“I’m not shy to say that they are just really, really quirky kids,” says Luiza Coscia, mother to five children with special needs, who she prefers to think of as out of the box children. After going to school to be an engineer, her life experience lead her to engineering out of the box solutions to help out of the box children like her own.

One Harmonious Clan

Luiza Y. Coscia is an engineer, author, and mother to five special needs children. When asked about her children, Luiza says that she is not ashamed to say that they are just really, really quirky kids. All five of her children have some sort of special needs, that require creative interventions. After raising her children, she knows the importance of remaining strong and resilient as a parent.

She attended college as an engineering student, but Luiza’s life experiences lead her to engineer out of the box solutions for out of the box children. She says that nowadays, having out of the box children with special needs is such an epidemic. In almost every classroom, there are children who suffer because they cannot conform to the class. Luiza says these children typically end up in the principal’s office frequently, because they are out of the box.

Luiza says that a lot of low points she has encountered were due to there not being any understanding. She believes that there is a lack of public awareness about out of the box special needs children such as her own. The hardest part is the lack of awareness about what could be going on underneath, in order to cause the children to act in such a manner.

Parental Judgment

“I’ve had a lot of moments when everybody turned their eyes on me and my clan,” says Luiza. She says that people are quick to judge parents and their children. Before making judgements, Luiza encourages people to consider what the other people are going through.

“You haven’t walked a mile in my shoes. You don’t know what I’m going through. My child is an excellent child, and I am a fabulous mother.”

Stacy’s Journal

Welcome to Stacy’s Journal! In this segment, I let you peek into my journal as I share my thoughts on a topic or resilience resource.

During our interview, Luiza said that the main issue she has faced as a parent of five special needs, out of the box children is a lack of understanding. People are not compassionate to others’ situations, and there is a lack of understanding of what might be going on underneath the surface. “You haven’t walked a mile in my shoes. You don’t know what I’m going through. My child is an excellent child, and I am a fabulous mother,” says Luiza. This was one of my favorite quotes from our interview. People really can’t grasp what someone else is going through unless they experience it for themselves. And e...