Hello, fellow parents of the cutest children in the world! I am a Mom
of three children who have Down syndrome (yes, you read that right!).
They are 14, 14, and 13.  Adopted around a year old from Brazil, twin
girls and a boy. We have lived in C'ville for 7 years, and have found
both the best places (doctors, dentists, orthopaedists, orthotic-
makers, restaurants), and the not-so-great places to take our kids.
I am currently a C'ville City Schools Teacher, teaching children who
have
special needs, including those with Down syndrome (K-grade 4).

Dr. Jennifer Dixon is the best dentist we have found.  We used to go
to Kluge, and had to switch dentists due to our health plan's
coverage.  We had great recommendations from two dentists for her, as
well as a glowing recommendation from a parent of a child who has
special needs, and we have been very happy there.  She is patient and
kind, and sang with our kids!  Any dentist that sings while working
is worth their weight in gold.

Regarding Inclusion, C'ville City includes children as much as is
possible, so even if they are in a separate classroom, each day
includes as much time with a child's typical peers as is beneficial
for the child.  So, the city has mostly separate little classrooms
with a good staff:child ratio, and has vastly different inclusion
plans depending on a child's needs. Currently Jackson-Via and Johnson
are the schools that serve kids from K-grade 4, and Clark and Burnley-
Moran serve preschoolers with special needs.  This changes
constantly, as the needs in our area change.  I can be more specific
over the phone or in person if you need more information.  Our home
number is 973-6261, and you can talk with me, or my husband Eric.

We would love to be a resource to other families, so feel free to
pass our name and contact information along to others who have
children with Down syndrome.  In Massachusetts, where we lived before
moving here, we were on the First Call list, so parents like Cathleen
didn't have to hear only negative news after just giving birth. We'd
call and talk with parents (doctors called the MA Down syndrome main
number, and they called us with the new parent information).  We
checked into that when we moved here, and were disappointed to find
there was
nothing like that in Charlottesville.  We would be interested in
being a part of
the beginnings of a more organized support system here.  We are
active in many Special Olympics sports, and Challenger Baseball, and
have many contacts. We are also currently on the mailing list for a
rather large NY state Down syndrome organization called Aim High, and
they do wonderful activities together for their kids and for siblings
of kids who have special needs, and I have been wishing for more time
in my day to do something like that here. Last weekend they had a
family dinner and dance with a band.  I don't know how often you get
to dance out at a function of some kind with your kids, but our kids
LOVE to dance.  We don't get to go out and dance all together often
at all.  So, that would be very fun.

Look forward to hearing from you all (two at this point, but you know
there will be more!).
Holly, for Eric, Maggie, Mollie and Samuel

Hey everybody!

Cathleen and I are organizing a get-together at Pen Park playground on
Saturday, May 10, at 10 am.  If you feel like meeting other parents or
just letting your kids run off some steam, come join us there!
Hopefully we'll have nice weather; if not, we'll set a rain date later.

-Jenny

We just moved here last year from Montgomery County, where inclusion
has been the norm for quite some time.  I'd appreciate any information
or personal experiences you have about how things work in the schools
here, either city or county.  Which schools seem to be doing better
with this?

Does anyone have a dentist that they love for their child?  We've been
to one at the Kluge Center, but it wasn't a great experience--they
didn't really explain to my daughter what they were doing, and I didn't
feel like I got much information out of it either.

Thank you Jenny for setting up this group!  I'm forwarding the info
on to everyone I know.

Here is my introduction...

My name is Cathleen Sherman, and I have a beautiful daughter, Lilly.
She is 19 months now, and my husband and I frequently say that waking
up to Lilly each morning is like waking up on Christmas.  She has so
much passion for everything she does; it's been amazing to watch her
grow and develop.  If you are a newer mom, you may recognize my name
from the "new parent packets" that are being handed out at Kluge and
various doctors offices around town.  When Lilly was born, there was
no "welcome" information given to us; we were only verbally given
outdated stereotypes and a depressing list of every possible medical
problem that our child could have.  It has been my personal goal to
make sure no parent ever feels so isolated again in this journey,
especially because I have found that Lilly is the greatest person
I've had the pleasure to know.  There is no sadness surrounding my
girl, and it's important for me to show others how much pride I have
in her.  I feel as though I hit the lottery with her.

A few things about our family... I graduated Washington & Lee Law
School 3 years ago, and have been working as a Legal Analyst for
LexisNexis ever since.  My husband is a resident at UVA, and is an
amazing father; he and Lilly are so connected.  We are originally
from Atlanta.  We prayed for the first 2 years of our marriage to
have the "right child at the right time" and were ecstatic when we
got pregnant with Lilly.  We found out through an unwanted nuchal
translucency test that our baby had a 1 in 5 chance of having DS,
and, although the lack of information at the time was hard, we knew
that we got what God wanted to give us, and she is definitely the
right child at the right time.  The hardest part of the past 3 years
since I first got pregnant were the months before she was born,
because there was so much unknown and so little information about DS;
but she is the best thing that has ever happened to us, and I'm
grateful every day that our journey has turned out this way.

Lilly is the best kiss-blower I know, and already has a "pagent
wave".  She is beautiful and curious and can manipulate her way into
getting a cookie or chocolate where ever we go.  She is so
charismatic.  She takes so much pride in everything she learns, and
makes sure to clap for herself often.  She has great communication
skills, and knows both "english" and "sign language."  Her passion is
music and dancing, and can't hear a song without showing off her
moves.  She's developing a funny sense of humor, and has an adorable
laugh.  She's definitely mommy's little girl, and every day with her
is an adventure.