A Kindred Spirit

It is very hard to find that local friend who knows and understand one's struggle with a special needs child, and one who has dealt with public schools and all of the hoops one must go through to get what your child needs.  Our Sunday School group has proven to be a great source of friendships in a very short amount of time, and very wonderfully, I am getting to know another family who has been there, done that with their son, who is now in college.  In college!  What a prospect! Today we met for coffee and I was so very encouraged by her story of how they went through hell and high water to get him what he needed in school, all of the therapies they paid for so that he could succeed and graduate from high school, all of the IEP meetings, even resulting in two teachers getting fired for their classroom practices that put obstacles in front of not only their son but other children who struggled as well.  And his dream of going to college was what kept him going.  I feel I am going to learn a lot from her experience now that she is "on the other side." Her son has lived at home while going to college, but he graduates this December with an associates degree and is going on to a four year college next.  All through high school they kept their sights on simply getting a degree, but not a GED because too many doors would be closed to him by doing so.  I needed to hear all of this today.  Praise God for His perfect timing!!