Hi,

Im Anglea, SAHM to 7 children, raising 5. My children are Heather 11, Jesica 9, Eddie 7 and Kevin (5), ^Kaitlyn^, Jake (5) and ^Hunter^. The quads were born at 36 wks. My two survivors are now 5 turning 6 next month.

Kevin has spastic quad CP, microcephaly (small head) cerebral atrophy (small brain) and CVI (cortical visual impairment/blindness) and has hip dysplagia. He began EI at 3 months old receiving pt, ot st and vt 2x's a week and at age 3 attended special preschool. This year he was in kindergarten , maindtreaiming in his regurlar kindergarten class and also attended special ed. Next year he will repeat kindergarten again next year (but will be referred to a 1st grader?? as put in his IEP). He had a very hard time getting down all the alphabet (which we think is due to his CVI). He received PT, OT and ST. He also receives home based PT and in July will begin home based OT and ST though at state waiver. In June he will attend the special summer program and get PT, OT and ST there. He uses a stanader/walker for short distances, a wheelchair for long distances and mainly comando crawls around at home (hes juut not read for a simple walker yet). His speech only constists of a hand full of words so he uses signs as well as a communaction device (tech talk). He is on enulose for constipation and has had a few surgeries,one being CP related.

Jake has a moderate/sever sensory neural hearing loss in his left ear and has mild CVI. He received ST at school. He wears a auditory trainer plus hearing aid which he began to wear at age 3 in special preschol. Reason for such a late start, his audiologist wanted him to learn how to hear with his good ear 1st. He will be going onto 1st grade next year. He has made wonderful progress, however he is struggling with reading. He can do it but it seems the CVI is causing some issues with his reading. We decided to go on and have him go to 1st grade next year and see by the end of the school year where he is. He still does have a few atriculation issues with a few certain sounds but has made huge progress this year.

Both boys attended diffrent schools which was a VERY hard chocie! But now that it is the end of the school year, I am glad I made this decision (which was based on their individual needs and what each school provided). Jake will go ahead on go onto 1st grade, Kevin will be repeating kindergarten. I was very worried about this in the begining of the school year but now can see it was and is in the best intrest for each child. The boys will be going to diffrent schools until highschool.

Thanks for getting this forum up and going Looks like it's off to a great start and many will benefit from it.

Angela~mom to 7
H~11
J~9
E~7
Quads~b/^g^/b/^b^ 7/98 @ 36 wks

Angela~SAHM to 7
Heather~12
Jessica~10
Eddie~8
Spontaneous Quads~ 7/98 @ 36 wks
Kevin~ 6; cp, microcephaly, cerebral atrophy, CVI
Kaitlyn~ ^i^ @ 26 wks gestation
Jake~ 6; sensori neural hearing loss, mild CVI (cortical visual impairment)
Hunter~ ^