The WHY in Down syndrome.
I have known my little friend, Eilish, since she was less than two-years-old. Eilish has Down syndrome and today she is nine-and-a-half years of age. I worked with Eilish an her family as their speech/language pathologist and saw her grow from simple vocalizations to speaking in sentences, answering, and asking simple questions and understanding and using social language skills. But, she never asked her mother “why” about anything.
Parents of special children are patient. They plant seeds and wait for them to grow in many areas of childhood development. My friend, Eilish, is no different nor are her mother and father. I might mention here, however, that Eilish’s mother has been totally blind since birth. Through that blindness Shannon “sees” life in all of its colors and glories. She is an inspiration to all who know her. I’m lucky to be one of those.
So here is the scenero that Shannon E-mailed me a couple of days ago. It is heartwarming. It is a story of patience and love and longing. It is a testiment to time and never giving up on a parent’s dream.
Shannon’s Dream
I think this is pretty huge!
I’ll simply tell it, and you all can decide for yourselves.
I came upstairs with a glass of iced tea to read some email before
20/20, my favorite show. There was a bowl on my desk that Eilish and
I had shared some cookies out of earlier, and she’d left her computer
monitor and speakers on, (she knows better.)
I called to her and said, “Eilish. Please come here.” She began to head up the stairs, and as she was climbing, she said, “Why?”
Now most parents get the why question when their kids are about 3 or so. If you were to ask my mother and daddy, they’d tell you that my favorite question was “why?” or “how come?”
Until this very day, Eilish has never asked me why, and she’s nine and a
half years old. I was beginning to wonder if I’d ever hear “why” from her, though the good Lord knows I hear it enough from her older sister, I have heard it ever since she was 3 and it hasn’t slowed down much by 16.
Now Eilish has joined the “why” crowd. I couldn’t be happier, and I hope I
hear a heck of a lot more “whys” from her in the next ten years.
Tags: disability, Education, Parenting, Speech/Language Therapy, teachers
