Let me introduce myself...

Well, I've finally decided to begin my journey to help other parents homeschool their children with special needs. This blog is the first step. Well, I guess it's really step three or four. But I'm getting ahead of myself. Let me start at the beginning...
When my daughter was born in 1995, things did not go smoothly. She was two weeks late, born by emergency c-section and without a heartbeat and not breathing. After two weeks in the NICU we went home with a beautiful baby girl with an uncertain future. We and her doctors watched her development very closely that first year and she hit milestone after milestone on-time and early. Everything seemed fine.
At age five she was diagnosed with AD/HD. At age 6, she was diagnosed with a progressive, neurological movement disorder called dystonia (find out more about it at www.dystonia-foundation.org). At age 9, she was diagnoses with Asperger's Syndrome (http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/asperger/asperger.htm). Leaning how to be a parent to a child with multiple disabilities was a long, difficult process for me, but it has been a tremendous growth experience.
Melissa has always been a bright, capable, likable child. This is one of the reasons it took so long to get many of her diagnoses; she is very good at creating her own coping strategies. By the middle of fifth grade, school was becoming more and more difficult for her due to the social pressures (fifth grade girls can be very mean to anyone with any kind of difference), as well as the physical limitations her dystonia caused. After long, careful consideration, we decided to bring her home and give homeschooling at try. It was one of the best decisions we have ever made for her.
We started in 6th grade while my husband prepared to and deployed to the Persian Gulf (my husband is a Naval Officer). While I stayed home to teach Melissa, I decided to go back to school (figuratively, I did it online) and learn about education. As I pursued my Master's degree in curriculum and instruction, I decided I wanted to try and help others who wanted to homeschool their special needs kids, but weren't quite sure where to start.
So, here we are, 2 1/2 years, two moves and a Master's degree later. We have now settled (for good) in Annapolis, MD and Melissa is thriving at home! She is happy, learning tons and is becoming a lovely young lady. Everything we could have hoped for when we embarked upon this homeschool experiment and now I want to be able to help others take the first step.