Some Days are Hard

Thursday was a hard day, Mark and I had the final meeting with Isaac's neuropsychologist to receive the results of Isaac's testing. We have been concerned about Isaac's progress in school since he was in JK, he struggled to attain fundamental skills related to literacy and numeracy despite his efforts. By grade 2 he was significantly behind his peers academically.  Learning disabilities are common diagnoses for kiddos with DMD, the dystrophin that is missing in his muscle cells also plays a role in the brain.

We learned during our appointment that Isaac has a learning disability and likely also an expressive language disorder. He has ideas and is capable of being successful in school but because of the learning disability and language disorder he can't express his understanding and knowledge. We see the effects of both of these challenges not only in Isaac's academic progress but also in his frustration level. Imagine not being able to communicate you thoughts and ideas in class, at home or with your friends. He is impacted by his difficulties communicating in all aspects of his life. Isaac has a long road a head of him in overcoming these challenges, I know as his mom I am overwhelmed and my job is just to support him, he has the hardwork.

After our appointment I had time to go for a run before returning to work and I needed it.  I headed out to my "backyard" woodlot behind our local park but I struggled. I found myself having a hard time sustaining even an easy pace and I was missing the green of the forest as we have definitely moved into fall with bare trees and fallen leaves. Running has become an important way to manage my depression and general anxiety but on this day it didn't really help me process the results of Isaac's diagnosis.

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