Parents out there with special needs children ?

Question

I have a friend with a child that has Downs Syndrome and I think this child is an exceptional human being! She is friendlier
than most adults I know and I really enjoy being around her. She makes me smile when I have had a rough day.Every day is happy for her. I think God gives these "special" children to special people because they teach us so much. Any of you special parents care to share something about your precious gift from God?

To momof4, I am sorry if I have offended you or anyone else; that was not my intention.I only know how this little girl is to me; very special.

Answer 1

not the parent but the sister of a special need child i am 11 years older then my lil brother i am 22. He has CP and my older cousin had downs sydrome I said she had because she passed away oct. 11th of this year they dont have very old lifes and she was 36 so she lived a good one. They are the gifts of god they will always have a place in heaven no matter what. Make sure u spend all the time you need to with that little girl because there life dont last as long as most of us and they can bring you alot of joy in ur life. My little brother brings a smile on my face 24/7 he is the person that makes my life seem so great even when i think it is not.

Answer 2

Well, Depending on what you know and how much of it you know. It should be an easier experience, but it will get difficult as time goes on and laws change and your child changes schools. I believe that your experience will be based on how much push you have for your child, and how much the school Personnel is willing to help your child, But I would say that it is best to know the laws and what's acceptable and whats not when it comes to your child and stick to it... there are schools that are wonderful and there are schools that are dreadful. See what your child needs and look at schools that have it. I would recommend smaller schools because the class are better when the teacher has time to focus on your child when your child needs them... I have a brother who has Downs Syndrome and I have a Learning Disability, so I know how the schools work from the Students point of view, I also know how it works on the Law side because of my mothers organization; she is an Advocate and she helps parents that have children with special needs. I have been working with her as a Youth Advocate. I have finished school and I had a little bit of trouble getting what was stated in my IEP but I made sure that it was given to me. for secondary school I was in a Charter School that was just starting so it was a very small setting and for HS I was in Public HS that was also small my senior class only had 25 students; even tho I had trouble it was not that bad, thats why I recommend schools that have a small class size, because I feel like the teacher can connect with the student on a more personal level and understand what that student may need to help them in school...

Answer 3

I think you got it Right!

First of all I'd like to "qualify" my answer with this little poem:

(Can't even remember exactly how it goes but it's something like,):

Two men look out from the prison bars,
One sees the mud and one sees the stars!

I had the good fortune of spending 5 months with a large family in a multi-family internat situation where I was (among other things) a teacher. I will preface my story by saying that up until this time, I had a real aversion to such "cases" an thought that such "unfortunates" were best simply avoided altogether.

One of the boys -a wonderful loving, smiling child was Downs-Syndrome. He was more than just a happy child: he was sensitive, he was loving, he was generally totally lacking in the kind of pride that makes you "shy" or "standoffish". (When it was time to dance, and all the other "normal" boys cowerd in the corner, he grabbed a girl and had fun! "We wanted to have fun didn't we?")
He liked nothing better than to joke around and smile and to have fun. Since he wanted approval, even mild correction caused him to hand his head, be quiet and look sad.

BUT!

One thing that caused a marked change in him was disapproval, taunting, or being made fun of by the other "normal" children. (That's something he would never do because he wasn't "normal". "Normal" people grow up and rob banks and bomb other "normal" people and make the earth pretty much a qwagmire. Not kids with Downs - reading me?)

When they did this: when they were awful to him, he would go off in the backyard and take a trowel and dig a hole in the dirt and get muddy, and look very sad. Isn't that what people with downs are "supposed" to do.

When I saw him doing that, and it really burned me up, cause I knew someone had been treating him badly again, I would get him up and Have "chasing" time with him. I'd run after him, never actually running fast enough to really catch. The whole time he was laughing his head off.

I can't remember his name, but I remember his HEART and it was precious, to US and to God!

Answer 4

There is a lady that I know from the next county that has SIX kids with Down's, all of whom are adopted. Plus she has her own older teens that help her raise them. She has chosen to give these kids the best possible home that she can and she does an AMAZING job.....she is registered in her county as an adoptive foster home for Down's babies and she has taken in 6 in 8 years. she just got her most recent last year, a gorgeous little girl that I had the pleasure of meeting.
and you are right, all her kids are the sweetest and most affectionate you have met.
She raised her two kids and decided that she wanted to do something special, so she started adopting. And kept it up. Now they have a wonderfully large family where all the kids are well loved. God bless her for what she is doing.

Answer 5

I am a speech therapist in a public school and several of the students I work with have special needs. Some of them are autistic, have cerebral palsy, have Down Syndrome, or are severely multiply impaired. They *are* great kids! I'm glad you are able to see the good things in your friend's daughter. Many other people might just feel sorry for her or not treat her like any other child because she is different.

Answer 6

My latest grandson adopted from Russia has some special needs that are just now being evaluated. He's 18 mos, 19 lbs, doesn't walk or talk. He is happy but doesn't really relate to his parents any different from other people. My daughter needs to go back to work to pay bills (his adoption was $25,000 more than it was supposed to be), so she's trying to balance her time to get him to all his therapy appts.
Special needs may be a gift and a blessing, but they're also a lot of hard work and time.

Answer 7

my business partner has four children, and her second oldest is severely multiply physically and mentally handicapped, and he is an AMAZING guy! hes mostly blind, and has learned to recognize people by the feeling of their skin. the first few times he meets you he will touch your face with his hand, and then when he encounters you again, and touches you, he remembers that he knows you. hes such a gift, hes now 20 (his birthday was on christmas day) and he wasn't supposed to ever come home from the hospital. he cant speak or walk, and he is fed through a tube, but he is happy and joyful to be alive. thank you for remind me to be thankful for him. God bless you.

Answer 8

well, i have one daughter who had special needs when she was younger, and i have several friends with special needs children and a family member with special needs, including kids who can't walk, kids with major speech impairments, an adult with schitzophrenia (which i obviously can't spell, sorry), and kids with down syndrome.

all children are wonderful, special needs or not. a lot of special needs kids are amazing fighters.

but i think most parents of special needs kids would not appreciate the sentiment that their child has developmental delays or physical impairments or will need lifelong care because God wanted to send them to "special parents" to teach us something.... while you may well appreciate this child and i'm sure others, including her parents, do too, she will have a much harder life than most people. they are not just cute and there to make others smile when they have a rough day ... they are independent human beings with an enormous struggle in front of them (and their parents often face an enormous struggle too). Of course they're special and wonderful -- like every child. And I've never known a parent who would want to part with their special needs child. But most parents would wish that their children would not have to go through the difficulties that special needs entail. And many special needs parents get frustrated when people find their children's hardships to be a "gift" to others to "teach" them things....

I don't doubt your very good intentions, but I'd be careful what you say to this kids' parents. all kids (including those with special needs) are gifts from God. major impairments are not.

Answer 9

My autistic son can remember anything! If you casually tell him something one day, three months later he will still remember it!