I am a life learning Mama and this page is where I like to share things that resonate with me in some way along this wonderful life journey we are on ♥

Friday 3 February 2012

Bursting with Happiness


I just had to share some wonderful news! I am bursting with happiness! My son diagnosed with ADHD/Aspergers/Gifted/Dysgraphia (yes, he truly is twice exceptional!!) at the age of 16 has just been offered a place at the University of Queensland to study Software Engineering! Wooooohooooo! I want to share as I know how many of you have struggled or are struggling with kids who are different. My son is different and life has not always been easy! In fact, at times it has been hell! He was a child who was constantly in trouble and was suspended from every school except one (and he went to a few schools in his young years!) He has been bullied and ostrasised by not only other kids but adults too and often at times we have been made to feel very unwelcome. I likened my life at times to being out in the open water just about clinging to the only rock just above the surface. Alone and scared! When my son was little there were no groups like this and I often did feel very alone. He was a little boy who could not stand to be in a place with loud noises – school assembly was not a nice experience. He did not like the feel of the carpet on his feet, the clothes that he wore or like his food touching each other and basically ate the same limited foods year after year. He could not stand his hair being cut or people touching him at all when he was in a state of arousal and often at school he needed to run to a safe quiet place and squeeze himself away in the cupboard to calm himself. He was a little boy who was kept in most lunchtimes because he had not completed enough work – mostly writing – because he could not - not because he did not want too – but teachers just thought he was being naughty! It breaks my heart thinking back on those years. One principal even told me he was a possible Columbine kid! What parent wants to hear that?! The reality was they just did did not understand him. Well, I took my son out of school when he was 10 and have homeschooled him for the past 6 years and he has blossomed to the place where he is now. He has always been good on computers – he is as Ken Robinson says 'in his element' and this passion or special interest has taken him to places we never dreamed of when he was little. I see a future for him now, when at times I worried so much for my son. I know he is still only young and life will no doubt still continue as it does to pose difficulties for him but he is on his way. He had a goal to go to University and he is achieving that. He has already been to Sunshine Coast University to study two papers and coped really well there. He is learning all the social conventions – not completely understanding them – but learning how to fit in when in the past he was very much a loner. I love to see him having friends that he has made himself rather than ones that I have tried to coerce. I just wanted to share not only my pride, but also that our children are so very special and with the right support they can truly excel above and beyond the limited expectations that some people have for them! Blessings everyone! :0)