Home School Heartbeat Radio Program

Mike Farris:
Encouragement is key for families with struggling learners. Nita, how did the grant from the Special Needs Children’s Fund impact your family?

Nita:
Well, after we received the initial diagnosis for our son, we recognized that the need for educational therapy was necessary but very costly. But we were very committed so we started spending probably several hundred dollars a month. At the time that we applied for the grant we had already gone through a lot of our cushion in terms of savings.

So when we received the grant, I was giving birth to our sixth child, and then we had a really traumatic labor, which resulted in a birth injury, which resulted in severe brain damage to our daughter. She was hospitalized from birth and then eventually we lost her. And so of course we were in profound grief and we were—I was also experiencing many health problems due to the labor trauma. So we were receiving probably thousands of dollars in medical bills in the mail on a weekly basis. It was just very overwhelming. So if not for that grant that was already in place, we would have definitely abandoned the educational therapy program that my son was involved in.

So during this really stressful time we were able to maintain the consistency for him, which is probably what he really needed during that stressful time, rather than abandoning his needs for the sake of the rest of the family.

Mike:
Nita, thanks so much for that story. I’m Mike Farris.