My son Calvin is now 14 years old. He was born with a rare syndrome called ‘cri-du-chat’. He just finished Grade 8 and is doing very well. We are going through some rough anxiety behaviours (mostly at school). For the most part he amazes me everyday with the knowledge that he has. His memory is unbelievable. I just want to share with you a project the school district did for Calvin. They called it ‘Calvin’s Pathway of Success’. Being that he is a teenager now and moving toward adult hood they wanted us to plan where we think his future is going. In attendance were my family members, Calvin’s aides and teachers, his physiotherapist and the process facilitator. We talked about Calvin’s path ‘now’. We all took turns telling about things he enjoys, dislikes or is good at now. We then talked about what we are going to do to ‘enroll’ - to make certain things better. For example - I was appointed to make a Doctors appointment to get Calvin referred to a pediatrician to see if there is any medical help to reduce anxiety and get blood work done. Everyone had a role that they were assigned. Then we talked about ‘strengthen’ - what we wanted Calvin to really work on. For example - working on a calming routine (worry rock – stress ball), dealing with transitions and the ability to make choices and accept changes. We then went to ‘goals’ for Calvin in the future – Life skills, communication, friendships, and work experience, distressing outings, transition to high school and other (money management skills or a personal digital assistant PDA). Throughout the session we did ‘dreaming’ about Calvin. When he is 19 years old where will he live? Does he work? What does he do for fun, leisure time and so on? It took a lot for me to think about Calvin’s future and where I think he might be in 5 years. Once I heard everyone else’s dream for Calvin I got into it! I guess it is hard for me to think ‘my boy’ is now growing up and I will have to let go a bit! All in all I was very happy we were asked to do this and thought I would share it with some of you. And again thank you very much to the Special Needs Project. Letter Carrier Fort St. John, BC
