Abby is now 5, she will be 6 in November. She starts Kindergarden on 8/14 and will be in the resource room. She has spent the last 2 years in Special Education Early Intervention classes and had wonderful teachers who helped her thrive. At her latest evaluation, I was told Abby was in the "moderately mentally disabled" category. She has a serious development delay and is about at the same stage a 3 year old would be. When I went for the evaluation there were a bunch of teachers and therapists in the room and they told me "you seem very comfortable with all this". Well here is what I KNOW to be true - Abby is disabled. Abby has Williams Syndrome. Abby had a heart condition that may come back. Abby is developmentally and physically delayed. Abby learns something new all the time. That last sentence is what means more to me than ANY of the others - that she learns something. She is learning, she is trying, and she is smart - that is what I care about. No evaluations from people who have only known her for 1 hour make a bit of difference to me. I know she can do more than they said she could. I see her flourish and bloom every day of her life and watch how much joy she brings to others. It's impossible to not love that little girl! So for me that IS all that matters. Yes there are infinite possibilities - such as she may never have children of her own, she may never get married, she may never graduate high school or attend college. She may never hold a full-time job or be able to live independently. So what? God gave her to me for a reason, because he knew I would love her for WHO she is not WHAT she has. And if they came up with a cure for Williams Syndrome tomorrow, I wouldn't give it to her. Because if they did she wouldn't be my same Abby anymore. Her personality, her love, her kindness and compassion, the joy she brings to others lives is all because she has Williams Syndrome. She HAS it, but it does not DEFINE her.
When she hears someone crying, she instantly runs to them to make sure they are okay. She does not interact well with other children mostly because she is so forward and they are backoffish with her. She gravitates towards adults and elderly people. She adjusts to situations easier than most kids, she does have a lot of sensory issues such as loud noises will cause her to get anxious and cover her ears and cry. She gets distracted very easily, and was just diagnosed with ADHD and is now on medication to help calm her down a little. She loves to watch the Wiggles, Dora, Veggie Tales and SpongeBob. She loves to hear people sing and loves to sing songs herself, has a great voice and can remember words to songs more than most kids her age. She loves to dance, jump and run. She does all the stuff that a kid does, just sometimes it comes a little later than usual. It's all in there, it just takes us more time and effort to pull it out of her :D
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