Just read, Amother like Alex

[anonandlikeit]

I couldn't put it down.
What struck me was the stories of the individual children & the care system, how they can get it so wrong sometimes.
& why is Downs syndrome seen as such a dreadful dx, why aren't theses precious babies seen a people first & foremost.

Interesting Daily Mail interview relevant to the book - interview is with a mother who gave up her baby with DS for adoption, and with the lady who wrote the book, the adoptive mother, Alex, who adopted 10 children with Downs Syndrome.

www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1090103/Why-I-Downs-syndrome-baby-adoption--loving-mother-took-in .html

Ah thanks tc, there is a program about the family on sky real lives next Wednesday.
Will be interested to see, i'm full of admiration for her but sometimes in teh book she comes across as a little hard, I wonder how she comes across on the TV.

I have met this mother and her kids at EST in MCR. Her kids and my ds used to ride on the same day. Her kids have varying abilities, some walk and some dont, some are verbal, some not and a couple have challenging behaviour. One of her boys took a shine to my ds who was only 2.5 at the time and they recognised each other every week, which was nice. She always came across as being very nice and not sanctimonious in the least. I have had a lot of admiration for her since I met her and asked very casually how many children she had! I thought she maybe had 1 of her own and brought his friend with them - I never realised that they were all hers!!!. Maybe she comes across as hard in the book (not read it yet) because she has to fight on their behalf for alot of things? Its hard enough advocating on behalf of 1!!

I'ld be more than hard if I had ten kids, adopted or not, I think!. Seriously - from the interview she sounded very caring and considerate towards the lady whose baby she adopted. What's the EST btw?

TotalChaos, EST is The Elizabeth Svendson Trust for Donkeys and disabled Children. They have 1 in Mcr, 1 in B'ham 1 in Leeds and 2 in Devon I think. Not sure where you are. They offer free (donation) sessions for sn children and adults to ride donkeys or the cart and have physio/ot at the same time. Its brilliant. My ds wasnt walking when he started but it really helped him with his balance and motor skills. They have a siblings riding session on 1 saturday a month and its for kids with any SN or disability.

ps i dont think I'd have the patience for 10 kids, sn or not. Living with my 4 is enough!

sounds lovely! Ds SN is language related and relatively mild so I'ld feel guilty about going to anything like that (that aside whenever I've suggested going on donkeys at beach etc he's thrown a scared wobbly).

I read this book recently, and was very moved by it, and very heartbroken by some of the stories behind the adoptions.

One of my closest friends has a boy with downs, and she has always told me of the nightmare of how she was told his DX, and the way the midwives took the phone away from her so that she could not ring her DH to come down.......they waited until 10pm (after her DH had gone home), to tell her, and then told her off for crying and upseting the other new mums on the ward.

reading the book opened my eyes up to how much the families of downs children go thro (and also those of other SN children), and my admiration for all you fight for grew enormously.

Doesnt matter if its 'only' language related, if you live near to one its definitely worth checking out. Being around the donkeys seems to have a 'magic' effect on some kids, they quote times when non-verbal kids have spken for the first time etc! Sorry to hijack this thread but I would recommend trying it out. The kids all love going, the volunteers are nice, you can have a coffee and meet other sn parents. Mcr EST is also in a park if you get bored! (Abbey Hey)

Didn't mean to sound judgemental at all,its just I don't think they way the author has written the book shows her in the best light, probably his choice of language.
i know fighting for 1 sn child has toughened me up
I am full of admiration for her, I couldn't keep my sanity & have 9 kids under my roof

( hijack - Ds has been horse riding and shown real empathy to the horse and teenage helper. He seems to have grown up much more in 2 months than one might espect - especially of a sn child!)