Home Sweet Milford

So, we are back at camp again for 5 weeks. I have been both dreading and looking forward to this moment since our last day of camp in June.
Given my state of phyisical and emotional fatigue, this post will be both a rant and a happy post all mixed into one.

Being at Ability Camp is the hardest thing I have ever had to do in my life. It is not the physical part, but how it affects my emotional state. It is a slap of reality when we walk through these doors. Don't get me wrong, I am extremely grateful that we are here, that we have this opportunity again, but it is so hard to believe some days that my little guy needs all this help. For someone who rarely cries, he spends a good part of his morning and early afternoon in tears. But you know what? While it breaks my heart that he has to work so hard, it puts a huge smile on my face when I see what he can accomplish. Even from the last time we were here, he has improved so much. It is so hard to make sure I cover off on all of the things I need to do for him on a daily basis from a therapy perspective, but conductive education helps to roll everything together. In our 5 hours of classroom a day we cover eating, potty training, standing, sitting, singing, speech therapy, socialization, walking, stretching etc. I feel like even though I am not sitting in front of him working on his hearing and speech, he is getting so much through what we do all day. It helps ease some of the burden of worry that I am not doing enough for him. Do you know how good it feels to have him poop on the potty twice this week already? When he does something like that, it almost feels "normal" and we can just relish in his accomplishment.
These kids and parents work so hard, and I know that the rewards for this hard work will be there when it is all said and done. I just wish that we had the resources to do this therapy all day everyday. It is so frustrating that the people in the UK and Japan and countries like that have realized the tremendous value that conductive education can offer to our disabled kids. But our fine country doesn't believe in the benefits, and therefore there is no government funding or even insurance coverage for such a wonderful program.
Ok, I could write about this all day, but the bottom line is I am thankful we are here, I can't wait to see what these 5 weeks brings us, and the weather has been good enough for me to squeeze in a few 5km runs. So in this moment, in a place called Milford, all is right with the world.





http://www.abilitycamp.com/