Portland Roots Media

Our convos with Tess tend to be short. Usually they end after one word. But today was different.

I have a thrilling announcement that I've been waiting for months and years to share with you. At long last, after many false starts, it's go time.

What does Tess’s intellectual disability diagnosis mean?

Friends. Where would we be without them? And where would Tess be?

Tess couldn't be more different from her classmates in her learning style and what she's working on. But socially, she's a lot like them.

Included. Tess with her classmates, as much as possible. That's what we want to see.

Tess's education has been super solid for a long time. But recently we realized something that made us want to look a bit deeper into what she does all day at school

Helping Tess communicate.

Almost immediately, Tess began to emerge.

On the morning of Friday, July 13th, Tess wakes us up. She does this with a cry, as she often does, but this one is different.

We've been waiting for almost Tess's entire life to meet someone like her, to meet a family like ours. And it finally happened. 

It's part of life, at least for us, that we take Tess to the doctor. A lot. She's generally a pretty healthy gal. Not many sicknesses, like coughs or colds. Just a ton of stuff that we have to figure out. Like why her hips don't work. Or why she hasn't grown an inch in about a year. 

Recently Kendra left that preschool. When you leave, they do an exit interview. And one of the questions was, what has been your greatest accomplishment during your time at this preschool? Kendra had a one-word answer:  She said Tess. 

The mere mention of PECS in this IEP meeting makes me feel like I'm taking crazy pills.

Tell me what you're supposed to do with that friend. You know the one I mean. You've been friends forever, maybe since childhood. And you call yourselves friends, but the truth is this: they aren't there for you.

In case you've never been in an IEP meeting, let me tell you what it feels like. It is an endurance sport, only instead of doing physical stuff, you're listening. You're listening harder than you ever have in your life.

At this point we’re reeling. We aren’t exactly a roll-with-the-punches kind of family. If we had two typical kids, maybe we would be. But we don’t.

Not everyone thinks before they speak.

I saw progress. With my own eyes. In a hallway and in a series of offices, on a Thursday afternoon in the town of Windham, Maine.