A Day In My Life

My son, D, is 15 now, and has multiple disabilities, including cerebral palsy.  He used to love going to school so much he hated the weekends and vacations.  Now it has become a struggle to get him onto the bus and off to school.  He missed quite a few days due to being sick, and now it has become a trend for him to stay home.  He gets very angry when it's time to go to school, and it is so hard to fight and force him onto the school bus.  

So the morning started with me getting up before everyone, making some coffee, and getting D's medications ready, waking the other kids up for school, and D was still sleeping.  I called to find out what time the bus would be coming, and of course it's going to be a while before the bus gets here to pick him up.  The longer the wait, the worse it gets.  But hey, today he has a new tie, a tie "just for school", a motivation to go to school.  He was excited to show it to his friends, maybe it won't be so bad.  This is just the thoughts I had as I prepared for the morning.

Time to wake D up, he seems to be in an ok mood.  We talked about going to school, wearing his new tie, seeing his friends, and his teacher.  He was ok with the idea, it seemed.  Got him changed and ready to head out of the bedroom and down the stairs to get in his chair for school.  Then it started, "no school tomorrow".   This is what he says, meaning, he does not want to go to school today.  We managed to get down the stairs safely, depending on the excitement of wearing this tie to school.  Got him in his wheelchair for school, he took his meds, although not happy about it.  All this time I can tell he is getting more and more upset and not wanting to go to school.  This time I took at his strategy paper (a paper with strategies to help him manage his feelings).  This was not helping at all.

Now we are outside, D in his wheelchair and me.  I do everything possible to try to entertain him while waiting for the bus.  Of course it isn't working.  We even called the teacher and he talked to her, but still does not want to go.  Bus gets here, and it takes about 15 minutes of fighting with him trying to get him on the ramp and in the bus.  

He is on his way to school now, not happy about it, but on the way at least.  I just wish some things were easier.  Raising a child with special needs is not easy in any way.  There are many challenges to overcome, medically, physically, mentally, and otherwise.  If you too are dealing with being a parent to a special needs child, I wish you the best, you are in my thoughts and prayers.