In 2005, our daughter, Kendall, came into the world, and Tom and I became parents. Little did we know that we would eventually assume the complicated role of special needs parents!
Through the first four years of her life, we held onto the same hopes and dreams for our future that we had before she was born, as we tried to figure out and correct the mysterious delays in her development. Everyone kept reassuring us that she would catch up. Until the diagnosis, that is.
Receiving a diagnosis of a permanent neurological disorder four years into this parenting gig was disruptive to say the least. In the midst of medication trials, we were trying to educate ourselves and adjust to this new identify for our family. Do you know how many books you can find on parenting a child with periventricular leukomalasia? Let me know if you find one! Same goes for parenting support groups and online communities. This was a very lonely transition. And imagine our surprise when multiple genetic and developmental disorders were diagnosed along the way, including autism.
I started writing about our experiences with the hope that I would eventually have answers to support other parents. I stopped writing when I felt like I was never going to have any answers for myself, let alone for others. But I realized that, while we are always going to live with a great deal of uncertainty (read: no answers), we are able to cope with and navigate this uncertainty with the support from the team that has built up around us: Team Kendall.
This is the story of how Team Kendall came to be, how it continues to evolve, and how we stay afloat as the team helps us paddle.
Team Kendall 