Mothers of special children

Nine months or less, and you are never alone again. What a joyous time. What an expectation. What if it's a girl? You wonder. Or a boy? .. As long as it's a healthy baby, we are even with life. It's just that sometimes the blessing comes in doubled: the baby comes with special abilities. Some people like to call them 'disabilities'. I like to see them as doubled blessings. Because you will need doubled strength to cope with his needs everyday.

At first, if the special abilities are very prominent, you will receive all kinds of attention and help. On the contrary, if the special ability is not noticeable at first sight, it could take you years to realize that you need the extra help. To get to know if you are a candidate for special help, please take the following into account:

1.- Does your baby hold up his head in a normal position easily?
2.- Does he sleep too much or too little?
3.- When you take the baby to the pediatrician, does he always get his special attention? Does he give you special hints? Does he require different types of analysis from time to time? If your answer is yes to any of these questions, begin your search.
4.- If your child is a little older (a toddler or kindergarten child), can he draw well? (not like an artist, but with a bit of idea of where the hands, the eyes and the feet go).
5.- If he goes to school already, does the psychologyst call you all the time to talk about his behavior or his grades?
6.- Does he have friends? Can he mantain friendship? Does he get hurt all the time? Does he forget about homework all the time?

If you answer yes to at least five of these questions, get ready for the quest. These are signs that tell you about the need to do some research about the behaviors that worry you. Get real. The situation will not get better with just talking about it, but by taking action upon the whole thing.

Most importantly, do not let years go by. Problems will only get bigger if you don't face them on time. You need to educate yourself. You need to show three times more dedication, love, research, and patience. Start working right away. Don't waste any time.

You will be blessed with the love a person that will always be completely loyal to you, if he is assured of your love. Most importantly, many families in this situation fall apart because of the load of work. If this is your case, relax, smile, let your partner go with God, and follow the right path. Keep loving your child. No psychologyst or doctor can do the work alone, neither can you. Get help. Work hard. Love him a big bunch.

I say 'he', just because I need to use a generalization, but I always mean 'he or she'-