Fw: A Friday Night Accompishment - An ASGO Member's Story

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Get out the tissues, people...

Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass... It's about learning to dance in the rain.

Subject: A Friday Night Accompishment - An ASGO Member's StoryTo: dlorman@...Date: Wednesday, October 15, 2008, 11:02 AM

This e-mail was shared with me by an ASGO member. Since we have been focusing on inclusion and support, I felt that this was a great story to share with all of you. I did shorten the story for simplicity sake. Thanks to the family for sharing this with us. And, of course, congratulations to for his wonderful accomplishmentsJ!

Donna

The pictures below are a very brief image of years of work for who is a 17 year old student at Ida Baker High School . He attends Ms. Theresa Morosco’s Life Skills class and, despite the fact that no one thought he could be successful there when he left middle school, he has done very well. This is a tribute to ’s indomitable spirit in the face of huge physical and developmental challenges. We cannot thank the principal, Joe Vetter, enough; without his vision and leadership, kids like would never get a chance to be a “part of.”

has always loved music; he could play many tunes by ear before he could walk or talk. Of course, he did not walk or talk for a long time as he would have three heart surgeries before he was a year old, the result of having a genetic disorder called Syndrome. When he was in kindergarten, he was diagnosed with severe autism. His love for music continued to grow and continues to this day. When he was in middle school, he was finally well enough to play Challenger baseball and to hear a marching band play the Star Spangled Banner and has wanted to play it in a band ever since. And ever since, mom has been trying to convince the school to give him a chance. Every day he would search the internet for videos of bands playing the Star Spangled Banner from all over the country; he would and still does beat the tune on any

surface and hum it at least 3 or 4 times a day.

About a year ago, was enrolled in the Partners in Care program which tries to provide a variety of services to children with chronic and/or terminal illnesses; among these services was music therapy. We finally got a great therapist a couple of months ago, Kim Sheppard, who connected with immediately. It was Kim who showed the bandmaster, Mr. Brown, what was capable of doing. Kim has definitely achieved angel status for and me. The next Friday at the football game, and I sat near the cymbal player in the band as we always do because this is the instrument he most wants to play. Mr. Brown came over and asked if I was ’s mom and shook my hand and then asked if I thought would like to join the band next Friday and play the cymbals. I do not have words to express my emotions, but every mom and dad

out there who is fighting for the world to recognized what their child with autism, developmental delay, CP or any other challenge can do, will not need words from me. may never have another triumph in his life as great as this, but it will give me the hope and energy to continue trying and, just maybe, it will guarantee that the next child who wants to be in the band or the drama club or the dance class, but isn’t quite like most of the other students in a very noticeable way, will have an easier time.