Faith's Mom's Blog

Oh boy! These last two mornings have been tough ones as far as Faith getting ready for school. Everyone seems sort of perplexed by her behavior. She cries and screams and throws a fit as soon as I start getting her dressed for school. She tells me repeatedly to "Stop it!"  I seriously wonder what the neighbors think during all of this. At some point she does calm down but why does she even do it in the first place? Does she seriously think that by throwing a fit we're not going to send her to school? Both her morning and afternoon aides say that when she is in the classroom, she is a little tense, and her arms are bent up and she can't totally relax. I'm hoping this gets better as she acclimates to her new classroom.  It can be a challenge to get out the door in the morning!  Despite her bits of anxiety, her feedings are going well at school for which I am very grateful. Last year we kept having episodes of gagging and throwing up. We decided to take her to a nu...

Well, just as I thought, this morning didn't go too well getting Faith ready for school. She was in tears for most of the time we were getting ready. I tried to sit with her and console her and through her tears she said, "I'm not ready for school." When I asked her why she replied through even more tears, "I want to stay home with you." It was sad and endearing at the same time. I'm not sure what finally brought her out of her tears, but she did calm down as I was fixing her hair. Then when her dad tried to talk to her, she told him she was busy getting ready. Rob and I both walked her to school and since her morning aide was nowhere to be seen, I took her downstairs to her classroom. On the way, we ran into several teachers who gave Faith a very warm welcome back to school. She received many compliments on her outfit and her pretty hair. She was smiling and talking, and I knew at that point she was going to be fine. At home, I kept watching the cl...

Tomorrow is the big day - Faith officially becomes a 2nd grader. We have been spending the last couple of weeks buying school supplies, shopping for school clothes, and having fun driving the van around.  Then yesterday to help her get emotionally ready for school we read the list of kids in her class and had a little pretend school session at home - of course she wanted to be the teacher! She does say that when she grows up, she wants to be a teacher. She definitely has the giving instructions part down! This morning, I agreed to help volunteer at one of the booths for open house so parents could come in and pay lunch money, pay PTO dues, buy spirit wear - things like that. Faith was very patient with me at the booth and it helped when people came over to visit.  After we were done with that, we ventured downstairs to meet her teacher and see her classroom. I was thankful that there was an instant connection between Faith and her new teacher. Faith ended up telling her, "Yo...

Assistive technology helps students succeed in the classroom. There are many types of assistive technology to help students with different special needs. In the photo to the left, assistive technology called interactive switches allow Faith to drive her power chair and operate her computer at school. Read more by going to Assistive Technology Helps Students with Disabilities.

All week long, the clinic that Faith goes to has been holding pediatric therapy sessions in a handicapped-accessible park called Magical Moments. Of course, when this was being planned, the weather was going to be a key factor. It turned out to be a beautiful week - perfect for playing in the park.  Yesterday, Faith got in her gait trainer like any normal physical therapy session but this time instead of walking down a hallway, she got to walk up some ramps that eventually led to some slides. It was harder than normal because these ramps were at a slight incline, and she has never walked uphill before. She worked so hard, and as a reward, she got to go down the green slide with her physical therapist. She was all smiles! Faith giving it all she's got Keep going Faith! Faith made it to the slide! Going down the slide! When we lived on 7th street, we used to take Faith to this park quite a bit because of the special wheelchair swing it had. The swing is now new an...

Ever since finding out Faith was going to be needing some sort of wheelchair for mobility, we knew that one day our family would need an accessible van.  Until that time, though, we knew we would have to make-do without one. After Faith outgrew her regular car seat and needed more support, we were able to acquire an adaptive car seat called the Special Tomato using funds from GABR . Faith's first wheelchair was a pediatric wheelchair called a Kid Cart - which came apart and easily fit into the trunk of our car. But after outgrowing that, her chair became much bigger and much heavier as well. Thankfully, we were able to take the seating system off of the base and then put the seating system in the passenger seat of our car with the base in the trunk. All of this required lots of lifting. Here is the seating system in the passenger seat of our small car. The base fit in the trunk. Faith in her adaptive car seat - her legs and feet are kind of squished After her chair was upg...

I've been trying to take Faith out for walks - to get fresh air for her and exercise for me. We have our little routine that after her first feeding in the morning we go out and about - usually just around the neighborhood. It's a nice time because it's not quite so hot - even though some mornings have been humid. Last week we walked to a friend's house and while sitting on her steps visiting, we noticed the sky starting to get dark and then felt sprinkles. It's a good thing she only has one step - that made it easy to get Faith quickly inside. After we got inside, it began to downpour. We ended up extending our visit longer than we had planned because it wouldn't stop raining!  Faith really liked our long visit because she got to spend time with Molly, one of her favorite dogs  On Saturday, I was excited to finally take Faith to the zoo for the first time since it had re-opened. We really wanted to see the zebras that were visiting from Minot.  While g...