Scott & I spent the better part of the day at Providence hospital in Portland attending classes & a resource fair. This was all centered around people with special needs & their families. "Challenging Family Issues" was the first class & the second was "fathers only", so I had to sit that one out. Although I did get really lost and walk into the father class by accident not long after it started. And I did literally sit it out as my lower back began to spasm the minute I got done with the resource fair. I could hardly walk, I sat it out for a long time.
The resource fair was awesome. All of the vendors there were friendly. Since I happened to be there at a slow time, I was able to talk to all of them in more detail about their services & was often given even more resources to look into! One woman had a booth on homeschooling. She gave me the name of a pediatric doctor in Portland who specializes in autism. She said there aren't many around here & that this lady was pretty incredible. The guy with the soccer booth was giving info on local soccer & sports for special needs kids & adults. Of course this was all in Portland, but instead of sending me away after I told him I lived in Salem, he took the time to inform me of special needs sports near us! I had no idea these existed! Another woman told me where to look for swimming that would be geared towards kids like Judah. Another booth was for an art summer camp. There was lots of summer camp info at the fair. The teacher from our parenting class had her own booth, representing her other job - working with families.
A booth called 211 let us know that you can call their number just to talk and for resources of all kinds. They aren't 24 hours, but they are all day long Mon-Fri. I thought they were pretty incredible! Anyone at the beginning stages of this could hugely benefit from their services. They could help put the overwhelming feelings & foggy confusion into a more clear, hopeful perspective from the get-go. Of course everyone with special needs people in their lives could hugely benefit from these services as well. What an invaluable assistance to the community.
I talked to a woman who does play therapy & learned that you can be non-verbal & still have successful play therapy. The play therapist we had met with in the past did not have those same feelings. After meeting Judah she had informed us that he would not be a good fit for play therapy & sent us out the door. It was really nice to hear that all play therapists wouldn't be throwing Judah and others like him out the door because he wasn't communicating well in one specific way - after all, you can communicate in all kinds of ways!! And there's no doubt in my mind that he knows how to play! ;)
There was even a WESD booth! I asked her what the trick was to getting your kid more days in school. She said that each district has different rules. The thinking for her district is that if your kid is progressing with 2 days a week then that's all he needs. Pretty much the same thing here, she just had a nicer way of saying it. She was pretty shocked when I told her that we had to fight to get Judah's school to share with us how & what they teach in the classroom. And in the end all they did was train us on the Star Program, which is 15 minutes of the class day or less.
Autism Society was there - they are pretty awesome. Our pediatrician & naturopath are both fond of them.
The class I attended with Scott was run by a man who works in the field of special needs in Washington. His focus is fathers of special needs kids. He is one of these. He was very positive about everything, attempting to debunk the divorce rate theory for parents of special needs kids, as well as explaining how the huge number of autistic children that the CDC states there are is untrue. He talked about dads a lot. I got to get on the mike and talk about how planning activities for my kids the day prior helps me to boost resilience. Our class focused also on the differences in how each parent thinks. Apparently mom's thinking is more in the present while dad's is in the future.. some of the things that guy said didn't fit us at all. Dads take more risks doesn't really seem to be that accurate here either sir. Scott's class lasted forever, but he made a lot of connections. He said that every father there does the same things he does - grocery shopping, cooking & folding laundry. And then said something about how they thought it was such a big load of work!
Judah got no fish oil. He took 2 vit d., 1/2 a bethanecol twice, Oxymag and docusate sodium (twice). No l-carnatine- we're out. No Miralax, no poop. No dmg w/folinic acid- still waiting on it to arrive!!! Did a little over 1/4 teaspoon of powder B-6.
The resource fair was awesome. All of the vendors there were friendly. Since I happened to be there at a slow time, I was able to talk to all of them in more detail about their services & was often given even more resources to look into! One woman had a booth on homeschooling. She gave me the name of a pediatric doctor in Portland who specializes in autism. She said there aren't many around here & that this lady was pretty incredible. The guy with the soccer booth was giving info on local soccer & sports for special needs kids & adults. Of course this was all in Portland, but instead of sending me away after I told him I lived in Salem, he took the time to inform me of special needs sports near us! I had no idea these existed! Another woman told me where to look for swimming that would be geared towards kids like Judah. Another booth was for an art summer camp. There was lots of summer camp info at the fair. The teacher from our parenting class had her own booth, representing her other job - working with families.
A booth called 211 let us know that you can call their number just to talk and for resources of all kinds. They aren't 24 hours, but they are all day long Mon-Fri. I thought they were pretty incredible! Anyone at the beginning stages of this could hugely benefit from their services. They could help put the overwhelming feelings & foggy confusion into a more clear, hopeful perspective from the get-go. Of course everyone with special needs people in their lives could hugely benefit from these services as well. What an invaluable assistance to the community.
I talked to a woman who does play therapy & learned that you can be non-verbal & still have successful play therapy. The play therapist we had met with in the past did not have those same feelings. After meeting Judah she had informed us that he would not be a good fit for play therapy & sent us out the door. It was really nice to hear that all play therapists wouldn't be throwing Judah and others like him out the door because he wasn't communicating well in one specific way - after all, you can communicate in all kinds of ways!! And there's no doubt in my mind that he knows how to play! ;)
There was even a WESD booth! I asked her what the trick was to getting your kid more days in school. She said that each district has different rules. The thinking for her district is that if your kid is progressing with 2 days a week then that's all he needs. Pretty much the same thing here, she just had a nicer way of saying it. She was pretty shocked when I told her that we had to fight to get Judah's school to share with us how & what they teach in the classroom. And in the end all they did was train us on the Star Program, which is 15 minutes of the class day or less.
Autism Society was there - they are pretty awesome. Our pediatrician & naturopath are both fond of them.
The class I attended with Scott was run by a man who works in the field of special needs in Washington. His focus is fathers of special needs kids. He is one of these. He was very positive about everything, attempting to debunk the divorce rate theory for parents of special needs kids, as well as explaining how the huge number of autistic children that the CDC states there are is untrue. He talked about dads a lot. I got to get on the mike and talk about how planning activities for my kids the day prior helps me to boost resilience. Our class focused also on the differences in how each parent thinks. Apparently mom's thinking is more in the present while dad's is in the future.. some of the things that guy said didn't fit us at all. Dads take more risks doesn't really seem to be that accurate here either sir. Scott's class lasted forever, but he made a lot of connections. He said that every father there does the same things he does - grocery shopping, cooking & folding laundry. And then said something about how they thought it was such a big load of work!
Judah got no fish oil. He took 2 vit d., 1/2 a bethanecol twice, Oxymag and docusate sodium (twice). No l-carnatine- we're out. No Miralax, no poop. No dmg w/folinic acid- still waiting on it to arrive!!! Did a little over 1/4 teaspoon of powder B-6.
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