Submitted by: Amy Kremitzki, General Manager
My daughter, Abbygail Jean, blessed my life with her presence December 27th, 2002. Things were not “smooth” for her arrival. I was very ill and she was very early. My little bundle entered my life without oxygen for the first several precious seconds of her life and they are not sure how long she was without oxygen before she arrived. Doctors were also not sure to what extent this would affect her. She was initially diagnosed with Static Encephalopathy. Which means that the brain function is abnormal and it interferes with learning, development, and normal function. Due to her developmental delays, my Abby took much longer than other children to hit her milestones.
Abby’s physician diagnosed her with Autism when she was approximately 1-year-old. They were not sure if she would ever talk, walk, or have other normal functionality. She then began various therapies around this time. There was a different therapist in our home every day working with her until she was of the age to go to school. With therapy, she met all of her goals in her development plan each and every month and continued to meet every goal they gave her over time. When she entered the school system, they created an Individual Education Plan (IEP) for her with quarterly goals and therapists working with her at school every day within the special education program.
Fast forward to 2018…I am now the proud mother of a very bright, and very sweet 15-year-old that has absolutely thrived with her therapists and school district. She still has an IEP, but she has been able to successfully “graduate” from all therapies. She is now, for the most part, completely mainstreamed at her high school. She continues to crush all of her IEP goals each quarter, earning A’s and B’s in all of her classes and even makes the honor roll. She has progressed leaps and bounds and is now quite “normal.” I consider myself blessed to have this little miracle and she continues to amaze me each and every day.
