Hazel Ceej

Top Gun glamor Tom Cruise. Not new. Einstein, Currie, Edison. Entrepreneurs and nobel laureates - believable enough as research links dyslexia with high cognition and creativity. When Cher acted in the Mask as a mom who could not read, I didn't know she was also dyslexic in real life. Names like Kiera Knightley, Andy Warhol and George Washington made me go 'they too?' Now some 13 other biggies: 1. John Lennon . It was his voice singing "you may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one" I was hearing while traipsing the killing fields in Cambodia. 2. Nigel Kennedy .  ... all those violin music I have been fortunately subjected to lately 3. Leonardo da Vinci .  Just huge. 4. Pablo Picasso .  Portrait de la tante Pepa 5. Hans Christian Andersen.   Fairy tales are so alive in my world! 6. Agatha Christie . I wanna get my hands on The Body in the Library 7. Terry Goodkind, author of The Sword of Truth series. 8. F. Scott Fitzgerald . Hmnn... I have...

Let me begin with an observation on the latter.  Developmental pediatricians in the Philippines are a rare breed. Or that's what I noticed. From society and organization websites, to forums, to word-of-mouth, to my own experience, they seem to be outnumbered by people who need their expertise. A parent of a child with developmental delays has to wait weeks or months to see one developmental pediatrician. Only thirty are listed on the Philippine Society of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics. Twenty-five in one Filipino autism blog, and that is not purely DevPeds. A child psychologist, child psychiatrist, and pediatric neurologist are mixed in the list, although they certainly are a big help too. At my son's speech therapy and psychology center I hear the same account from other parents - securing a time slot with a DevPed is hard. They are all fully booked throughout what could turn into a year. You may be lucky if someone withdraws but that rarely happens. I'm playing ...