My Beautiful Special Boy

I read a blog today about a little girl with Down Syndrome. It was a touching story. The Mom talks about how many times they have been told "never" about their daughter and how many times the "never" has been proven wrong. Reading this made me think about my own sweet special boy. We have been very fortunate though to have Dr.'s, teachers and therapists who don't give us the "never" speech. The one instance that stands out in my mind is when a speech therapist said to me that Tuba "will never talk, well, not like you and I talk". When she said it my first thought was, "Whatever fool!". My feeling was that we don't know Tuba's limits and we (especially the therapist) should aim high. Reading this post also made me think about when my hubby was in Nursing school and his class was discussing medical ethics. He came home and told me how the professor was talking about "therapeutic abortions". These types of abortions were for couples who had found out their child had a "flaw" like a genetic disease, like Down Syndrome. My hubby said it made him sick and so sad that the majority of his classmates felt a "therapeutic abortion" was the best choice. He said he kept thinking how our Tuba was much lower functioning than most Down Syndrome kids. His comment was, "Who is the abortion therapeutic for? Certainly not the child.". Anyone who has spent time with a developmentally disabled person knows how much they have to contribute. I'm sad to think that as prenatal testing gets more accurate there will be fewer and fewer special babies being born. Yes, it can be hard at times to raise a special needs child. But hard in different ways than raising my other children. There are things about raising Tuba that are easier and more joyful too. The sweet, happy, delightfully innocent boy that is ours is a blessing from God. There is nothing I would change about him. God knew what He was doing and we are blessed by it.