Aleksa's Story

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Repost- Altered Plans

ALTERED PLANS
By: Author Unknown

I've found that God has altered plans I made first starting out,

And though it's clear that He knows best...there have been times of doubt.

The work I do is not the work I really planned on doing,

And many people in my life weren't always of my choosing.

I know for sure that it is true...God has a plan for me,

The paths He's led me down in life have always been the key...

To lessons learned and growing,that I would not have done,

The heartaches and the happiness,the battles fought and won.

Looking back on where I've been,

I've realized just one thing.

Life isn't something that you plan...it's accepting what it brings.

Mom homeschools her daughter who has Down syndrome

In His Care: Our Story of Raising a Child with Down Syndrome
By Beth Grove

I was hearing my doctor�s voice, but it seemed as if he were talking to me through a tube, and the reality of what he was telling me was too much to comprehend. His voice then became clearer as I heard him say ��and all these symptoms suggest that your baby has Down syndrome.� He went on to say more but the words �Down syndrome� bounced around in my mind like one of those Super Balls I played with as a child. How could this be happening?

Go here to read the rest of this touching story:
http://homeschoolenrichment.com/community/pub9990289168264.cgi?itemid=9990289171917

Special Needs at VBS

I met a wonderful little girl last week when I helped out with Vacation Bible School at the church I attend.This little girl is 5 years old and has autism.I think because of Ruby I was drawn to this little girl who sat and rocked and sang to herself most of the time.One night I handed out a bag of crayons and pictures to color to each child and she started throwing her crayons in the floor ,so I went and sat next to her and said "Will you help me pick up the crayons?" She did help and then I started showing her the crayons and taking one and coloring, then she would take the color from me and color the page on her own smiling to herself.I then wrote her name for her at the top of the page and to my surprise she started smiling and pointing at each letter and spelling her name which she did several times rocking back and forth and smiling and spelling her name.I said, with a big smile,"You can spell your name!" She smiled even bigger and started humming to herself.
Next we worked on puzzles together and I mistakenly thought she would need my help.Let me just say she is excellent at putting puzzles together and was better at it than some of the typical children in the class.
She brightened my life and I will miss seeing her and hearing her sing to herself and the way she smiled to herself when I talked to her.She was a visitor to our church VBS so I don't know if I will ever see her again.I hope she has a wonderful life,I hope people will see her abilities.

I hope you'll take a minute and watch this video I found.

Large Family of Special Needs Children

I just saw a special on t.v. this past week about the Murphy family who have a large family of adopted special needs children.This family amazes me,that they would take on that many children who need special care and do such a wonderful job with all of them.I searched on You Tube and found a video about them to share with you.

Wonderful video

Please go and watch this wonderful video about ,Robin Hiser,she is a precious woman who has Down syndrome. I was amazed at her ability,what an encouragement! Her sister has become a therapist!

Sunday Verse

Sometimes we find within the heart

Of those whom other folks pass by

A strong desire to do their part,

To bless the world before they die.

I mean to breathe an earnest prayer

From day to day as moments fly,

And have within my heart a care

For those whom other folks pass by.

( Unknown)

Wordless Wednesday

She's like my brother

For the past three weeks when I have taken Ruby to therapy there has been a lady there with her little boy ,who has Down syndrome ,and his big brother, who looks to be about 10 or 11.I always smile at this lady and I wish I could talk to her but she only speaks spanish and I can't.

Today I was sitting there in the office waiting to be called back for Ruby's appointment when I heard a voice say,"How old is she?" I looked up and the older boy was asking me about Ruby,I answered,"She's nine months," and smiled at him.He looked at Ruby and smiled a minute and then he said,"She's like my brother," and I said with a smile "Yes,she is.How old is your brother?" He answered that his brother was five years old. He smiled, said something to his mother and then went back to reading his book.

I don't know why but I have thought back to that brief exchange with that young boy all day.Just the tone of his voice and the way he looked at me,like we shared a special secret.It made me happy then and it makes me happy now and brings tears to my eyes ."She's like my brother."

