Here is a picture from Ella's first day of "camp". For those of you who don't know what I'm talking about, Ella began attending A Child Can Do All Things (ACCDAT). This program is more of a method than a therapy. It's called Conductive Education (CE) and is very popular in Central and Eastern Europe (the training is in Budapest, Hungary). It is also a common practice to help children with disabilities in Canada. Through my friend Krystie I heard about it from a mother's perspective. My friend, Stephanie Poage, has a cousin who runs the local CE organization. Also, our friend Chad Armstrong knew the man who was the President and Founder of ACCDAT. Through all of these separate people, as well as one of our doctors, I realized that we needed to give CE an opportunity to work for Ella...or for Ella to work through CE. We had our evaluation and my first glimpse that Ella might be too far behind came to light. As much as I love and adore my child, I realize that she may not understand the things that we say to her or ask of her. She does follow some commands "sit up", "hands" (she reaches out to grab our hands), "stop biting" (she bites herself...it also is said "Ella, no biting"), "step" (when we are working on walking), "wave" (she waves, sometimes)...I can't think of any others, but I think there may be a few more. However, these aren't enough for her to follow instructions from the conductors at CE...or not yet. We have been given a two week "trial" period to see if Ella will "get it" with the program. It's structured as a 5 week program, 5 days a week, 5 hours a day...however, we are going 4 days a week (because we still have Equest on Thursdays), 3 hours a day...for 2 weeks. They have told us for the last 3 days that Ella complains a lot...but if you knew Ella, you would know that this might be a stretch...Ella VERY rarely complains (I mean, the child doesn't care if she gets shots or hits her head...how could 3 hours of therapy make her gripe). We will get a status report on Friday, so I will tell you what they say about Ella's progress. Personally I want this, but PLEASE pray that God's will be done, and that I feel comfortable with His decision. It really is so hard to know what to do for my little girl...I want her to get better, I pray hard that she will walk and talk and be as typical as God would have her to be...but really, in my heart of hearts...I want her life (and my life) to glorify the Lord."I can do all things through Him who strengthens me." Philippians 4:13
Thank you to all of our dear friends who have either prayed for this organization and Ella's involvement, or have actually helped us fund this opportunity. The financial responsibility of Ella's needs are a hard decision as well. Wisdom would be greatly appreciated!