So, update time.

We are not doing vision therapy right now.

For now.

Elizabeth did so well with it and we did the work nearly everyday. And it was her one companion that was reading with her that said just how great her reading was.

So I tried it with her and she did great.

She was able to work on her computer without complaint and to do some budget work with much more ease.

We got so excited to see the vision work translate to the functional parts of life.

So we thought we would take a break for a while as it turns out we had been going for over a year…who knew?!?

We talked with the eye doctor and explained what we wanted to do and it was confirmed that she had done enough work to allow this break but that if we needed to, she could return at anytime.

We were happy to have the time to see how this work would be encorporated into our real life AND how long would the good stuff last. I mean we had never done this vision therapy before to know this.

So my husband and I decided to arrange for someone to do reading work and comprehension work with her. To keep her eyes muscles working well and to encourage the comprehension that makes all the difference for a person.

Plus we do life with her and that is also good work for her eyes, especially the budgeting, typing in numbers for her alarm and all the other work she has to do for her normal day with schedules.

I am happy to report that all is good so far!

And I think that the lesson here is that we need to feel comfortable adjusting schedules and therapies to fit LIFE.

Life changes all the time and with other responsibilities and members of the family having changing lives, what worked before doesn’t always work now.

So give yourself permission to evaluate and adjust, with the guidance of your professional

Now, we are NOT forgetting her eye work.

NOPE, not at all. Just adjusting it to make it doable, workable and successful.

Now we are much more able to do this work long term than to drive 45 minutes to therapy a couple times a month.

Hope someone might need to read that sometimes you simply can’t do it all or make it all work. So adjusting is ok.

I wish everyone a peaceful week.

Michele Gianetti author of Elizabeth Believes in Herself

Happy Birthday to You…

Wow, I can’t believe she is 26 years old today.

Happy Birthday to You…

I wonder what the next 26 years will look like for Elizabeth?

Happy Birthday to dear Elizabeth

I hope Elizabeth is happy with how her life is going!

Happy Birthday to You…

I pray God blesses your path, my angel Elizabeth.

Yes, that is the official transcript of my thought process as she is ready to blow out her candles

I wish I was not so much of a thinker and could just be happy the candles didn’t melt onto the cake, but alas, I am not this person.

So I think.

and think,

and think.

Not obsessively mind you, just situationally.

It is birthdays and other markers of time passing tend to make this happen.

And for those who have special needs in their life, you know just how much time you have spent doing for, helping, and working with your child with special needs that you can’t help but wonder “what if I had done this or that?” ” What if I had the chance to do this new therapy back then, would she be a better talker now?”

I know that so many new therapies, ideas and treatments have come and gone and come again since Elizabeth was little but there would have been absolutely no way that we could have even learned about them all, let alone tried them for her.

But you still can’t help wondering….

Was the path you took the correct one?

So as I have those thoughts that I shared with you, I feel I want to share something that helps me at these times.

And it is, that at the time we made ANY decision for or with Elizabeth, we did it with the best of intentions and with the most information we had at that time.

PERIOD.

I can’t spend more than those fleeting moments wondering if we got it right. Or if we did it wrong. Because the truth is we did both.

We did some things right and some things wrong.

But we did it all with the best of intentions with the most information we had at the time.

So while I may be a thinker, I have learned to be kind to myself as I think of our journey. This is something I have learned in the past 26 years. It is something, I want to share with you. Because who knows who may need to read this right now.

And as she blows out the candles one by one, I know that the right things we did show from her smile to her laugh to her ability to text thank you to her uncle and aunt for their gifts.

I will hold onto the good and offer to you to do the same and be kind to you as well.

I wish everyone a peaceful week.

Michele Gianetti author of Elizabeth Believes In Herself