Real Face Friday--Intro and Weekend fun!

I enjoyed visiting the participating blogs last week of "The Real Face of Special Needs" and I met so many new people! So here's the quick version of Tyson's story.

Ty came home in Aug. 2009 from an orphanage in Changzhou, Jiangsu China, and he was 26 months old with a repaired cleft lip and unrepaired palate. His palate was repaired in Dec. 09 with us, and since then it has been speech therapy and preschool speech therapy to get him caught up to his peers. Tyson also has a micorform cleft, so even though most people would consider his cleft a unilateral complete cleft, our surgeon calls his cleft a bilateral cleft because the red mark on the right is not a surgery scar; it's a second cleft. He has had two sets of ear tubes as well.

Tyson came home very underweight, below the charts on height and weight, and he had just made it on the head circumference chart. This was stressful as we waited to travel, but we prayed that he would be healthy. He qualified as developmentally delayed upon arriving home in speech, gross motor skills, and adaptive skills (self-help). In 9 months home, although still low two areas, he tested out of gross motor and adaptive delays! He is now in developmental preschool for speech and goes to private speech therapy.

For us, this "special need" has been a non-issue, but once in awhile, something creeps up and reminds you that you are dealing with something beyond the norm. Maybe it's another child making fun of Tyson's second cleft. Maybe it's an adult who can't figure out why he doesn't talk like a kid who is going on 4 in a few months. Maybe it's that cleft team reminder. Or it can be adoption issues in general, like insecure attachment or the fact that emotionally he can be more like a 2 year old.

But all in all, he's just Tyson, an energetic soul who is "all boy" all the time!

Last week over spring break we went to the Science Center and visited the Space Needle, which was Ty's favorite part of the trip.

Have a great weekend!


Jerking back after touching a cockroach...ewwww!


Visiting the "Star Wars" exhibit at the Science Center.