I knew she was different...

When my second daughter was an infant, I had that gut feeling that something just wasn't right.

I don't know how to explain it, but she was different...

It may sound strange for a parent to say this, but she was too good.

I took her to see doctors, but they thought I was just worrying too much. They were wrong...

My little girl had a variety of problems that should have been diagnosed way before they actually were. I couldn't get anyone to listen though!

At the age of three, she couldn't speak. She wasn't potty trained, despite an amazing effort on her part. She was sick most of the time. She didn't respond to people's voices the way she should have. She didn't play much with other children. Something was wrong.

Finally, due to frequent ear infections and my constant nagging, her doctor sent us to an ear specialist. The specialist did a hearing test and she failed! Thank God, it wasn't a permanent impairment! Due to the ear infections, her ears were full of wax. The doctor cleaned her ears out. They said that it was likely she hadn't heard anything for two years.

Unfortunately, she had missed out on a lot of communication milestones during that time.

Within a few weeks, my little girl started speaking more often and with increasing clarity.

Later, at almost 5-years-old, she was sent to see a doctor about her bladder. I was right! She had an overactive and spastic bladder.

Now, she's almost ten, and she still has a lot of difficulty in this area. She takes medication for it, but it doesn't fix the problem completely.

Also, on top of those things, she has allergies and asthma. She doesn't feel well most of the time.

Last year, she was diagnosed as having a communications disorder, so she has been placed in special education classes at school.

Why am I writing all of this? Well, I believe that every child has a story. This is hers...
She appears to be just like any other child, and you'd never know how great her struggle actually is. She never complains, and she never quits trying. She's amazing in these areas! (Most children like her are).

As she's gotten older though, her problems are bothering her a lot more. She feels very alone, very misunderstood, stupid, embarrassed and frustrated.

She loves her friends, but never asks them to stay the night, because she doesn't want them to know she has a bladder problem.

She often cries after school, because the other kids are learning quicker than she does.

She misses a lot of school, due to sickness and doctor appointments with her specialist. In return, she falls even further behind.

She wants someone to explain her communications disorder to her. We've tried... How do you communicate something so complicated to a child with a communications disorder? It's very difficult.

I hear parents talking about their concerns for their children all of the time. I hear them questioning whether something could be wrong. My advise, get it checked out! It is better to find out, than it is to never know. Plus, most importantly, the child needs to get intervention ASAP. The younger, the better.