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Mom in Uncharted Waters
Navigating Family, Food and Special Needs
Navigating Family, Food and Special Needs
I have a special needs daughter that is 20 years old. I too live in Texas. We had an early childhood program called Project Tykes. Then she was put into regular elementary school at 3 in a program called Preschool Program for Children with Disabilities (PPCD). I still have no medical terms of what is Brittanee’s issue. She’s got a 53 IQ. She does have a deletion in Chromosone 1 although they can’t tell me if this is what lead to Brittanee having a disability. Anyway, why I’m writing to you is to tell you Brittanee is my greatest gift. She decided after high school she wanted to go to college. She’s in her 2nd year at Houston Community College VAST program. She also wanted to live in a “dorm” like her brother and sisters. We found “The Center” in Downtown Houston. What a wonderful place. It was very hard to let her go…when I did she has grown and flies high! I couldn’t be prouder of her. She is a place that accepts her as she is. She has friends. She rides a city bus from The Center to HCC and back on Tuesdays and Thursdays. She has well exceeded everything the doctors said she would. No, special needs children don’t have a book as does any child…. and they don’t have a limit either. I tell my beautiful daughter she can do anything she wants to do…. Thank goodness she doesn’t want to be a brain surgeon!
Hi Joni! Thank you so much for sharing your story with me! Brittanee sounds like an amazing young woman. We are in PPCD right now, and hoping to delay kinder for a year. We recently had an assessment with a pediatric psychologist and I wanted to know what Lucy’s future might look like. The bottom line is that we just don’t know. I so agree with you about not limiting our expectations. The great thing about not knowing for me, is that anything is possible. Congratulations on all of Brittanee’s success. I hope in 15 years I am sharing a similar story with another mom. Your story is a great inspiration to me, and I love that I can just feel your love for your daughter right through this screen. Take care