So, I have a long commute every day (as does Matt). Some days, it is more about just making the drive so I can start my day. Some days, it is about introspection and mentally preparing for the day or week that comes. Other days, it is about observing my surroundings. Sometimes, as one would expect, I see the same cars repeatedly. The other day, I noticed all of the cars that were driving around me that had "My child is an honor roll student at x school." At first, I just thought about how much I begged my parents to put that stupid sticker on their cars when I received it. It was a big deal to me to be on the honor roll, even through college. But my next thought was kind of a punch in the gut. Parker will never get one of those stickers. I know most people come at a thought like that with the "oh, think positively, you never know what he will be able to achieve!" comments, and I appreciate their sentiment. They are right, I don't know what my little man will achieve. But I am also being realistic. Parker shows over a 50% delay in comparison to his peers. That is unlikely to change to the degree of him making his school's honor roll. Will he care about this? NO. It is just an example, which we will keep running into, of where our expectations for our baby have changed.
And that is okay.
That being said, I'd love to see a strong movement, like the #ChooseKind movement, take over where kids are equally recognized for their achievements as PEOPLE. Like being kind and generous to others. Or for being "Green" and environmentally conscious. Or being active in the community. There are so many more things to recognize our children for. I hope that when Parker is at the point in his life where students are working towards academic achievement with purpose, that there are other things that are highlighted just as much. Because let's be honest... the "Yay, you participated!" awards don't quite cut it. Let's show kids that we pay attention to more than their grades.
We are SO proud of our boy. In a classroom of his age-level peers, Parker is flourishing. His current word count is 9 (ready, go, two, three, Chase, all done, up, and walk). We are noticing that, of course, repetition helps, but that he is most attracted to phrases where we use inflection or lots of energy.
We are still working on comprehension. For example, in speech therapy, we are working on saying (and doing) walk....walk....walk....walk....STOP! To try and help Parker learn commands. He will walk and say the word walk, he will attempt to say stop occasionally, but is still struggling to transfer the word stop to other situations. I anticipate language comprehension to be a main topic of conversation as we move towards his special education evaluation and subsequent IEP meeting next month.
Language comprehension is also probably the hardest thing for people that don't know him to learn about him quickly. Even new therapists, who are around kids all the time, sometimes have a hard time realizing that he doesn't understand their command. This is definitely what we struggle with the most at home, too. Parker has the (almost) size, strength, and behavior of the average 3 year old. He is not interested in rules, flies in the face of danger, and climbs/throws anything. The following directions and learning from mistakes is what challenges us. Many people assume he is ignoring instructions, which aside from some minor exceptions, is really not happening. But, we take it one day at time. We are introducing time-outs at home to try and find some way to communicate trouble for repeated offenses-- current favorites are pressing the power button on the cable box, pulling the air vent out of the floor and putting things down it, climbing behind the couches, throwing/dumping food, etc etc etc.
As we speak, he is upstairs jumping up and down in bed, giggling and babbling to himself. He is strong-willed, and HAPPY. I know moms get really frustrated about that assumption with Down Syndrome. Kids with DS are definitely not all always happy. We just happen to be blessed with a son who is. We are lucky. Even though my house is a wreck :)
So, I have a long commute every day (as does Matt). Some days, it is more about just making the drive so I can start my day. Some days, it is about introspection and mentally preparing for the day or week that comes. Other days, it is about observing my surroundings. Sometimes, as one would expect, I see the same cars repeatedly. The other day, I noticed all of the cars that were driving around me that had "My child is an honor roll student at x school." At first, I just thought about how much I begged my parents to put that stupid sticker on their cars when I received it. It was a big deal to me to be on the honor roll, even through college. But my next thought was kind of a punch in the gut. Parker will never get one of those stickers. I know most people come at a thought like that with the "oh, think positively, you never know what he will be able to achieve!" comments, and I appreciate their sentiment. They are right, I don't know what my little man will achieve. But I am also being realistic. Parker shows over a 50% delay in comparison to his peers. That is unlikely to change to the degree of him making his school's honor roll. Will he care about this? NO. It is just an example, which we will keep running into, of where our expectations for our baby have changed. 