Hello everyone my name is Leah and I’m a mom to a spectacular 13yr old girl with Down syndrome and autism. I also have 2 20-something’s with autism who have moderate support needs, a neurotypical 18 yr old, a bipolar 15 year old, a wonderful neurotypical husband, and have adhd and autism myself. Life is always a challenge in our household, but there is love in abundance. At my daughter’s most recent IEP meeting the head of our school district’s SPED program sat in and at the end told me he was really impressed at how I problem solved my daughter’s struggles at home and school and all I could say was that I don’t know how else I would do it. I love puzzles, and that is how I tackle every issue and struggle that comes along. What is the hurdle/behavior issue/need, what are the potential causes for the gap between where we are and where we need to be to help her, and what are things we can do to bridge the gap and make the puzzle whole. Because it’s not REALLY a her problem as much as it is a gap; a gap in understanding between us and her, a gap in development between expectations and where she actually is, a gap in knowledge/adaptations/skill building. She doesn’t see any problem, just frustrations, so either we can find a way to bridge the gap or she’ll find her own way and we may not appreciate her methods. To illustrate, we had been discussing at that same IEP meeting that the struggles with my daughter eloping from class and also spending expensive amounts of time in bathroom breaks. In thinking about the issue before the meeting I realized that the place she was eloping to was similar to her play area at home and that at home she often took long bathroom breaks when she needed quiet time. When I checked with her teacher about when her incidences occurred that were always after gym, music, lunch, her time in her gen-ed classroom, or an exciting activity. That’s when the puzzle piece that I needed clicked into place, she was getting overwhelmed by the noise and excitement. Her teacher set up a quiet corner for her in the classroom with noise canceling earmuffs where she could go when she needed to. Since then there has been no more eloping, no more excessive bathroom breaks, and she is attending much better to her homework. I just had to find the right puzzle pieces. #DownSyndrome
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