Jason,

Check with your local school district's parent liaison.  Here in Wyoming
there's respite care available for parents of kids with developmental
disabilities through our developmental disabilities division.  Another
source you may want to contact is your state's planning Council for
Disabilities.  There's a national directory at www.naddc.org, that
should list your state's council.  Call and ask to speak to them about
respite care.

Kendall Corbett
Coordinator of Consumer Activities
Wyoming INstitute for Disabilities -WIND
PO Box 4298
Laramie, WY 82071
(307) 766-2853
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-----Original Message-----
From: Jason Kruse [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Friday, May 30, 2003 9:15 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Need some advice

Thanks everyone for the tips on tricycles a ways back. We are going to
look
at getting a rifton tricycle for Lauren.  It seem like it will be the
best
for her,,we'll see.

As the years have gone on with her she has slowly mastered most
ADL's,,,,she
is slower at them and occasionally makes some mistakes ie. 2feet one
hole:-)
but she is wanting to do things more by herself. Im glad to see this
type of
independance shine through.

She still is quirkey,,,,she talks in jibberish sometimes, is lound
sometimes, is giddy sometimes, invades personal spaces sometimes, doesnt
recipricate or initiate normal communications with other kids. She is
less
fussy than she was a year ago,,,thank god,,,. She has tempered that
down.
She does seem to have a period of real emotional lability for a couple
days
every 3-4 weeks.

We long for babysitters or services that would allow my wife and I to
regularly go out. We haven't in about 2 months and its getting us down.
Im
not sure how many parents are on this list but I would appreciate some
advice on how to find and organize this. It takes ALL of our patience
and
tolerance to deal with her most days,,,,I just am very skeptical or
reluctant to just pick any ole babysitter

Looking for some help,

Jason dad
Lauren-6 in June, going to 1st grade, mild left hemi, hypotonia, PDD,
ADHD(unresponsive to traditionals), receptive language weakness. Teaser
to
sister!