Nine Month check up

I took Ruby for her nine month check-up today.I can't believe she is already nine months old!
She is 14.5 lbs which puts her in the 50th percentile for weight on the down syndrome growth chart and she is in the 25th percentile for length at 25.5 inches long.She is such a little person,she is in 3-6 month size clothes.They also did blood work today to check her blood count and thyroid,I will hear back on that on Monday.
She is doing great! She can sit propping herself up with her arms for a few minutes and she has started getting up on her hands and knees and rocking back and forth .She has her own cheering squad every time she does anything:) We are all so excited for her anytime she does something we know is hard for her.Go,Ruby!

Diagnosed with Down syndrome

A friend of mine has a friend who just had their second child and that child was diagnosed with Down syndrome.My friend would like to know what she can say to her friend to be an encouragement.What would you have liked for people to say to you when your baby was born?

Sixth-grader with Down syndrome to receive special award

On the Upp & Up: Sixth-grader with Down syndrome to receive special award for efforts, accomplishments
By Joe Gulick AVALANCHE-JOURNAL
Thursday, April 02, 2009Story last updated at 4/2/2009 - 1:31 am

Tim and Dolores Upp recall the shock they received on May 2, 1995 - four months before Natalie was born - when they learned from the results of amniocentesis that their baby had Down syndrome.
"It was awful," Dolores recalled. "We couldn't know then how healthy she would be and how far she would go."

Go here to read the rest of this article about this wonderful young lady.http://lubbockonline.com/stories/040209/fea_423987159.shtml

Student Tutors

Student tutors at Fulton High School embrace special needs schoolmates
By Jessie Pounds Tuesday, March 31, 2009

When Corey Wyatt entered Fulton High School, his parents watched with bated breath.
They'd already held their son in middle school an extra year for fear that the transition to a bigger school with bigger kids might overwhelm him. Wyatt, a pink-cheeked 16-year-old, has Down syndrome, doesn't talk save a few words when pressed, and is shorter than most of his schoolmates.
At best, they hoped their son would be content at his new school. At worst, they feared he might lose ground.
What they did not anticipate was joy.
"You can barely stop the car in time for him to jump out and go to school," Tony Wyatt said, explaining that his son now has a more active social life than he did back when he was in high school. "He's basically got rock star status over at Fulton."
At the root of Wyatt's transformation is a group of Fulton students known as peer tutors.
They are, on one level, just students who serve as aides in Comprehensive Development Classes.
At Fulton though, the role of peer tutor has taken on a certain level of prestige and the peer tutors have established a tradition of also befriending the special-needs students and hanging out with them outside of school.
According to Emily McSpadden, Wyatt's CDC-Activity class teacher, this leads to a welcoming school culture. When Wyatt walks through the halls, students from every grade level call out his name or wave hello.
"(The peer tutors) accept my kids and their acceptance spreads to the school," McSpadden said. "Because they love him and take him for who he is, so does everybody else."
On a recent Friday, McSpadden organized a lunch-making party of sorts for her students. The five peer tutors paired with students to take on different tasks: making grilled cheese sandwiches, stirring tomato soup and baking cupcakes.
Sarah Wheeler, a senior, led Wyatt in setting the table for the class.
She is one of the students who likes to take Wyatt out for activities, like bowling or a Valentine's Day dinner. Though Wheeler, who wants to become a special education teacher, could likely have accomplished the task in a few minutes, she went step by step with Wyatt, requesting that he place a plate here or put down a napkin there.
For all the things Wheeler tries to teach the students in the class, she's learned a lot from them, too. In particular, the importance of individuality.
As a freshman, she felt compelled to hide aspects of herself, like being religious, because she was concerned about what other people might think. As she began to get to know the special needs students, she saw that all of them seemed to express their personalities and interests without concern about what others might think.
So Wheeler decided she would try being herself, too.
"Now, that's who I am, because if they don't see me, they just see the person trying to please everyone," she said.
In Wyatt's case, one major area of interest is sports. Both his parents went to Fulton High School, but only attended games once in a blue moon since then. Now, they bring their son to almost every game, because the peer tutors and their friends look for Wyatt and call him over to hang out with them.
During football season he joined the "rowdies," a group that paint their bare torsos to spell out phrases like "Go Falcons!" Wyatt is always the exclamation point.
Even more than football, he loves basketball. Though he has a hard time spitting out the word, to signal his excitement about an upcoming game, he mimics shooting a basket. Wyatt often plays in the gym with the two peer tutors on the school basketball team, juniors Xavier "Buddy" Bridges and Antonio Barfield.
Wyatt and his parents spent much of their spring break attending the state high school basketball tournament in Murfreesboro.
When Fulton won the game, the high schoolers went wild, Wyatt with them.
Together, he and his friends started jumping up and down, hi-fiving and hugging. Even Bridges and Barfield began pushing their way up toward Wyatt to share the moment with him.
Across the arena, Tony and Renee Wyatt sat and watched the whole celebration unfold, tears running down their faces that had nothing to do with the game.

