Hi Mark -- on Sep 03 2011 at 22:12, you wrote:

Just wanted to say hello to everyone in here, as I have just picked
up this echo from my hub. I had seen it before, but was not totally
clear on the discussion until now.

Greetings!! Hmm....is there something we should change in the description, perhaps?

As some already know, my youngest son (4 years old now) has Down

[...]

godo at sports and has a good pitching arm. We were outside today
playing catch.

Excellent!! Our daughter (25) also has Down Syndrome. Not only is she doing well, she's just been awarded the George Klukas Achievement Award for personal growth in a person with Down Syndrome (via the Down Syndrome Research Foundation: www.dsrf.org). We're very proud of her!

He has been a real blessing and a wonderful child. One thing we
still need to get through is he needs an operation for
Hirschsprung's Disease. It is where a section (at the end) of the

[...]

He has a clean bill of health (including heart tests) otherwise.
Once we get through this operation, he should be in much better
shape. No long term issues.

Was wondering if anyone is familiar with any of those operations?

They're new to me, but like many parents of kids with DS, we've had our share of surgeries and panics! Our daughter had leukemia at age 3, a few other procedures, and then a major stroke at age 16. She's now Left side hemiplegic and uses a wheelchair, but still smiling! :-)

Looking forward to discussion with everyone.

Nice to have you with us!

Cheers... Dallas

--- timEd/386 1.10.y2k+
* Origin: The BandMaster, CANADA [telnet: bandmaster.tzo.com] (1:153/7715)

Hi Mark -- on Sep 05 2011 at 14:05, you wrote:

I should have looked for the description early on. I thought it was
only for people that survived some type of adversity (based on the
echo tag). Once I found the description, it make more sense to me.

Actually, that was the original intent, but like us, it's changed over the years! :-)

We have been working around our son's bowel issue since he was born.
It is difficult to get a procedure done when there is no "clear and
present danger at that moment", but this does need to be fixed. The
risk of not doing it long term is worse.

Yes, it can be tough to get the medical types to recognize the realities of life!

Still working with him to increase his vocabulary. That will keep
him from getting as frustrated at times when he acts out due to
people not understanding what he wants. He knows more sign language
than I do. :)

We enrolled (all of us) in a sign language group for toddlers. The theory is that all children have needs before they can speak, and using sign language (so
called "signed English") helps prevent frustration. We still use a little - it's handy in a noisy place!


Cheers... Dallas

--- timEd/386 1.10.y2k+
* Origin: The BandMaster, CANADA [telnet: bandmaster.tzo.com] (1:153/7715)

Hi Mark -- on Sep 06 2011 at 11:46, you wrote:

What is incredible to me is the amount of medical professionals that

[...]

people need an medical refresher course! It seems to be a battle
with some to bring them up to date.

A losing battle. When our daughter was born in 1986, the pediatrician of record
told us to put her in a home and forget about her. I fired him that night.

Not a bad idea. I have learned some of the basics from our son and
his teachers. :) He has been getting better at verbalizing.

I used to teach it to my Grade 8 "Fine Arts" class -- they loved being able to talk in (other) classes without being caught. :-)

Cheers... Dallas

--- timEd/386 1.10.y2k+
* Origin: The BandMaster, CANADA [telnet: bandmaster.tzo.com] (1:153/7715)

Hi Mark -- on Sep 13 2011 at 21:39, you wrote:

The medical professionals need to get up to date on facts and stop
living in their own world..

it's amazing how badly wrong they can be sometimes -- but perhaps it's proof of
the wonders of the mind?


Cheers... Dallas

--- timEd/386 1.10.y2k+
* Origin: The BandMaster, CANADA [telnet: bandmaster.tzo.com] (1:153/7715)

Hi Mark -- on Sep 22 2011 at 19:31, you wrote:

One of the days this week when I dropped my son off at
school/daycare, I got to see him take the "Apple" with his name on
it and put it on the tree. I was VERY impressed. 4 years old, he
was able to find his apple (the one with his name on it), and put it
on the tree with the other kids that were present.

That's wonderful -- well done!!

Very cool! He impresses me more and more each day!

:-)




Cheers... Dallas

--- timEd/386 1.10.y2k+
* Origin: The BandMaster, CANADA [telnet: bandmaster.tzo.com] (1:153/7715)