Click the image above to visit the site My name is Helen Middlebrooke and I am the mother of Deborah, a lovely little girl with Down syndrome. When Deborah came into my life, I knew she would be home schooled along with all of her siblings. But how? I had never had a child with Down syndrome before.
Not only was I wanting to home school a Down syndrome child, I was wanting to do so on Guam, an isolated island in the western Pacific. Where was I to begin?
I knew enough about Trisomy 21 to know early intervention would be important in helping Deborah achieve her full potential. So I put her in a government-supported early intervention program.
When it came to Down syndrome, the therapists dealt in stereotypes and labels. Deborah was "high functioning" but she was still "delayed."
They wanted me to direct the therapy, but I was clueless, so I let them lead. They approached her piecemeal, not as a whole person, and they began putting the pieces together in the wrong order!
Consequently, Deborah did not progress. She did not talk. And could not walk. Their assessments showed that she was becoming more delayed.
In my heart, I knew they were wrong. I knew that she was smart, but we were… Read more…
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