For many of us, every day is a chance to promote Down syndrome awareness—advocating for our children to be included in school and community activities, highlighting their talents, giving them opportunities to show just how much they have to share. The calendar, however, provides us with one month during the year when we can really step up those efforts. October is Down syndrome awareness month!!

Successful Strategies for Beginning Readers with Down Syndrome

What's happening now!~

Miss Simone is Five years old and has begun Kindergarten, too sum up her summer spent with Big Brother Noah at home, she has started to imitate Curious George, So I have to re-address her to use big girl words.
Gone thru IEP for the 2014-2015 School year and attended several workshops!
One thing is,,, have you gotten on the List???
I'm confused and not sure what are all the lists?? I understand some is for Adult care homes and service after High school,,, if you have any suggestions or tips,, please provide the information.

Time for a checkup

Okay, I must say, I am not quick to adding a daily blog, but I got to tell you the latest updates on Simone
since September.Besides learning sing language and getting more verbal skills in PPCD, she was a flower girl in her big sisters November wedding,,  Must say she did a fabulous Job, I believe you can still view the wedding at http://www.ustream.tv/channel/c3ntest ,,,
At christmas time, we had a good time with family and friends,and Now its almost Spring,,, One day away.
Simone will be undergoing some test for hearing issues,and going to the  Down Syndrome Clinic at Childrens hospital for an Helath Assemsment. We will keep you posted...
Dont forget this month is World Down Syndrome Day
3:2:1

An Invitation to Inclusion

To invite or not to invite?
Children with special needs, whether it’s a physical disability or developmental, do get excluded, by nervous parents or reluctant children. In fact, they’re left out more often than not.
If you’re what another parent of a child with special needs called a “parent of typical kids” how do you handle birthdays if there’s a child with special needs in your child’s class? Do you invite all the children, or push your child to include a child who might not get many invitations?
If you’re the parent of the special needs child, how do you wish your fellow parents would handle this? Is exclusion harder when most of the other children are invited and yours is not?
I am open to any suggestions or comments.

Eventful

I'm behind posting Simone's progress, so here goes, she is 4yrs old now and back in PPCD this fall. Simone is learning sign language, alphabets, trying new foods, but cant seem to get her to watch other videos but Barney and "Sid the Science kid. The tubes placed in her ears at one fell out last year and she is getting many ear infections again. I don't know if I want more placed in their yet. Any thoughts?. But the motor,and physical skills are great,she is trying to ride a bigwheel,but peddling is a little hard. coming soon,new pictures of Simone hanging at big brothers football games, and flower girl in Big sisters Wedding,,, Nov 2nd is the big date,.!~I cant wait to see if she makes it down the aisle with the flower basket.

WELCOME TO HOLLAND.....

WELCOME TO HOLLAND

by
Emily Perl Kingsley.

c1987 by Emily Perl Kingsley. All rights reservedI am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with a disability - to try to help people who have not shared that unique experience to understand it, to imagine how it would feel. It's like this......
When you're going to have a baby, it's like planning a fabulous vacation trip - to Italy. You buy a bunch of guide books and make your wonderful plans. The Coliseum. The Michelangelo David. The gondolas in Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It's all very exciting.
After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The stewardess comes in and says, "Welcome to Holland."
"Holland?!?" you say. "What do you mean Holland?? I signed up for Italy! I'm supposed to be in Italy. All my life I've dreamed of going to Italy."
But there's been a change in the flight plan. They've landed in Holland and there you must stay.
The important thing is that they haven't taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place, full of pestilence, famine and disease. It's just a different place.
So you must go out and buy new guide books. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met.
It's just a different place. It's slower-paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you've been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around.... and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills....and Holland has tulips. Holland even has Rembrandts.
But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy... and they're all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life, you will say "Yes, that's where I was supposed to go. That's what I had planned."
And the pain of that will never, ever, ever, ever go away... because the loss of that dream is a very very significant loss.
But... if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn't get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things ... about Holland.