Link for this article http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2009/mar/31/peer-prestige-on-knoxnewscom/?partner=RSS

End The 'R' Word

Chuck Norris fan with Down syndrome realizes black belt milestone

http://www.cdapress.com/articles/2009/03/21/news/news02.txt

Someone I Love

Linda at Lila's Miracle Life posted this.I'm posting it on my blog so I wont lose it.Lori Hickman puts into writing how I feel.

Someone I Love
By Lori Hickman
Someone I love relies on me in ways you will never understand. Someone I love endures pain and challenges that break my heart and renew my spirit at the same time. Someone I love is unable to advocate for themselves for things that most of us take for granted. Someone I love will never have the opportunities that every child should have. Someone I love will need unconditional love and support after I am gone - this frightens me to the core. Someone I love encounters pity, stereotyping responses, and prejudice at every turn, because they look, act, and/or learn differently than others. Someone I love has needs that require me to allow "outsiders" to have power and input in areas that should be mine alone to meet. Someone I love will continue to look to me for everything in life long after other children are able to assume a place as part of the world. Someone I love has needs that require more time and energy than I have to give. Someone I love has needs that mean I am not able to meet basic needs of my own. Someone I love has needs that have become the driving force behind major decisions my family makes. Someone I love has changed me in ways I will never be able to describe. Someone I love has taught me about love and about the really important things in life...
And still others don't understand what it is to be me.. they aren't living in my skin.
© Copyright 2000 Lori Hickman. Originally published as the dedication to Living in My Skin, The Insider's View of Life With a Special Needs Child by Lori Hickman.
Lori Hickman is a speech pathologist in Washington state. She is the author of Living in My Skin, The Insider's View of Life With a Special Needs Child, and four other books on speech and apraxia.

You Know You Have a Child With Special Needs When

You know you have a child with special needs when...
by Carol AnCel

You compare ER's instead of grocery stores.
You compare your child's oxygen saturations.
You view toys as "therapy".
You don't take a new day for granted.
You teach your child HOW to pull things out of the cupboard, off the bookcases, and that feeding the dog from the table is fun.
The clothes your infant wore last fall still fit her this fall.
Everything is an educational opportunity instead of just having plain old fun.
You cheer instead of scold when they blow bubbles in their juice while sitting at the dinner table (that's speech therapy), smear ketchup all over their high chair (that's OT), or throw their toys (that's PT).
You also don't mind if your child goes through the house tooting a tin whistle.
You fired at least 3 pediatricians and can teach your family doctor a thing or two.
You can name at least 3 genes on chromosome 21. (You really know your toast if you can spell the full names correctly)
You have been told you are "in denial" by at least 3 medical or therapy professionals. This makes you laugh!
You have that incredible sinking feeling that you've forgotten SOMETHING on those few days that you don't have some sort of appointment somewhere!
You get irritated when friends with healthy kids complain about ONE sleepless night when they're child is ill!
Your vocabulary consists of all the letters OT, PT, SP, ASD, VSD, IFSP, etc.
You keep your appointment with the specialist even though a tropical storm is raging because you just want to get this one over with.....you waited 8 months to get it.....and besides, no one else will be there!
Fighting and wrestling with siblings is considered PT.
Speech therapy occurs in the tub with a sibling.
When potty training is complete, you take out a full page public notice in the Washington Post.
When the Doctors/Specialist/Hospitals etc. all know you by your name without referring to your chart.
You keep a daily growth chart.
You calculate monthly statistics for the number of times your child vomits, and did this for more then one year.
You phone all your friends when your child sits up for the first time, at age two.
With a big smile on your face you tell a stranger that your four year old just started walking last week.
Her medical file is several inches thick and growing.
You have a new belief.....that angels live with us on earth.