away, you tend to not go to them...
If they really cared that much, maybe they could actually INVOLVE the low-functioning end of the spectrum. Maybe they could actually offer tangible help (as in, not "just be a better parent"- that's not tangible advice). But they're not doing that.

Quote:
?And to Issy Stapleton, the only victim of this tragedy, the only person whose voice deserves to be heard here, we say: what your mother did was not okay, and it wasn?t your fault. There is a whole world of people who support you. We are sorry this happened to you, and we are doing everything in our power to make sure it can never happen to anyone, ever again. You deserve nothing less.?

That's nice and all, except they wouldn't support her had this not been reported in the news, and they are not doing anything to prevent it from happening again. Vilifying all parents of severely autistic children (whose parents ARE their best bet for success since their parents are caring for them and enrolling them in all activities) is not helping the situation whatsoever. IF they were actually doing something, then I'd happily be on board for that. I attempted to join my kids to our local self-advocate group (but my kids were turned away). As it is, they're just another part of the problem.


_________________
Mum to two awesome kids on the spectrum (16 and 13 years old).


PlainsAspie
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 25 Jul 2014
Gender: Male
Posts: 518
Location: USA

03 Oct 2014, 6:52 pm

Quote:
Also, I don't understand the copy-cat claim. At all. Even this article states that there's no evidence to support it, so why is being claimed so frequently? I know a lot of parents of children who have special needs- my entire network is made up of parents of children with special needs (lots of autism but also a variety of other things). And I don't think we're a bunch of heartless irrational murderers- I have a lot of faults, but that's not one of them. Most of our lives revolve around our kids and are doing the absolute best we can do give our kids the best lives they can have. I don't see what is gained from putting down parents even more than they already are (by that, I mean stripping away all the services for our kids and not having anywhere in public that welcomes them).


Let me be clear, this isn't a personal attack on you or anyone but Kelli Stapelton and other parents who would contemplate killing their children.


do think ASAN jumped the shark with the copycat killer claim. Without any evidence, it's just speculation. The same thing could be said about the lack of services argument. What other services did she need to not try to kill her daughter? She had the medicaid waiver for an in-home caregiver.

I'm all for more services to improve the quality of life for autistic people and their families, but that doesn't seem to be what this case is about.



PlainsAspie
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 25 Jul 2014
Gender: Male
Posts: 518
Location: USA

08 Oct 2014, 5:21 pm

She was sentenced today. She got a minimum of 10 and maximum of 22 years with credit for 399 days served.



vermontsavant
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 7 Dec 2010
Gender: Male
Posts: 6,110
Location: Left WP forever

09 Oct 2014, 3:03 am

PlainsAspie wrote:
She was sentenced today. She got a minimum of 10 and maximum of 22 years with credit for 399 days served.
that sentence works.there is another woman in NY who admitted killing her autistic son


_________________
Forever gone
Sorry I ever joined


PlainsAspie
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 25 Jul 2014
Gender: Male
Posts: 518
Location: USA

09 Oct 2014, 4:27 pm

vermontsavant wrote:
PlainsAspie wrote:
She was sentenced today. She got a minimum of 10 and maximum of 22 years with credit for 399 days served.
that sentence works.there is another woman in NY who admitted killing her autistic son


I'm not sure how I feel about the sentence. I'm not sure what is standard for child abuse when there is demonstrated remorse. Hopefully they're not using autism as a mitigating factor. I am relieved that she's going away for a while though.

With regard to Jude Mirra, the NY autistic boy you mentioned, that is an even more horrifying story. http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/10/nyreg ... .html?_r=0
Her self-righteous calling to save her son is not an excuse. I'll be pissed if she dies a free woman.
This multi-millionaire just needed more services, right?



vermontsavant
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 7 Dec 2010
Gender: Male
Posts: 6,110
Location: Left WP forever

10 Oct 2014, 3:23 am

PlainsAspie wrote:
vermontsavant wrote:
PlainsAspie wrote:
She was sentenced today. She got a minimum of 10 and maximum of 22 years with credit for 399 days served.
that sentence works.there is another woman in NY who admitted killing her autistic son


I'm not sure how I feel about the sentence. I'm not sure what is standard for child abuse when there is demonstrated remorse. Hopefully they're not using autism as a mitigating factor. I am relieved that she's going away for a while though.

With regard to Jude Mirra, the NY autistic boy you mentioned, that is an even more horrifying story. http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/10/nyreg ... .html?_r=0
Her self-righteous calling to save her son is not an excuse. I'll be pissed if she dies a free woman.
This multi-millionaire just needed more services, right?
yea totaly.its a fair sentence for a mentaly ill woman dealing with a tough familiy situation.
it also could be that a rebelious drug using teenager could push a mentaly ill parent over the edge.killing a disabled child in and of it self is no mitigating factor


_________________
Forever gone
Sorry I ever joined


WelcomeToHolland
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 5 Jan 2014
Gender: Female
Posts: 583

10 Oct 2014, 8:00 am

PlainsAspie wrote:
This multi-millionaire just needed more services, right?


Kelli Stapleton's family was relying on their insurance to pay and according to her, the insurance cut them off so her daughter couldn't finish some programs she started, and her daughter wasn't welcome at the school... Regardless of what services she finally got, according to her, there was a lack of services when her daughter was younger. It seems logical to assume had she received services at a younger age, things may never have gotten this bad. I suppose it's possible she was lying or that preventative services still wouldn't have helped... But that's how one (not you but some other people) could conclude more services would have helped.

This multi-millionaire had enough money to pay for it herself- and she did. This, however, makes me wonder about social services- this boy had all of his blood drained and put back in, and was given chemotherapy for no reason. How did nobody notice?! Somewhere along the line, other people failed to report child abuse and/or social services failed to do anything about it. (IMHO)


_________________
Mum to two awesome kids on the spectrum (16 and 13 years old).


PlainsAspie
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 25 Jul 2014
Gender: Male
Posts: 518
Location: USA

10 Oct 2014, 11:01 am

vermontsavant wrote:
]yea totaly.its a fair sentence for a mentaly ill woman dealing with a tough familiy situation.
it also could be that a rebelious drug using teenager could push a mentaly ill parent over the edge.killing a disabled child in and of it self is no mitigating factor


The judge ruled that she wasn't insane. Irrational, definitely, but that doesn't necessarily mean mentally ill