Our Island Vacation

Grand Island, NE - not quite the island vacation your were thinking of.  It was far from a vacation too.  We attended a conference for parents of special needs children - PEP (parents encouraging parents).  The bonus was no kids, hotel and most meals included in the price, which was FREE! 

The first night was typical starters, meets/greets/dinner.  The conference was completely run by parents of special needs children - talk about experts in the field!  To end the night we broke into assigned small discussion groups - these were a bit like group therapy.  The rules of the room were no problem solving, but to talk about feelings only.  Not the easiest to do with a group of strangers, but quickly we got to know each other and could definitely relate to things we were dealing with.

Friday we started off with a bang digging into IFSP/IEP's - what they should include, what your rights are etc.  We gathered lots of info to take home from this one and are ready for our next meeting with our team.  This led to the next topic of building a positive relationship with the school - something to keep in mind since you have to work with them for the next 20+ years.

The afternoon was about grief and not quite what I expected.  I think we have adequately addressed this as a family and are ok at this point.  Followed up by more small group discussion and then we were on our own.  Yep - an entire night on the town!  We had dinner (you get in a lot faster when it's just a table for two!) and took in a movie.  We didn't stay out late - the conference was quite emotionally draining - in a good way, but we were exhausted.

Saturday was full of breakout sessions - we attended Assistive Technology and learned about so many different services available.  This was followed by It's bigger than social skills - this gal had lots of ideas on how to incorporate what our kids need to learn into home and school life.  I took lots of notes and really it applys to all kids, not just special needs.  Our last one was a sibling session - led by two young adults who have siblings with special needs.  It was good to hear from their perspective.  They confirmed we're doing the right things - taking time with each child, talking as a family about Eisley's needs and how each of us can help, asking them how they would like to help.

From the weekend I learned that autism is much more prevalent than I realized.  It seemed that the majority of the parents there had a child with some type of autism disorder.  I also came home appreciating our local DS group - I can't imagine just being out there with no one to support you or help you through the process. 

I came away being thankful that Eisley has Down syndrome.  It's usually diagnosed at birth with an objective test, lots of education and research has and is being done - we're not paving roads to get basic things.  Compared to some of the challenges that other face, it seemed to be pretty easy. 

One of my group leaders is the father to 4 adopted children all who have severe physical and cognitive disabilities.  He closed our session by thanking us for stepping up to the plate, accepting and loving our kids and doing what's best for them. 

It's all about perspective.