Introductions

[Guest guest]

Hi everyone,

My name is Jayne. I'm married to and we have three children and a golden

retriever named Buddy. We just moved to Virginia from South Dakota late this

summer. My husband is in the Air Force which means we relocate on average every

two years! He is currently working a Joint Staff Job with the Navy, the only

reason we are blessed with a water nearby - otherwise it's the flat land of The

Air Force! I came to this list 5 1/2 years ago when our youngest son, ,

was born - it has been such a source of support for me. Moving so often, it's

hard to put down roots - but I can always come back to this list where I feel

like I fit in - no questions asked.

was born healthy, he had some struggles with weight gain and feeding in

the beginning but made it through. He was a popular guy with his lady

therapists through the birth to 3 early intervention years -he logged a lot of

therapists with all our moves. For a Mommy that was always " go, go, go "

's birth taught me to slow down. I was never home until my calendar

became very full with all the therapists coming and going to our home.

had his first surgery at 2 1/2, tonsils and adenoids removed and tubes put in.

When turned 3 he was off to preschool. He attended the same typical

preschool my daughter attended but with an aide. He also attended an early

intervention preschool on his opposite days of his other school. He loved the

bus and his gaggle of therapists and teachers. When we moved away we took a

picture with all his " ladies " , it looked like his harem!

This year we started what was supposed to be an uneventful year of kindergarten

in a new area. It's been a rollercoaster. We fought and fought with this

school district for to be fully included in reg ed kindergarten with a

1:1 aide. Seems pretty simple but apparently not. They translated his needs

into being in a self-contained special needs preschool with 4 other non-verbal

boys! Quite the opposite of what we had planned on. After coming as close as

we could to a lawsuit, we got moved into a new school in our county that

is far more special needs friendly. He started there November 1st and is really

starting to grow. He missed alot of school his first month there due to illness

and his second set of tubes. In between all of this, was recently

diagnosed with Autistic Spectrum Disorder - ASD. We are currently learning all

that this new branch of our life encompasses. is in a special ed

classroom for kindergarten and first grade and being

included with a kindergarten class for various things throughout the day. I

have held back on my big push for full inclusion right now as I think we have to

get 's learning style down first. I do anticipate he will attend

kindergarten again next year and I hope to see him included much more and get

the support he needs to get through it gracefully. I just need to pick my

battles right now - number 1 being how to get through to my child and how to cut

down on some of his behaviors.

's speech is his greatest challenge. Like the rest of the kiddos on this

list, his receptive language is pretty good - if he feels like listening at the

moment. His expressive language is growing, slowly but surely. Thanks to his

obsession with videos, he's starting to sing along, in his way, with the tv

songs. He's very into any sport that uses a ball but loves to watch football,

basketball, soccer, and his favorite - bull riding! He's also crazy about GI

Joe " dolls " and all the guns they come with!! Lucky me!

I do have two other children as well. is 13 and entering into the " mom you

are so uncool " stage. He's quite interested in the girls now and is also

experimenting with growing his hair out! He's a straight A student, very

sensitive, a wonderful big brother, and a great athlete. My middle child, Emma,

is 8 and before - was my challenge! I laugh now at the things that she

did that made me want to pull my hair out - nothing compared to the continuous

cycle of action . She too is blessed with the good student gene, not

from their mother, and the amazing athlete gene as well. (I like to think I

have something to do with this one as I was once quite athletic many moons

ago...) (But hey, we are joining the Y next week!!!) She's a gymnast at heart

and spends most her waking hours upside down or twisting and turning off of some

piece of furniture. She's a bubbly little girl, who also has the longest legs

like someone else stated about their daughter. Both and

Emma are wonderful siblings to , they have more patience than I do at

times. They are trying to understand this new ASD diagnosis and constantly

trying to figure out what will be like when he gets older. They are

waiting for him to talk and stop making a scene in public! I tell them I don't

know if that day will come, but until then they help tons with his daily care.

They get nervous when we meet someone older with Ds that doesn't talk or talks

but is hard to understand. I think reality hits for my oldest and his dream of

being " normal " is put to rest. I think it scares them that he will

always sort of stand out in a crowd. Recently my daughter had the wonderful

opportunity of meeting , Cheryl Wards daughter at our local Buddy Walk.

Cheryl is " wildwards " on this list serv. She was amazed with and her

clarity of speech and how " normal " she was. She told my son all about her and I

think it was reassuring to see what all this hard

work we parents do can really pay off. I know that whatever grows up

to " be " , they will love him unconditionally as we all will - we just take it day

by day and deal with each new branch of our tree of life as best as we can.

Thanks to , I was directed to the listserv like Krystal, and that

has been a huge change for our family as well. I enjoy both of these lists so

much and look forward to the day that I can meet any of you in person!

Thanks for always being quick to answer my thousands of questions. And a huge

thank you for sharing your life stories so that I can see that sometimes when I

feel so all alone in this Ds little world of ours, I can read a post and

immediately know that I'm not alone.

love to you all and Happy HAPPY New Year!

Jayne

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