It’s here! The week of the 2nd Annual Arbor Fun Walk is finally here! To celebrate this wonderful event, we’re featuring more personal success stories from our school. Today’s feature comes from Arbor Family – The Smouse’s – thanks for sharing your story!
Why We Love the Arbor School
When doctors throw all sorts of terms at you that you don’t understand, you cling to the words you do understand. That’s what happened to us when Dylan was born on November 17, 2006. In a few short hours we were told our beautiful son had a VSD and pulmonary hypertension, needed an echocardiogram, oh and this was all because he has Down Syndrome.
Of all those words, all we understood was Down Syndrome.
What all this boiled down to is that after countless echocardiograms, cardiology visits with multiple cardiologists, and lots of worry, our son would have heart surgery on February 8, 2008. After that surgery, we had a new child – one with energy and the desire to do more than sleep. Now we needed to finally start focusing on his development; something we had put off while we were so focused on his heart.
Our lives took on a new definition of “normal”; our child wasn’t going to learn as fast as others. That normal led us to a wonderful school in the Spring Branch area of Houston, Texas called The Arbor School.
Dylan’s first day at The Arbor School was August 20, 2008. He was 20 months old and the youngest at the school at the time. He was at the developmental age of about three months when he started, but he just learned once he got there. There were all sorts of milestones that other parents take for granted, but when he stacked rings, or drank out of a straw, or actually held something in both hands at the same time, we rejoiced.
His teachers were just as excited as we were. That is one of the many wonderful things about The Arbor School – the amazing teachers love your child and relish in their accomplishments almost as much as you do. It is so great to walk into the classroom and see Dylan’s teacher with a smile on her face just bursting to tell you what he did new that day!
This year Dylan moved up to his third class at The Arbor School (and more fabulous, loving teachers). He has now, in only three years at the school, accomplished two years’ worth of goals and developmental milestones.
Now, Dylan is an active, energetic little boy and I don’t see anything holding him back. He is passing developmental milestones at lightning speed…we can’t keep up with him. We know Dylan would not be doing half of what he is doing today without The Arbor School. We are so blessed to have found people who know how to teach our son. Not only do they teach him, they love him, protect him, and move mountains for him. We know that The Arbor School is setting Dylan up for future success – what more could any parent ask for!
The Arbor School, the teachers, the staff, the administration, the board, the parents, and of course, the students, are one of the best kept secrets in Houston, Texas. We are so glad we were let in on the secret and have been able to share this amazing journey with them. We look forward to many more mountains being moved for Dylan and his classmates. And we can’t wait to see what good comes of more funding and better opportunities for this amazing place!
With much appreciation from proud Arbor parents Meredith and Jason Smouse, Dylan’s mom and dad!
To support children like Dylan, please consider giving to our Arbor Fun Walk by visiting http://arborfunwalk.org/donate.php today!