How do you deal with your special child?

I have an objection to a child with special needs not being considered "normal". However a child comes to us, that's what is normal for that child. Every child has strengths and every child has weaknesses. It's our job as parents to encourage those strengths and to teach them to cope & work with their weaknesses.

Perhaps I am not reading this right. But to tell you the truth this post really offends me. I have a child who is wonderful and beatiful and healty.

Well hmmmm...let me see. My daughter was diagnosed with Peter's Anomolie, a birth defect where her cornea was white, instead of clear. She is two and a half now, and has had about 15 procedures and 3 major surgeries. She has recieved three cornea transplants, a lens removed due to cataract, and treatment for glaucoma. On top of this she had nearly constant ear infections for the first sixteen months, after which she had tubes put in her ears. She has five doctors, three of which are 100 miles away from my home, and 2 developmental therapists that visit the home to help us catch up on development that she missed due to the aftereffects of so much medical treatment. At one point I was giving her sixteen doses of medication a day, and each had to be five minutes apart because they were eye drops. As to how I handle it, how do you not handle it? My daughter is a little princess. She has curly blond hair and blue eyes. She likes her pink cowboy boots and the backyardigans. She gets really excited when it is time to point to her favorite body parts and would eat hot dogs for every meal if I allowed it. Every time we leave the house she has to hug the puppy goodbye, and the entire time we spend waiting for my son to get off the bus she calls for him. I guess you dont really think about how you do it, you just do. Live one day at a time. WHen she was first born I worried endlessly because I let the nature of the problem get to me, and for a moment forgot about the precious treasure I had discovered. I also have a son who is four and, honestly, other than more doctors apointments and getting glasses fixed once a month, it is no harder. My sons problems are in the realm of attitude. WHile my daughter acts out like any other two year old, she is a sweetheart and a angel. You don't choose your children, you just get them and love them and that is pretty much it!