Raising A Special Needs Child

The date of January 27, 1987 was one of the happiest times of my life and for several years prior, I was told that I would never have a child.  On this very day, I gave birth to a beautiful baby boy and his name is Matthew. My son at the time of his birth weigh 6 lbs 8 ounces and was 21 inches long.

When my son was only a few months old, he started to have difficulty with his overall development. I was unable to breast feed and therefore, could only feed him by a bottle. My son was only able to drink formula that had no lactose in it, as he was at the time intolerant to lactose, but he also had difficult taking in the formula and just kept vomiting. It was also when he was a few months old, he was hardly waking up for his feeds and then one day suddenly I went to check him and could not wake him up at all. I rushed to our GP with him and then the GP immediately had me transport him to Sick Children's Hospital. He was then at the time diagnosed with the ability to thrive. The doctors at Sick Kids had to insert a Gastrostomy Feeding Tube into his stomach and he was also diagnosed with mild cerebral palsy on the left side down to feet.

While my son was in Sick Kids for a few months, he was also diagnosed with a seizure disorder. He was having multiple petite and Mal seizures throughout the entire day and he still has epilepsy to this very day of age 27.

When my son was only 5 years old, he would play with toys, plates and trucks by spinning them and made limited eye contact and got frustrated often, as he was also non-verbal. The school board that we were involved with at the time, contacted 'The Canadian Mothercraft Society' and it was them that did a developmental assessment on my son and he was diagnosed as Autistic and developmental delay.

Once son had been diagnosed as autistic and developmental delay, we had to get special services for him through school to assist him with communication and his over all developmental challenges. I was referred to the Easter Seals Society for my son. It was through them, that I got involved with respite services for him and also the opportunity for him and I both to go in the Summer months to the Easter Seals Society camp. I got the chance to meet other parents with children with special needs and became involved with the Parent Delegate Program at Easter Seals for Five years.

My son has had many challenges over his 27 years of life and in fact, I was told that he would not make it this far in life. Matthew, just like my mom and like me, is a fighter and a survivor. Nothing holds him back!

Matthew is the apple of my eye! I feel so blessed to have him as a huge part of my life!