Categories: General

New NJ Family column: Advocating for your Special Needs Child

And now for something completely different:

My husband and I welcomed our son into the world with the calm conviction of experienced parents. Jonah was our fourth child, and we were pros at child rearing, fluent in the language of raising typical children. Feeding schedule? Check. Separation anxiety? Toilet training? Check. Education? Check. 

But Jonah isn’t typical. When he was 2 years old, he was diagnosed with Fragile X Syndrome, a genetic mutation that can lead to intellectual impairments, learning disabilities and autistic-like behavior, especially in boys. Suddenly, we were lost, desperately trying to master the vocabulary of a language that no parent I know would choose to learn.

Read the rest here, or pick up a hard copy at your local library or shop.

Laura Waters

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