DH and I met a lovely woman at the support group we attended last fall. Her son is similar in age to Precious and has a similar diagnosis; mild developmental disability. I emailed Steph a month or so ago and she, her husband and her son came over and hung out with our family for…
Tag Archive: school
The School Board
We’ve been working hard over the last month to get Precious into the right placement next year in Grade One. We got all our paperwork done and submitted it before the deadline and asked that she be placed in a special class at a nearby school. The local school team was amazing and they really…
It’s Official
After 5 years, innumberable doctor’s, therapist’s and specialist’s appointments, blood tests, x-rays, MRIs and on and on, Precious is no longer “developmentally delayed with a suspected developmental disability” but is officially developmentally disabled (aka ‘MR’) and we have the psychologist’s report to prove it. I wasn’t surprised when I heard the results, but I cried…
He Can’t Include Me In His School Day
Our school is inclusive. Every child has a place in a mainstream classroom, with assistance if needed. J is one of those kiddos. He has an assigned a teacher, participates in nonacademic activities and projects, and has ‘specials’ like art, music and PE with his typical peers, all with the help of a one-on-one para….
Three Little Words
I know it’s not perfect, the medication J is on. But it’s doing something. It’s helping to quiet the activity in his brain…sometimes. It’s helping him to find more words, helping the words to find their place within a sentence, to communicate. I talk about watching our children’s achievements, however small, but sometimes these achievements…
Learning her ABC’s
This winter, Precious was seen by a new occupational therapist (OT) after going almost 18 months without seeing one. She had four different OT’s during the first four years of life and they focused on self-care skills like teaching her to put on her shoes, do up her zippers, feed herself and use the toilet….
Science Fair
Tomorrow is our school’s science fair. With my career background (Ph.D. in organic chemistry) I love encouraging anything with science. It is a nostalgia piece for me anyway. When and where I was a kid you were not supposed to do a science project until 5th grade. However, when I hit 4th grade and saw…
Got My Back Up
On Thursday, we had a great meeting with Precious’ occupational therapist, physical therapist and vice principal. By ‘we’, I mean me, as DH was flat on his back; a victim of the same virus that has been plaguing our family for the last 4 weeks. Precious’ teacher and her speech and language pathologist were both…
The Domino Effect
For the last two years or so, we hadn’t had many appointments with specialists. Precious doesn’t have any serious medical issues. She’s got minor ear, nose, throat issues, so we go every 6-12 months, and she has dental issues, but these only require regular dentist appointments for now. She has an undiagnosed congenital (she was…
Friendships: The Lunch Bunch
The beginning of a friendship is innocent and fun. But as time goes on and we let down our guard we have to learn to accept others, faults and all or choose to move on. For a person with Down syndrome or other special needs, it is sometimes difficult to even begin the process. Others…