If you’re a parent of a child with Down syndrome in search of the right pair of eyeglasses for your child (him/her), you probably know that walking into an optical store can be confusing. There is no shortage of children’s eyeglass frames. The problem is: how do you figure out which ones: a) your child will be willing to wear; and b) will last longer than the ride home?

It can sometimes turn really murky to try to figure out what is normal and what isn’t, who is normal and who isn’t.
Just a few months ago, Yeshiva Bonim Lamokom celebrated its annual Shabbaton. This is the highlight (among many others ☺ ) of the yeshiva year, as students, rabbeim, teachers, therapists, office staff and faculty’s families pack their bags and head upstate for a glorious weekend of non-stop fun and inspiration.

Although doctors have long known that people with Down syndrome have a heightened risk of developing acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) during childhood, they haven’t been able to explain why. Now, a team of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute investigators has uncovered a connection between the two conditions.

I wear 2 hats.
I change them daily, sometimes multiple times a day.
Some parts of the day I am an Adjunct Professor at a local educational institution where I teach a course about disabilities.
Part of my curriculum is to underscore the importance of Inclusion, part of the laws of I.D.E.A.
“Disabled children should be educated with other non-disabled children to the maximum extent possible.”

The stars are shining
The sky is clear
I watch
Her hands

You hear the words. They sound like platitudes – “He is a special neshama”, “You were chosen”, “Your family will grow from it”, “Hashem only gives tests to those who can handle it”. They are true. Yet…

With the passing of Moishey’s paternal grandmother a’h, he now has no living grandparents anymore.
Babi Malka Sander was a queen, as her name alludes. She was regal in her grace and charming in her personality. She loved Moishey with a fierce, grandmotherly pride and never forgot the early days of shock, mourning and grief. But, Babi Sander was a lady and she put her grief aside to become her children’s cheering squad. She encouraged and inquired and delighted in Moishey’s progress and always lent a listening ear and a bellowing laugh to his antics

Twenty-two years ago, after our son Avichi, who has Down syndrome, successfully underwent open-heart surgery, we went to a conference for professionals and parents of special needs individuals. There we learnt of a set of twins with congenital abnormalities who grew up together. They had a running family journal and when both twins died at age 18, their mother read their journal and knew in her heart that having each other helped her sons with their illnes

Dear Sarah,
I read ‘Passed Over’ in Issue #16, where you write about your younger daughter ‘skipping Moishey’ and getting married. I do not understand why you need Moshiach in order to marry off your son who has Down syndrome. Did the Chief Rabbi of Tzfat miss something when he married off my children?

“If someone would have said to me eleven years ago ‘one day you will look back and smile at what happened’, I would have told them to have their mind checked!’”
With these words Rabbi Moshe Kuessous a’h opened up his speech to parents of special needs children. With total honesty he admitted, “Before they were born I’d think I’d be embarrassed. But now, wherever I take them I stand tall and proud! My head is held high. I feel very proud to be their father!”