Hi All,

Just wondered if any other chi people have young kids with disabilities or special needs?

As some may have read in the past, our 4 year old son was born wiith an arachnoid cyst in his brain which caused hydrocephalus (water on the brain). This later led to the development of severe epilepsy.

My beautiful boy has varying levels of global delays, mainly neurological and has many autistic markers ( we are in the process of trying to get a diagnosis of autism to access funding for services & resources - fingers crossed).

Jesse loves animals, he can be a little rough at times, but the chis have adapted & seem to know when to get out of his way & when it is safe to snuggle etc. They and our other dogs & pets give him soooo much joy and are really his best friends. I was watching him play chasey with the chis & his dog Elmo before bed tonight and just got to wondering if anyone else has special kids & chis?

Would be great to talk to anyone else and hear their experiences

__________________

melissa yes my 8 yo son oisin has high functioning aspergers.
also has a great love of animals, esp our dogs and they love him,
also can play a little rough, but if he is they go off until he calms down
its more excitment. in ireland you have to fight very hard for services,
nothing just lands inyour lap. we are in the process again of applying fro whats called domicellary care allowence, we were refused first time, but we were able to get more reports an support from teachers oisins team, our doctor, fingers crossed, its only€305 per month.but will make a difference.

__________________

R.I.P My sweet Cody. xxxxx

My brother has down syndrome. He also had Leukemia he is now 24 and me and my sisters try our best to help our mum with him. He loves my girls and dollie does not leave his side the whole time we visit. My girls adore my brother and he adores them. X

__________________

Thank you Charlotte for my Siggy mwah xxx

There is no psychiatrist in the world,
Like a chihuahua licking your face.

Hi

Amanda - I have seen some of your photos of Oisin with the pups in the past & you can see he adores them.

Good luck with the funding. We have a carers allowance here in Australia which gives me $110 a fortnight to help with expenses. We also have a Carers Payment that is about $600 - 800 a fortnight, but apparently I don't qualify because I don't tick enough boxes, even though my son needs constant supervision & I can't work! I do get respite care, but it is only 3 hours a week and we still have to pay about $12 per hour for that.

It is very frustrating because we don't fit into a commonly recognised disability group so it is often difficult to access services like speach and OT unless we pay privately or are on waiting lists forever.

So if you ever need anyone to vent to I can certainly sympathise!


Sammy - It's so nice to hear from someone that has grown up with a special needs sibling! I often feel guilty that I don'tt have enough time to give to my girlss & that they have to help out a lot as my DH works away often. I have a friend who's daughter has downs syndrome & she is just adoorable & sooo cheeky!


The pups are amazing, aren't they? They are not only tolerant with the kids, but also seem to know when we need an extra hug too!

__________________

My younger brother has Aspergers, he is very smart but also violent/emotional. He really has a soft spot for animals though, he takes great care of the pets at my dad's house.

__________________


Thanks LS!

I have three adopted daughters with Down syndrome and one adopted daughter with shaken infant syndrome. They all love the dogs very much. The shaken girl can get violent very rarely, so I have to watch for the build up of an episode and take her out of the dog room. Most of the time she is in good control with meds and her favorite dog is Gonzo. She calls him coffee cream because of his color, he looks to her like a cup of coffee with cream in it. And while Becky likes the dogs, she really loves cats and has a cat of her own. My oldest daughter has Down syndrome with autistic tendancies. My kids had services when they were young through the Regional Center here in the US. Its free to all children with disabilities. When Becky was so sick when I first adopted her, they would come to the house until she had her surgery and recovered enough to go to a special preschool. All my special kids started being bussed to a special preschool when they were 8 months old.

__________________

Thank you Jan for the wonderful siggy!

Hi Missy - It's nice to hear from another sibling of a person with special needs My Jesse does have a very rough/violent streak sometimes too. He also seems to like to pull his sisters hair just to get them to scream and cry at the moment.

Pam - You are such a wonderful person to care for all your beautiful babies. You must have a wonderful special needs system in the states. We can start Jesse at a special school from the age of 5 and he will be bussed to and from there. Currently he is enrolled in a regular kindergarten/preschool and has an hour for 2 hours per session. A normal session is 5 hours long, but we can't get funding for that much time so he only gets to go for a short time.

__________________

I raised my ex husband down boy Bobby for 10 years, when we got him he didn't know how to care for him self much at all, bathroom and shower things like that, his real Mom didn't teach him anything and was always parting. I seen the way he was living and asked his mom if we can have him, she was more than happy. So I got all paper work done she gave up her rights and I became his guardian. He called me Mom. His Dad at that time did care for him and didn't tell me about him for a while. When my ex and I got divorced he wanted Bobby just so I couldn't have him, we fought in court for long time thousands dollars and since I was not real mother and I never adopted him (I regret now) the attorney said the judge probably will give ex custody and me nothing so we offered that I dropped full custody if I can have visitation so I was to get him every other weekend and a month in summer and every other holiday. I move 3 hours away and still drove on my visitation time to pick up Bobby, half the time he wasn't there. Police would do anything. I took him back to court and he said he would give him to me. he never did. so I just couldn't handle it any more and talk to God and decided I had to give up. So it has been 7 year I have not sen him but miss him very much. I will see him someday in Heaven.

__________________
In His Service
Theresa
and Amberleah Lou Lou

[IMG][/IMG]