Professional Development
Teaching Activities for Families » Pervasive Developmental Disorder - Brown Family Story
Elaina Tells Her Story
Elaina tells her story: My story has two parts: "then" and "now." I have to tell it that way because I want to tell about our family, whose child's problems were discovered in infancy, but nothing was done for a long time.
As a baby, our older daughter Jess was full of energy and into everything. She walked and talked early. She was stubborn and a picky eater. She didn't take a nap after she was a year old. Mama took care of Jess, and after Amanda was born, she said we were lucky that Amanda, our second daughter, was such a good baby. Too good, it turns out.
We had no idea of a disability, but after about six or eight months, the pediatrician thought Amanda was developmentally delayed and had a mild form of cerebral palsy, but they kept telling me there was no way to know for sure. Maybe we should have seen the warning signs, but we didn't, mainly because of our feelings about family privacy. In our cultural background, which is Slavic and Ukrainian, we believe in keeping family life in our own ethnic community. We pretty much have always stayed to ourselves, and don't have many friends our age. Besides, our mothers did not see any problems. Babies were to be loved and cared for and did not do anything anyway. Our parents did all the babysitting, so we figured they ought to know.
The Intervention Specialist Speaks
The Brown Family Activity - Transition Time
Brown Family Handouts
Content of the individualized Family Service Plan (IFSP)
Top Ten Ideas to Help You Work With Families
How to Draw the Brown Family Picture/Sketch
Transition Service Option Cards
Principles of Normal Development
