eSpecially Ben

Here are some photos from Ben's summer camp. This camp is coordinated through the Therapeutic Recreation Division of the County Parks and Recreation Department. They offer scholarships to attend this camp. Ryan and I participated in the Amazing Race , one of their fundraising events for the scholarship fund for which many of you contributed. You can see through these photos that the camp does an excellent job of getting the children involved in all types of activities from pet therapy to swimming, and everything in between. . And when they were not busy with the weekly visits from the music therapist, horticulturalist and My Gym, they went off-site to the bowling alley, theme parks, local colleges to take in a play. Ben was busy exploring this summer and making friends.

I received this letter a few weeks after Ben attended Rainbow Express at Matthews United Methodist Church: First off, thank you so much for sharing your wonderful son with me this week. Ben really fascinated me as I learned more about him each day. I loved seeing his smile and laugh when he got excited, and although it was a wee bit painful, I laughed so hard every time I turned around and saw him innocently gnawing on my hair! Everywhere we walked in the hallways, someone stopped us wanting to meet Ben. It might have been because of his awesome trike or adorable red hair, but once people looked him in the eyes they fell in love with him and couldn't help but tell me how cute he is. I was surprised how well Ben was able to communicate his desires with me. I feel as though I've learned so much, not only about Ben, but about myself. Having Ben as my camper was a massive blessing. Give Ben a hug for me! Jaclyn Reading this letter made my day!

If you don't like something, change it. If you can't change it, change your attitude. --Maya Angelou Who says it better than Maya Angelou?  I mean reallly, geesh, she is awesome. This post is about change.  It's funny, because I have always been a huge fan of change.  You know, mixing things up, trying something new, meeting new people, travelling to new places, etc.  All these things, every single one of them is like a living nightmare for my Autistic son.  So nowadays change is something we plan, not something that happens to us.  Changes in relationships are unpredictable and therefore a dangerous area for our family.  Since we live so far from my family, their support is by necessity, verbal (phone calls), so from a practical point of view it has made little difference.  As for friends, we have recently moved to a new area of the country and are in the initial stages of friendship with lots of lovely people who know all about our challenges, which makes things so much e

One of the eSpecially Parents suggested this topic for the month of August: How have your relationships changed with family and friends after your child was diagnosed with a special need? I have known about this question for awhile and had lots of time to mull it over. I have met my wonderful, caring and true friends through Ben. He seems to attract genuine people. And luckily they seem to like the rest of his family too. Early on when Ben was little, we were one of the first families to have children in the neighborhood. After Logan was born, there were a few more people having children and we decided to form a group called Club Family . We swapped babysitting time and planned group activities for the kids and parents. This group became my social outlet - and Ben was always a part of it all. I can only think of one time when a parent made a misinformed choice of words to explain Ben's condition, but other than that, everyone has been warm and loving toward our family. If we

I will be posting again soon...summer is almost over and it is our craziest time. Thanks for being a loyal reader!

A few weeks ago, Ben was brought home from camp without his Convaid stroller. I panicked. I kept myself together for the sake of the community worker, but I was beside myself. I mean I really came close to an anxiety attack. I called Ryan to tell him of the dilemma and he too had angry words about the situation. Our biggest fear was that Ben would not go to sleep at night and we would have nowhere to secure him. His sleep schedule has been crazy - up until after midnight wanting to roam the house, getting into things he need not get into. Our sleep and Ben's safety were our two main concerns. I realized, fairly quickly, that my anxiety was something to examine. I saw that we had become dependent on strapping Ben into his chair when he would not go to sleep. Perhaps this "no-chair" night would help us develop new strategies for bedtime. We made it through that night, and we have since consulted with the neurologist. Time release melatonin for Ben is working some