Many of these decisions may seem overwhelming, but one thing we learned at our first Williams syndrome conference was to draft a vision statement for Oliver. This is a document that we share with the team at the beginning of every IEP meeting to set the tone of our conversations about his education. And we would like to share it here to ask for your participation and accountability. We invite you to join us in our belief of Oliver’s vision, and remind us of our goals when we need reminding.
While most parents can just automatically assume a future like this is accessible to their children, many parts of Oliver’s vision will take an overwhelming amount of support and accommodations to get there. Many kids with WS (or other disabilities) are not given the benefit of assuming this type of future is possible for them, because like I mentioned above, it will require a lot of work. But just because it will be a challenge, does not mean it’s not possible. We write this vision statement to explicitly challenge those assumptions and ensure he is given every chance he deserves.
The Vision Statement is the big picture. It isn’t about what’s “realistic” or how to get there. It’s what we want out of life for Oliver. And when everyone making the decisions for his education has their eyes on the same goal, it will be much easier for the team to agree on the “how” to get him there...” Follow @helloerinelizabeth to read the rest of this great post, friends! 💙💚❤️
