Teaching John

It has been a while since my last blog entry and we have entered into a new phase of life with Down syndrome since then. Life seems to be a continuous period of adapting to life with Down syndrome as each day brings a different set of challenges. Each parent of a special needs child has to navigate the waters of raising a child with special needs the way they see fit, and each set of parents chooses to do it differently. Being both medical people who are familiar with Down syndrome, my wife and I chose from the beginning to fore go the states admonition of how to help and teach our son, and to personalize our help to John's needs.

John is now 8 years old and is in 1st grade which has brought many challenges. But we are facing them head on and with determination of giving John all the tools he needs in order to learn as much as he can. We know that there are limits to what he will be able to learn, but neither we or anyone else can tell us where those limits are...so we push, prod, tutor, read, play with marbles, raisins, count our peas, chicken nuggets, etc until we find the ceiling to his abilities.

Thus far, John has surprised us as to his abilities. Just as I have stated before on this blog - people usually rise to the challenge they are given. If people aren't challenged to move toward a goal, then they won't reach the goal, but if we set goals and challenge them to reach those goals, we are surprised at their achievements.

So we keep on challenging and loving him for who he is and we pray for him that the Lord would strengthen him and guide John. Because we know that God has a plan for John's life.