That Little Extra...

My high school English teacher had a poster in her classroom that said "The difference between ordinary and extraordinary is that little extra" It is something that I have obviously remembered over the years. It was not until recently that I understood it was more than a cheesy inspirational speech from a football coach.

I wrote a letter to our state Governor asking her to reconsider approving a Medicaid budget cut that will limit the number of private therapy sessions individuals under the age of 21 will receive this year. In my letter I wrote the following about what therapy means to Sister...

"She attends therapy 4 days a week to work on gross and fine motor skills and speech. She began Speech Therapy in January 2010 when she was 9 months old. At that time she was not making any babbling or cooing sounds and was not able to understand or communicate with her family. Now, at 21 months old, with the help of her Speech Therapist she says a few consonant and vowel sounds, understands several words and simple requests, and can say the word "dada". When she started Physical Therapy in February 2010, at 10 months old, she was barely holding her head up on her own, showed no signs of weight bearing, and could only roll from her back to her tummy. Since then, with the help of her Physical Therapist, she is rolling all over the place with purpose, continues to show improvement in weight bearing while standing and kneeling, has taken her first assisted steps in a gait trainer, and is very close to being able to sit independently and army crawl. She also began Occupational Therapy in February 2010. At that time she was unable to self feed, play with her toys independently, or clap her hands together. With the help of her Occupational Therapist, she was able to eat her first birthday cake independently and continues to self feed age-appropriate finger foods, can remove and place objects in and out of a container, is able to press a button on a toy to make it work, and loves to clap and play patty cake."

I have yet to receive a response from the Governors office, but there has been a little more clarification given regarding what exactly will be cut and it looks like Sister will be covered, but we can expect a lot more paperwork.

Sister has proven that giving "that little extra" every day can make a big difference in her development, and I owe it to her to make sure I do the same. I am not only her mother, but her advocate. I will continue to encourage, push, pray, and believe that she will exceed even my expectations (which are pretty high)!