> People spoke of feeling isolated from other PWDs. I don't think this is as
=
> much of a problem these days. As I have mentioned before we have more =
> friends whose kids have disabilities than those without!

Dear Yvonne,
For the most part I agree with your post and have many of the same
expectations for Alex that you hold for your two boys. Through Alex ( just
like with my other kids I meant other parents in their grades/age because of
the kids and same interests) and his time in the classroom we too have met
and become friends with other parents of CWD <G>. However as I stated in a
previous post, even though Alex was in Early Intervention since he was 5 mo
old and he is now 5 1/2 yo after the first year or two he was the only one
who couldn't walk. Even using a gait trainer was exhausting for any length
of time. Somewhere he got it in his head because he wore AFO's he couldn't
walk. That changed when he saw my dad who wears a AFO for drop foot walk
with no problem. Alex took his first steps between parrerell bars two weeks
later.  Even at the young age he knew he was different and how he was
different. It took someone with a similar device ( notice it wasn't the same
disability) to show Alex that the braces were a help not a hindrance. There
are times inclusion does have it's emotional drawbacks.
Joanne