Kevin's Healing Journey: 2009 Christmas

Monday, January 18, 2010

2009 Christmas

2009 was a very big year for us with Kevin conquering his ability to walk. But almost as important was the new found independence that Kevin has gained from this new ability. It really has opened up a whole new world for all of us. Celebrating the holidays this year was especially enjoyable...it was our best Christmas yet! It was the first time that we have celebrated Christmas and Kevin actually was participating, involved, and excited. When we celebrate Christmas at Grandee & Pap's house, Santa delivers a big red bag full of gifts for the grandkids. The kids were passing out the gifts and when they saw an especially large gift...the kids said "wow who's is this?"...and when they said Kevin it's your gift...Kevin got very excited and started squealing with delight. But best of all after visiting family I felt like they got to "see" Kevin. He didn’t go off by himself and get lost in the crowd of family, in fact he sometimes dominated it, which can be hard to do with five other cousins.

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My Blog

This blog was created to keep our family and friends updated on Kevin's healing journey. It is also our hope that others may find this blog to give help and hope to other delayed kids.

About Kevin

They told us Kevin would never walk or talk. But with lots of prayers, hard work, and extra hands, he began walking when he was four years old and we continue to have faith and hope as we wait patiently for his speech to develop. Kevin is now eight years old. He is diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy due to a brain-injury he had before birth that was caused by a stroke. In 2006, before Kevin was 2 years old, we found Glenn Doman’s book "What To Do About Your Brain-Injured Child" that had answers to help children with special needs and developmental delays. We began an individualized home treatment program for Kevin immediately and have been dedicated to our program ever since. We spent three years with the Doman family at The Institutes for the Achievement of Human Potential (IAHP) and now we are with Matthew and Carol Newell at The Family Hope Center (FHC). Twice a year we return to Philadelphia where Kevin receives a neurological evaluation to determine the progress he has made in the last six months. Then they provide us with an individualized, program that puts me in charge to help Kevin develop and reach his fullest potential.

Do You Know a Delayed Child?

The best recommendation we can give to another parent with a special needs or developmentally delayed child (brain-injured, brain-damaged, mentally retarded, mentally deficient, cerebral-palsied, epileptic, autistic, athetoid, hyperactive, attention deficit disordered, developmentally delayed, or down's) is to read Glenn Doman's book What To Do About Your Brain-Injured Child and/or Dr. Coralee Thompson and Dr. Philip Maffetone's book Healthy Brains, Healthy Children. By simply reading these books, you will gain valuable information to help your child which will begin to unlock the potential your child has. And best of all you will learn that there are other options to helping your child that you can do yourself. We would also highly recommend attending the parent course at FHC or IAHP. To read how our journey began and the successful progress Kevin has had refer to the January 2010 blog archive.