Apples to Apples or Apples to Oranges

It seems

the world is full

of comparisons.

It doesn't escape

we parents of

special needs children either.

In fact,

something that so easily rolls

off of our tongues can

become quite a challenge...

depending on the subject matter.

You see,

our children are

often compared to the

"other children"

in the same age range.

It's done medically,

academically

and socially.

As a group,

we can be very sensitive

regarding the many

verbs that can and are used

to describe our kids

versus those "other"

kids.

Why, we parents even struggle

ourselves when making the comparisons.

Our conversations often go like this:

"Our girls do so well at (insert anything here)

but it just isn't the same as the ("others") do.

Each of us struggles with what word to insert for

"others" and most often,

we say

"I hate using the word "normal"

but they aren't the same as the "normal" kids.

Enter my daughter:

The other day,

we were once again,

discussing prom

(yes, the magic continues).

One of her friends

was escorted by two

handsome young men

(she has difficulty walking and my

heart swelled as I watched those young men,

proudly escorting her).

I asked my daughter

if the boys were also

in special education

and she simply stated

"Well, one is but the other one is just a plain teenager."

It hit me!

The "others"

are just

PLAIN TEENAGERS!

This bears repeating:

P L A I N Teenagers!

My "special needs"

daughter has (in my not so humble opinion)

brilliantly resolved an issue

we normal plain

adults have not been able to figure out!

I learn so much from her...

and all of the other

special needs kids

I am lucky enough to know!