One semester down!

One semester is down for our amazing Maddux. She has adjusted well to being





mainstreamed and has surprised us with her transition and her ability to make friends. I go to eat lunch with her often and it is nice to see the 5th graders say "Hi" to her. Everyone knows Maddux. She received her first report card yesterday. She is on a steady pace upward and is improving everyday! Miracles happen for her and for us everyday! Her teachers are so talented and patient and are the reason she has done so well! THANK YOU!

Fall festival

Words written on a page for us means so much more than it does to anyone else. Anything that comes home that Maddux drew or wrote gets laminated or put in a frame! It goes far beyond the act of just writing. It is the control she has learned to hold the pencil, the ability to look one page and copy to another and the fact that she can read it after she writes it goes beyond our most powerful dreams for her.

Ken's Korn Maze Field Trip

Maddux and her class took a field trip to Ken's Krazy Korn maze in October. Maddux's friends "know" she needs extra help and they follow her around and make sure she stays with the class. It is nice to know her friends care for her almost as much as we do!

Museums and Music

Her Family

Lessons learned

The one thing that I have learned most up to this point is that Maddux is ours for a reason. God did not give her to someone else. He felt we were the best parents for her and that only we could provide her wants and needs. Most of the time I think the exact opposite happened. I was not half the person I am today before she came into my life. My husband was not half the person he is today before she arrived. I think the same can be said for the rest of my family. Maddux has brought so much joy into our lives that it has made it so enjoyable to be around her. I thank Him everyday for giving her to us, epilepsy and autism included. Sure, there are times that I would rather tell her something once rather than 6 times because she pieces it together each time to make a full statement. Not always, but sometimes. And there is not a bath given that I don't want her to wash her own hair and make her adversion to bubbles disappear. Then I think about her. I can not imagine anyone who would want to have these issues. She probably doesn't want them as much as I wish she didn't have them. One thing remains the same and that is that she's our Maddux, issues or not. I know she will continue to recover and heal from all of her trials and we will all be here to continue to cheer her on!

The trauma you faced was not easy.
And God wept that it hurt you so:
But it was allowed to shape your heart
So that into his likeness you'd grow.
Russel Kelfer

Our precious girl wonder

Words can not describe this one

This one is too hard to explain but Maddux knows that when she sees Unlce Ryan they will play the game of Nasty Trash!

Maddux's big girl shoes

This is Maddux's first day of Kindergarten. Not only is it a moment I thought I would never see but it is a moment that goes far beyond it just being her first day of big girl school. Never did I imagine that she would walk into a typical classroom on flat feet, say "good morning" to the teacher while looking at her, sit in her chair without a lap pillow, and staying in her chair without a one-on-one aide reminding her to stay seated. She has gone from staring at a wall with her thumb in her mouth to sitting in a typical kindergarten class saying her ABC's. Miracles happen in His time, we just have to be anticipating them.

Happy 5th birthday

Maddux turned 5 with all of her family beside her, some pink eye, and tons of gifts for HER to open. The concept of a birthday is getting better. She knows there are presents to open and candles to be blown out!

Preschool Graduation

Maddux graduated from White Plains Children's Center in May 2007. Here she learned compassion for students like her and she learned how to play with others around her. We were sad to leave the center to dive into the big world of "Typical Kindergarten" but we were ready. Until now, this type of transition was only a dream.

Mommy, what shape is this....

Playtime

Preschool-inclusion

A few months after Maddux turned 5 we moved to North Carolina where Maddux experienced her first inclusion classroom setting. It was this year that I wondered why she had not been in inclusion until now. This school year was key for her because it was the first time Maddux was exposed to typically developing children and she did not have a one-on-one aide. Her language soared and her parallel play was starting to improve. Nina, Jason and Eunice worked with Maddux so hard this year and she really made more progress this school year than I have ever seen. "People" can no longer say that children with Autism are unteachable. If they are not learning then you need to change the way you are teaching.

In the midst of shopping she finds her soothing place

"I need beach"

This is Maddux's favorite place to be in the world. If we are not at the beach she thinks it is just because the beach is "closed" The beach is sensory heaven for Maddux. She has the cold water, the textured sand, the crashing waves and a wandering bird.

Her daddy

It is guaranteed that where there is a carousel Maddux will be on it with her daddy.

That's our Maddux

As each week passed Maddux was improving. It was painfully slow but atleast it was happening. The one thing I remember most from this year in school is asking her everyday when she got in the car, "What did you do today Maddux?" I never got an answer. I continued to ask everyday because I knew one day she would answer.

Introducing Baby Cade

Maddux's brother, Cade, was born on January 21, 2006. Maddux welcomed him with an open heart.

Happy 4th birthday

What a difference a year makes. The pictures from her last birthday to this one are like night and day. Here she opened her own presents and blew out her birthday candles 8 times. We have never been so happy to light candles over and over again in our lives.