Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired but instead he was placed at T.H. Rogers, which has proven to be beneficial to his increased communication ability but not to his self help skills. I'm going to look into DARS for that assistance, most likely after the New Year.
In the meantime, I get a much needed break from parenting every Friday night from 1830-2230 at Houston Area Respite Center (HARC). This has been an awesome resource for me so I can go blow off steam, whether it is swimming, running or riding....it's ME TIME!!! Another perk to the Respite is that it is connected to Gethsemane United Methodist Church, which also has a service for Special Needs children. I hadn't been a part of a church for almost a year since Miguel was asked to only attend worship if I sat with him during the children's worship.
In 2006, Miguel was kicked out of Gold's Gym and could not attend church if I did not join him. I suppose I could see Miguel's ostracizing as people's ignorance, laziness, incompetence and carelessness but I choose to see it differently.
I think it takes a very special person to care for Miguel... and do it well. Now, I am not talking about myself. He's my child and I have to do my best with him. It's my natural obligation. There is no option, the way I see it, but for people who CHOOSE to care for this special population are AMAZING!!!!
If I was given a CHOICE, would I have CHOSEN to be Miguel's mom? All of the personal responsibility, financial responsibility, public scrutiny, frustration (personal and professional), exhaustion, discrimination and lack of support.....HHHEEEEEELLLLLL NO! I wouldn't have chosen it. I was a 20 year old. I was a narrow-minded, self-absorbed idiot. True story.
Am I overjoyed and blessed to be Miguel's mom? ABSOLUTELY!!! Yet, I am still a self-absorbed idiot....some things will never change.
So, I was put into, on my own accord, an undesirable situation and I KICK ASS but I am more thankful for those who CHOOSE to educate, care for and treat my child and still..... KICK SERIOUS ASS!!! They are TRULY AWESOME!!!!
I mentioned Deandrea Grover a blog or two ago. Her and Miguel clicked at Daycare (D'Unique Center of Learning) and she has been my sitter ever since and she is awesome. I use the assistance of United Cerebral Palsy of Greater Houston to reimburse part of what I pay her. She understands Miguel more than most and he loves his "Didi". We are blessed to have found her since moving here because we had a PHENOMENAL nanny in IL, Amanda Massong, and we had been lost without her in Houston. (I will post a link for her when my computer is fixed) I found her at Miguel's afterschool care and summer camp, Warren Special Recreation Association, and they were soooo good to Miguel. The majority of the staff there are high school students or college students on break, so I have difficulty tolerating grown adults that can't work with Miguel.
Then there was the FIRST TEACHER OF MIGUEL'S THAT LISTENED TO MY OPINION and believed it to be true, Julie Rohrbach in 2004, mind you, Miguel has been a student since 2000 . She was the first teacher to ask my opinion about Miguel's education, believe it, agree with me and follow through with a plan to get Miguel an appropriate education....and advocated for it. Which was placement in a class designed for Autistic children.
In 2005, Miguel had the first Vision Itinerant, Sheila Hoekstra, to work with him from the Blind/Autistic perspective and advocate for him to stay in the program but have the MUCH NEEDED teacher/classroom change. It was a drastic improvement and Miguel received a 1-on-1 aide, whom Miguel bonded with well but still requested "Miss Sheeya" as much as humanly possible. :)
In keeping with my blog title, I will return to my blurb on resources......
Here we are at Christmastime and I managed to do ALL my Miguel shopping online and here were some good resources that I found for gift ideas (AutismWeb), affordable sensory toys (OZMO Cool Fun Toys), therapy/sensory enjoyment (Integrations) and Autism Awareness gifts for close friends and family (Autism Society of America).
I'm always open to toy suggestions and shopping resources.... :)
"Good judgment comes from experience, and often experience comes from bad judgment."-- Rita Mae Brown
Amen to that!!!
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