I started in a new job about a month and a half ago..one of the things I am most thankful in this latest season of my life (somehow I forgot to mention this in my "thankful" post. Apparently the last couple months with no job has resulted in being out of the swing of employment and therefore out of my realm of "thankful thoughts" :) ). It's here now, however, and I am so so SO grateful for this opportunity I've been presented.
I work for a Christian family. They are a family of four--the two parents, a 13 year old son, and Anna. Anna is 9, and is on the mid/low-functioning end of the autism spectrum, and also has Apraxia. Autism is a very unique disorder. Very hard to explain if you have no exposure or background knowledge of it, but the spectrum is the best word they could have ever put at the end of this diagnosis. No two children present it the same, although there are certain characteristics that are often seen to some extent across the board.
She was diagnosed at the age of 2, and her presentation is such that, she is perpetually in motion (seriously..if I had half of her energy..I could get so much done!); she has high, deep-tissue, sensory needs and is continually seeking it out; and has some of the characteristic autistic feature in regards to social situations (when I first met with the parents they said "many times, if you try to enter her world, she'll leave it." And that was the perfect description). Apraxia is actually a disorder that falls under my realm of study--it's considered a motor-planning speech disorder. She has a good deal of language (word knowledge and language comprehension), and the muscles used in speech (mouth, tongue, jaw, etc.) work fine....the gap is in where the two get put together. Our brains instruct those muscles to coordinate themselves in a way to express the language, and (simply put) when that doesn't work, the sound produced is incomprehensible vocalizations. So in a nutshell--that is Anna :)
As you can imagine, this family has had quite the emotional, mental, and physical roller coaster over the last 7 years. The amount of things that a family with a special needs child has to do just to try and hit a manageable level of living with their child is CRAZY. From countless doctors, to specialist after specialist, to trying to get your child all the services in the best environments with the best professionals, to an ever-growing list of medications and supplements--it never ends. And on top of that, they have another child...a son in junior high who also needs his parents presence in his life.
That is where I came in, and I'm SO glad I did. Not because I have so much to share and bring to their family--but because I've only been there a month and they have already shared and brought so much to me and my life.
More than anything though, they have taught me that joy....it's something you choose. It's not determined by your life circumstances. Because if that were the case, I would be working for a very sleep-, hope-, and joy-deprived family. But they're not (well, the sleep part, yes :) ). They've decided that, even though the simple day-to-day routine can be so challenging, life without this chosen joy is no life at all.
This is just the start, a preface to a story I know I will have so much more to glean from. And I so look forward to sharing more about this little girl with the cheeky grin and her wonderful family whom I now have the privilege of sharing in life with :)
♥ C
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