THE SHADDOX BOYS

Jacob and Elijah Shaddox are brothers. Jacob is 21 years old and just moved into an apartment with his girlfriend. He graduated from a technical college with an Associate's degree in Computer Maintenance. He works for a school district as a computer technician. Elijah is almost 18 years old. He is hearing impaired, has Tourette Syndrome, OCD and ADHD. He is a junior in high school. Elijah lives with his mom Mary and her wife, his stepmom. Mary has a bachelor's in deaf education and a masters in special education, and is an educational diagnostician. Life is always changing and this blog has chronicled many of these changes and will continue to do so!






Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Expectations!

Since the day we found out Elijah was deaf, I have set very high expectations for him. There was so much for him to overcome...premature birth, coming home on oxygen, deafness, pnemonia, slow in development and later tourette syndrome.

After Elijah was implanted, I worked so hard for him to reach his full potential. It has taken years for him to get where he is now and we have had many road blocks. We have busted through those road blocks and I am so proud of where Elijah is now....and proud of Jacob as well.

I get very frustrated with people who don't set high expectations for their children and make excuses why their child can't do something. Even children with no disabilities may have parents who make excuses for them. What frustrates me even more are professionals who don't set those high expectations(not speaking of anyone working with Elijah), but just professionals in general. I have run across a few in my 20 years of education!

I marvel daily at the language Elijah uses. The sentencs he comes up with and even if they aren't perfect, we fix them and move on!

One more thing I want to brag on....Jacob was nominated by one of his teachers to be part of Rachel's Challenge at his high school. Rachel was the first student shot in the Columbine shooting. This challenge is to work with students to stop bullying in school. I need to do more research on it. Jacob is still that typical boy who doesn't always do his homework, but he is becoming a fine young man!

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