Sign language...

Dear friends,
This week we had beautiful weather and we went to the walking trail with the kids. It was 82 degrees here. They absolutely loved it and so did Millo. We did not tether Brody to Millo and took him on a leash. Brody walked independently about a half of a mile. WOW! We were so pleased. Tethered to Millo I am sure that he would have gone farther, but we were tickled. He doesn't have the physical endurance yet to take him the whole way. He actually got excited and ran a little.
Afterwards we went to a friends' restaurant that is about to open. When he turned on the music in surround sound, Brody looked at me and signed "music" for the first time. Later he turned on a huge TV projector and Brody signed "happy" for the first time. It was awesome. They are teaching him pecs in school, but I think sign language is best. He gets confused on pec cards, but we are still doing total communication.
We just did an assessment at school for Brody and determined tentatively that he was multi-handicapped because he has FX, Autism, ADHD, hearing and vision loss and several other small things. They just need a place to put him and just FX cannot fall under "other health impaired" anymore. We will have an IEP within 40 days to decide on next year, determine his placement, summer school options, and curriculum for next year.
His party is well on the way with several more sponsors and silent auction items. Thank you to everyone. Vanderbilt has called and we may do a voice only interview with them about research and development of new medicines. Either us or a new friend of ours will do it. I will keep you posted. Until then ......bless you.

3rd Cold since Christmas!

Dear friends and family,
We are finally better and feeling good. Brody just finished another round of "runny nose". His doctor at Vanderbilt is leaving the Fragile X clinic the end of March. I am confident that she will find an excellent replacement. Please say a prayer for her as I know this has been a hard decision for her to make. We hope she will be able to come to Brody's Birthday Bash in May.
I am going to load up some new pictures soon......

Fragile X of Tennessee

Dear friends,
We are on our way to Nashville for a conference tomorrow at the Holiday Inn Vanderbilt. This will be so exciting and I hope to share some of the events with you when we get home. Keep us in your prayers.

Press release....

These are a few press releases about Brody, his service dog and his great doctor at the Vanderbilt FX Clinic. Hope you enjoy.

Fragile X Meeting in Nashville on February 15th...

Anyone interested in coming? We would love to have you there and share your story. Dr. Lisa Craft will be speaking on behalf of the Vanderbilt Fragile X Clinic and Cheryl Gatto will be speaking about the scientific aspects of FX. I am inviting our behavior therapist to speak on behalf of the changes in Brody and the help she gave us as parents. We are bringing our service dog Millo and Brody to the meeting so you can see up close the difference he has made in Brody's life. Any other suggestions? If you have something that you would like to say or for me to pass out at the conference, please let me know.

Brody and Vanderbilt

http://www.vanderbiltchildrens.com/interior.php?mid=139&press_id=386
I stumbled on this article and wanted to share it with you.

Gymnastics and McDonald's....together again.

Tonight we had gymnastics and for Brody it is a great form of physical therapy. The kids all enjoy it and if they are good, we go to McDonald's. Brody does alot of running around and tumbling on the mats. He also enjoy the music shakers. When he is not sitting in the lap of someone waiting on their child, he is smiling his way into candy from them. Everyone seems to love him and we appreciate them being so tolerate. Here are some recent pictures of him with Millo at the Vanderbilt Fragile X Clinic. He was their very first patient at the FX clinic and Millo was the first service dog in the Doctor Towers. They did a story on Brody and Millo in September in the Kennedy Center for Excellence in Disabilites newspaper.