weaknesses become strengths

There were so many things in the past that Keller just couldn’t do.  Our goals for him were always reaching and tangible, so we felt constant encouragement and elation as he reached different milestones.  But we were always aware that it was goals we were setting, and not necessarily where he needed to be for his age.

One huge part of Kindergarten is learning to write, obviously, and this was something I had tried to ignore for a long time.  Keller loved to look at books and was already beginning to read.  He was so bright in so many other ways; couldn’t we just skip the writing??  But evidently not.

Keller started working with a sweet OT once a week in school and we immediately began to see results.  She was genius in helping him to want to do the tasks and enjoy his time with her.  Within months we saw huge gains in his writing.  This was one of the main flags that brought him in to see her, but I was honestly panicked at how he would react to this new goal.

What previously had been something we pushed him to do for 10 seconds at a time where he screamed at the top of his lungs, was slowly becoming something he absolutely enjoyed.  He hated pencils, he hated pens, he hated coloring.  Normal small children can color for hours, and Keller outright refused.  In his therapies we would work on it in very small batches, but it seemed insurmountable.  He made small gains, but we could only make so much progress.

But for some reason, in the context of school, among his new friends who were all writing and coloring alongside him, a yearning started to grow within him to mimic his peers.  Keller began to play similarly to his friends and participate in things that would have previously been unthinkable for any of us.  He started writing in school, started making great improvements in his occupational therapy, and even started to ask to draw and color at home.

The day he asked me to get him an art book so he could start drawing and coloring at home I thought I lost my mind.  How is this our child?  He started to sit at our kitchen table daily and draw pictures for the entire evening.  Then he started watching videos on how to draw things, and eagerly and playfully filled his books with drawing and adventures.  He would draw and simultaneously create stories about his characters, so as he was drawing he would be acting our their dialogue and actions.  It was an all-encompassing and lively activity. 

Things that had been such extreme weaknesses were not just things he was tolerating but things he was requesting and wholly enjoyed.  He started asking to take his drawing book and pencil to bed and it was all too much for me.

We were witnessing something miraculous.  I knew that in our years of therapy something was really changing in his brain and heart.  He wasn’t just suffering through tasks asked of him.  He was a respectful and dutiful boy and so that pushing got us really far.  But after a while, he started to change and become a different boy altogether.  Things that were weaknesses were just tolerated but enjoyed, and then they became strengths.

My tiny mind and heart could not conceive what was happening and my old dreams had been shot out of the water and far surpassed what I could even conceive.  What else was possible for this boy?

See more in my new book There were so many things in the past that Keller just couldn’t do.  Our goals for him were always reaching and tangible, so we felt constant encouragement and elation as he reached different milestones.  But we were always aware that it was goals we were setting, and not necessarily where he needed to be for his age.

One huge part of Kindergarten is learning to write, obviously, and this was something I had tried to ignore for a long time.  Keller loved to look at books and was already beginning to read.  He was so bright in so many other ways; couldn’t we just skip the writing??  But evidently not.

Keller started working with a sweet OT once a week in school and we immediately began to see results.  She was genius in helping him to want to do the tasks and enjoy his time with her.  Within months we saw huge gains in his writing.  This was one of the main flags that brought him in to see her, but I was honestly panicked at how he would react to this new goal.

What previously had been something we pushed him to do for 10 seconds at a time where he screamed at the top of his lungs, was slowly becoming something he absolutely enjoyed.  He hated pencils, he hated pens, he hated coloring.  Normal small children can color for hours, and Keller outright refused.  In his therapies we would work on it in very small batches, but it seemed insurmountable.  He made small gains, but we could only make so much progress.

But for some reason, in the context of school, among his new friends who were all writing and coloring alongside him, a yearning started to grow within him to mimic his peers.  Keller began to play similarly to his friends and participate in things that would have previously been unthinkable for any of us.  He started writing in school, started making great improvements in his occupational therapy, and even started to ask to draw and color at home.

The day he asked me to get him an art book so he could start drawing and coloring at home I thought I lost my mind.  How is this our child?  He started to sit at our kitchen table daily and draw pictures for the entire evening.  Then he started watching videos on how to draw things, and eagerly and playfully filled his books with drawing and adventures.  He would draw and simultaneously create stories about his characters, so as he was drawing he would be acting our their dialogue and actions.  It was an all-encompassing and lively activity. 

Things that had been such extreme weaknesses were not just things he was tolerating but things he was requesting and wholly enjoyed.  He started asking to take his drawing book and pencil to bed and it was all too much for me.

We were witnessing something miraculous.  I knew that in our years of therapy something was really changing in his brain and heart.  He wasn’t just suffering through tasks asked of him.  He was a respectful and dutiful boy and so that pushing got us really far.  But after a while, he started to change and become a different boy altogether.  Things that were weaknesses were just tolerated but enjoyed, and then they became strengths.

My tiny mind and heart could not conceive what was happening and my old dreams had been shot out of the water and far surpassed what I could even conceive.  What else was possible for this boy?!

See more in my new book Anguish to Awakening!