I couldn’t be more proud of my children — especially with all our family has been through. Here’s a link to their performance on American Idol (February 2024).

 

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In the news (a great little story on the Berklee website)

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February 29, 2024

Hello! If you follow my work at all, you know that my kids were on American Idol this week!

After the episode aired they were mentioned in so many news sources, I can’t even keep track. The image directly above is a link to a story published on Berklee College of Music’s website (Colescott graduated from Berklee in 2020 and AJ is a senior there now). The Berklee article is probably the most well-written piece (plus it doesn’t have any major factual errors)! If you did not see the performance yet, it is embedded in the article above and I have also embedded it here (in the video directly below). If you have some time, definitely also check out the comments on the YouTube video, they are overwhelmingly supportive! Katy Perry’s words about my kids (shown in the graphic at the top of this page) — “It’s a ‘No’ for Idol, a ‘Yes’ for life!” — were amazing, and I am thrilled that they were captured on video and shared as part of the segment. Some additional mentions of their Idol performance are below, too (from Twitter and Reddit!).

It’s been interesting on my social media channels — as I shared this huge accomplishment of my children with my readers — to also see some of the flack by people who are new to my work. One commenter said they felt it was “unprofessional” for me to share about the accomplishments of my children via my social media pages. Given the inspiration of this work was born out of the impacts of Lead on my children, it is a natural extension to share about how they are doing now (18 years later!) … since that is a question I get asked by readers literally every day!

Our life has persistent complicated challenges presented by my children’s (two of whom are now adults!) disabilities — but AJ’s performance (on trumpet) for American Idol really shows what support, guidance, and awareness of the impacts of Lead poisoning can produce. If a family KNOWS their child has been exposed to Lead and KNOWS that their health impairments (and learning disabilities) are caused by Lead exposure, those are the first steps toward implementing educational and therapeutic interventions that help the child succeed in spite of their Lead exposure. It’s not an easy road but it IS possible.

A.J. was acutely Lead-poisoned when he was just three years old and is now in his final year of college at Berklee College of Music on full scholarship (merit-based) and getting straight A’s. Having him accompany his big brother on American Idol is really just the icing on a very big cake in terms of the accomplishments he has achieved. Thanks in advance for checking out the video! Please leave a comment on YouTube, too! I am so proud of ALL my sons! There are some more recent photos below, too!

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Here’s the full video segment:

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On Twitter:

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On Reddit:

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More photos of the Rubin Brothers

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