An Ending

     When one of the kids from our school leaves, it feels diminished somehow. We have so few students that every child's departure is very noticeable. This student was in my younger daughter's class and had received a recent autism assessment. It was of course, a devastating blow to the family, just as it is to any family given the diagnosis of a profound learning disorder. There is so much sadness for the parents and other family members; the loss of some hopes and dreams, the almost certainty of difficulty and hardship in the future. So many unknowns and therefore, so much fear of what is to come. This is no easy road. Most every parent of an additional needs child knows this and still it is not easier.
     This child's mother has made a decision to enroll her child in an online program. Unfortunately, she has had to make this decision alone because the child's father has decided to step away from his family. Many families with profoundly learning disabled children come apart. This, at a time when everyone's input, energy and strength is most needed. This mother really needed, really needs, the support of family, community and society to bolster her resources and give her child the best chance possible: the village that it takes to raise a child. Now they will have to find that village, that community elsewhere. This makes me sad. I wish them every success and hope that this new environment will  more than meet the needs of this child.
     This student will be missed by my daughter and I hope that we can continue and build on the friendship we have with the family. I can't help feeling that we let them down; that I let them down somehow. What I must continue to believe however, is that they are on the right track, they are going down this road for a reason and that success will be theirs: one door closing, another one opening--- an ending and a new beginning. Via Con Dios my friends....