WRiting About My Children

As mentioned in a previous post, all three of my children have a documented disability.  However, they'd beaten the odds, and that's because I taught my children that when a door closes, find an open window.  In our society, those who weren't born with a silver spoon in their mouth, must learn to persevere if they want to succeed in life.  

Once my children graduated from college, I had something worth writing about.  I wrote self-published a book about each child and how they had beaten the odds.  When my oldest caught wind of it, she was furious!  Even though, I didn't use her real name, she was too adamant about it and so I had her book removed.  My other two children didn't seem to care, but I deleted those books, too.  

I knew it was time to bury those years, that for me, had been like riding on a roller coaster.  I know they went through HELL, too!  My children learn to grow a thick skin and to push forward.  I, too, had grown a thicker skin, deciding to follow the beat of my own drummer, when it came to the advice of some others.

My oldest, Michelle, had been labeled as mentally challenged, due to her lack of being able to communicate.  Michelle, due to her ear infections, did not speak until two weeks after her third birthday.  Eventually, she was diagnosed as having a central auditory processing disorder.  Later on, she was targeted by the public school system as being good candidate for attending a public school for the deaf.  Michelle was not deaf, nor hearing-impaired.  Her medical letter, updated yearly, clearly indicated her disability and the accommodations that were needed to help her succeed at school. 

My middle child, Mitch, had mild cerebral palsy.  He walked with a gait and had difficulty writing on paper.  Fortunately, he is quite bright and passed all of his state assessments, most with an advanced placement.  Because he was smart, the school system had wanted to place him in a group of students, refer to as the 'rejects.'  These handicapped students weren't given the opportunity to show what they could accomplish.  They were simply taught the basic skills.  However, the school administrators knew, because of him having these high scores, they would have to allow him to take the college-bound courses with him receiving classroom accommodations.  

The year Mitch graduated from high school, off the record, he was the only student with a physical disability that was college-bound, and that to me, was quite sad!  Mitch had made friends with some students having mobility issues and stated they were quite intelligent; they just didn't have someone to advocate for them.

As for my youngest, Marie, who has glaucoma/photophobia/visual processing disorder, it and wasn't diagnosed has having a disability until the age of ten.  Before that, she had been falsely labeled as being dyslexic.  

When Marie entered middle school, I was involved in earning a graduate degree in reading.  I discovered how I could help my daughter in filling in the missing blanks of her learning.  For one summer, she received extensive phonetic instruction in reading and in writing from me.  I was able to rent a motel room at a discount, since it was only used for several hours a day, and Marie made progress.  She got more involved in reading and spent a great deal of time reading the Bible.  I know that if she hadn't received this intensive one-on-one instruction, she would never have been college-bound.  

After Marie graduated from college, she wrote book about her disability, and she did this, because many children having difficulty in reading, might have photophobia (visual processing disorder).  I believe that someone being labeled with dyslexia, actually has photophobia.  Unfortunately, for one to be properly diagnosed as having photophobia, one must see a neuro-ophthalmologist, and medical insurance for children, does not cover it, unless the parent fights for it.

Marie's book, "My Curly Head Self: Living with a Visual Processing Disorder."
www.amazon.com/dp/B07SH1JVYG


  

---