Posted in Our Homeschool Beginnings
We spent the summer of 2001 researching curriculum and what was available for children with special needs (not much!) and for Dylan. Even when the boys were in puclic school we worked with them (especially Zack b/c we knew he didn't get much at school), but now it was ALL our responsibility. We were scared, but excited because we knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that this was what God wanted us to do....so He must've known something we didn't! Yes, He sure did.
In November of that year my dh and I attended a seminar by Linda Kane of Hope and a Future and knew immediately this was what God wanted us to do for Zack. After her seminar we approached Mrs. Kane and asked if she had any openings at her clinic, she informed us that she had just received a cancellation! She evaluated Zack and then told us what we needed to do to help our son. She didn't sugar coat things, she told us it would be hard work. Nearly five years later I can tell you she was right! She created an Individualized Neurodevelopmental Plan for us to implement in our homeschool with him. We were so excited to have a direction to go and that someone believed Zack could be helped!
I guess here is where I should digress and give you a little background on Zack. Zack was born with Agenesis of the Corpus Callosum (the middle band of connective tissue in his brain is almost completely missing) and this has caused many autistic characteristics, moderate mental retardation, hypotonia, obsessive-compulsive tendencies, and some psychosis.
When Linda evaluated Zack he had so many self-stims that I couldn't think of them all to write them down. I was told by the "professionals" that stimming was what he needed to do to calm himself down. I later learned that was a bunch of hooey. I was told by Linda to stop him at all costs, it was the worst thing he could do and it was holding him back. :-o Zack was 13 at his first eval with Linda Kane. His math tested at the 1.0 grade level., his word recognition was at the 6.5 grade level and his reading comprehension was at the 2.5 grade level. ( I knew this wasn't good, but I thought at least he's doing that well for a kid who the doctors didn't know if he'd ever walk or talk...much less count or read!)
Well, we had our program (Zack's INP) and we were committed to doing it. And that we did. Day in, day out we did that program. In March of 2002 we went back to see Linda for a re-evaluation. When Linda came out to get us after Zack's evaluation, her first words were "who is this young man?" :-) Zack HAD progressed, I knew it because I could see it, but to hear someone else say it was like music to my ears!
We were working on eliminating Zack's stims and that was helping him attend more. He made eye contact, he would talk with you instead of asking the same questions over and over or quote movie lines repeatedly. Because of the sound therapy we were using, his auditory sensitivity was decreasing greatly and he didn't cover his ears nearly as much. One area I just couldn't praise God enough for was progress in Zack's eating. Because of the oral activities we were doing Zack was now trying new foods and liking them! We were elated! What was also astounding was the academic improvement in just 4 months. His math came up to 1.8 grade level, word recognition came up to 8.4 grade level and reading comprehension came up to 5.3 grade level!! To GOD be ALL the glory, honor and praise!!!! Though we still struggle with social skills and he is nowhere near where a "typical" 17 year old should be, Zack continues to improve. If all goes well we will graduate him from homschooling and from ND program in May of 2007 and seek further options for him to have a full, productive, God-honoring life. He's such a special young man who loves his family and especially his best friend, Jesus. I know God has plans for my son...plans for "hope and a future." (Jeremiah 29:11) Again...to GOD be ALL the glory!
"Your are to rejoice before the LORD your God
in everything you put your hand to."
(Deut. 12:18)
~ Sonya ~
Posted in Our Homeschool Beginnings
I first wanted to explain "why" these are "Chronicles from Holland" by including the poem by Emily Perl Kingsley, a favorite of many parents of special needs children. I then wanted to start this blog with remembering "why" we began this homeschooling journey.
Picture it...April 2001. :-)
We were fairly happy with the school system, or so we thought. I began working in the special education department of my children's school when my youngest son, Dylan, started Kindergarten. I thought it was the perfect job, I would always be home when my kids were. God had other plans. My clasroom being 2 doors down from Zack's, I got to see what most parents don't get to see...what happens when parents aren't there.
I learned that my son's CDC (comprehensive development class) was glorified day care. I don't mean to insinuate that there aren't good teachers, because there are. I have met a couple. There were a couple of educational assistants that were very good to Zack and we are still friends with to this day. But I soon found that it was just a JOB to them. For some reason they weren't as bent on seeing Zack succeed as I was. Who knew??? 
Without going into every horrific detail of all the incidents that happened, suffice it to say that God allowed things to get bad for Zack AND Dylan at school. It could have been going on all along for Zack and God just opened our eyes and allowed us to see. He had been calling us to home school for a couple years and we were ignoring that call. We were too scared. We were scared we could not make it on one income, and scared we could not meet Zack's needs. (YES...I sometimes forget that it is our Heavenly Father who meets all our needs abundantly and we are just blessed enough to be used by Him!)
Kurt and I had been praying for some time over this homeschooling thing that kept coming up. We were looking for God to just remove all our fears and pave the way so it could be smooth sailing. I don't know where I thought we were to take a "step of faith". One particular day around March 2001 things were really bad for the boys in school. That evening Kurt and I knelt by the bed, both with heavy hearts and in tears, and asked God that if He was sure this was what He wanted us to do, then please "hit us in the head with a 2x4" so we would know. (Were we crazy or what???) The very next day we came home from school and checked the mail. In the mailbox was a catalog...a homeschooling catalog addressed to us! I opened the catalog and inside was a letter congratulating us on making the decision to home educate our children!!!!!!! I called Kurt at work sobbing and telling him God just hit us with the 2x4! He simply said "I guess that's it, turn in your notice." To this day we don't know how we got on this compnay's mailing list. We never told anyone that we were even praying about homeschooling because we didn't want to be influenced one way or the other. However, when anyone asks what made us decide to homeschool-we always say that God sent us a letter!
"Your are to rejoice before the LORD your God
in everything you put your hand to."
(Deut. 12:18)
~ Sonya ~
Posted in Our Homeschool Beginnings
WELCOME TO HOLLAND
by
Emily Perl Kingsley
c1987 by Emily Perl Kingsley. All rights reserved
I 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.
"Your are to rejoice before the LORD your God
in everything you put your hand to."
(Deut. 12:18)
~ Sonya ~
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