Navigating the Jungle

As you may or may not know, I am the mom of a child with what has become the catch phrase "Special Needs". Most of all I think he is a 7 year old boy. But he does have some delays. With those delays however, there isn't a child more full of sunshine than he is. In the whole world.

He believes that while he is at school, I stay home and play with his teddy bears all day. And as long as he can keep believing that I know I have the right balance.

Having a child with unspecified special needs is a lot like being blindfolded in a jungle. You stumble, you hit trees, you have no map to follow and if you did there would be no way to see it or even make sense of it.

Every single day though, you get to feel the sand and the sunshine though. Every single day. And believe me we do not take that for granted.

Sensory Integration Dysfunction Disorder is what has been unofficially diagnosed. Luc fits the profile, and as with anything he is always changing. His issues are always changing. Part of my job as a mom is figuring that all out.

At the age of four someone in education suggested he be placed on Ritalin. That ended with my fist slamming on the table. Yes, medication has it's place. For the right child, absolutely. Our boy does not fit any of the symptoms for ADHD and we have the most wonderful pediatrician on earth to back us up on that.

Besides he was FOUR.

Luc is a square peg that they want to fit into a round hole. Until now. Our schools were realigned and the special education programs were shuffled around. Without even knowing it, we landed in the right place. Our Principal works personally with Luc and her goal is to integrate all of these children by 5th grade.

Last year I was told by our school principal that special education children had no hope for integration.

His teacher is phenomenal. The gains he has made academically are outstanding.

We also enlisted the help of the Sylvan Learning Center.

And it is all coming together.

Tonight Luc sat and read me a book. I smiled the whole time but what he could not see were the tears in my eyes. He sounded out words, I held back from doing it for him. He figured it out without getting frustrated. He read confidently and calmly.

While I don't use medications with my child, I use something that has been around for hundreds of years. I use essential oils. Specifically with Luc I use Peace and Calming and Lavender. At my yoga studio we use them. We learn about them and I do believe they work. Do the research, but research correctly.

Every morning I rub these oils on Luc's feet. The days I don't.... I tend to get a call form the Principal. What should I say "I didn't put his oils on today!!!" How would that sound? Actually knowing this woman, it would sound just fine.

Another thing we do for Luc is ..... gasp.... keep him active. He's grown into quite a swimmer. He's completed a triathlon. He's getting good at balancing on his bike. He loves to shoot hoops. He loves to play.

He owns no video games. We won't even have them in the house. When he was born we decided he would not be one of these video game / TV obsessed children. And I think that's been a big key with his development.

So as Luc grows, we grow with him. We provide a loving and stable home for him, rarely if ever a babysitter (aside form Granny's house!) and plenty of Mom and Dad time every single day. My life is structured so that I get him off the bus (and stay with him!!!) every single day.

I believe that parenting itself is the very best medicine for anything that ails. Anything at all.

Together we navigate the jungle. We hit the trees, we sink in the sand, and every single day we take off the blindfold and feel the warm sun on our faces. We learn together. And we grow together.

We'll get there.