An Aching Heart for Special Needs Families
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My heart has been so heavy this past week…
Every week I take my son to therapy and I watch the people there. I get to know them as I see the same people every time I go. I see the parents who sit there cheering on their kids. I see the children working so very hard to meet specific goals. I see the sadness and the hope in the eyes of these people. Sadness for what they go through and hope that everything will turn out all right.
I admire these families who continue to fight. People like:
- The 10 year old girl who wears leg braces and uses a walker to walk. She comes through the door at a slow gait, barely able to left her legs one in front of the other. I wonder to myself if she gets made fun of at school for how she walks.
- The 3 year old girl and her mother who are there almost religiously every Monday. The little girl can’t talk, walk or sit up, and she can only see out of one eye. She is fed by a feeding tube and mostly sits on her mother’s lap and drools. I pray for this little girl and her mother each time I see them. Oh the strength that mother must need to get through each day!
- The little boy with down syndrome who has the sweetest smile, and the teenager with down syndrome who is so polite and smart. I think what wonderful parents they must have.
- The mothers who bring their kids in just so they can try to get their kids to eat. To get an ounce of milk in their baby or a vegetable in their toddler.
These are the people I get to know each week. The people my heart breaks for because I know. I know how hard it is. I may not have it as hard as these other families, but because of my son I have been given just a glimpse of life as a special needs parent. And wow is it hard.
And while I think of these things my friend’s baby lies in a hospital fighting for everything he’s got. I cry for their family. For the helplessness they feel, for the waiting they must do, and for those just like them who live in hospitals praying for their children each day. These are the people who hope against hope that everything will turn out alright.
Hug your children tight my friends. Thank God every day for the blessing of health, for the blessing of children who eat, run, and talk. Don’t take that for granted, there are so many out here who wish they had what you had and who are fighting and fighting just to get through another day.
Thank you! As a mama to a 3 year old with some speech delays, I so appreciate this post. We may have our struggles but it could be worse. It is nice to be reminded of that.
hi kathryn,
i enjoyed reading your blog. i especially enjoyed reading the post on SPD along with the video. it was very helpful!
i’m a nurse, but the way i b/c especially interested in some of these disorders was thro’ a good friend at church. she moved to our area when her #2 son was very young. it was obvious he had some problems but was too young for them to be able to diagnose them. as time went on, it turned out his disorder is not one that so far is labeled…but probably someday will. he is missing a layer of his brain. he will never be verbal this side of heaven. he is now about 14. he can walk and is able to be in a special school until age 18 or 21 (i forget). there are now 4 boys total in his family…18-about 7. it was a challenge to discover how J would fit into our church familly. it was a good challenge for all of us to struggle with b/c when his diagnosis first came out, he was barely able to sit up at age 5. isn’t it interesting how GOD uses hard times for one member of the Body to wake up others of us to issues we needed to be more aware of b/f?
thanks for your blog and the info you give to help us understand what seems like odd behavior from some of our children…until we understand what is going on in their minds and bodies. GOD help us to be more understanding of the needs of our special needs families so we can minister the love and grace of Christ to them!