My youngest-now age 16 Had a stroke just before birth.

Bizarre isn't it.

He was induced 2 weeks early and there was marked asymetry on both sides of his face.

He was stiff-had increased muscle tone. We had to WORK to get milestones-sitting, standing, walking etc.

Was diagnosed by neurologist as Alberta Children's Hospital at 8 monhts. Fronatal area of brain affected. That's the area that helps you control your emotions and to inhibit or tone down reactions.

Growing up cognition was fine-he's a bright boy. Putting on swim shoes was always hard due his toes wanting to point down. I had to have his knee well bent to be successful.

He hasn;t been able to master front crawl swimmng.

Now of my my 3he has the most volitile temper and lack of impluse control. Is it because of his brain injury? Or just his nature?

The reality I think is both.

He is the kid who when mad will swear at teachers (and me). We've talked about how it might be harder for him to control himself but that he still has to learn how to.

There is a child who I work with on occasion who has a severe form of Cerebral Palsy - for those who don't know, essentially that means he had a brain injury that occured before the age of 5 (in many cases it can occur in the womb). In this child's case, it happened when he was a baby and he is now six. This child leads a tough life. He cannot walk, talk or eat (he is tube fed). He suffers from multiple daily seizures and has a cortical visual impairment. His limbs are stiff, he has no bladder control and he is in constant pain. He is a delightful child and his smile can light up a room!

My daughter has a neurological disorder - I guess in a sense her brain is injured.  We do not know how or why this has happened - and probably never will.  For some reason the myelin sheath that coats the myelin has not developed or started developing and stopped abruptly.  Around age 3 1/2 we noticed that her motor co-ordination, both fine and gross, was not like that of others her age.  She walked with a very wide gait, and her motions were spastic.  Her cerebellum also has not developed as it should, which is the part of the brain that governs balance and coordination.  Her physical appearance through her walking and movements to others might be of a person who is intoxicated or very off balance for some reason.  The greatest fear/concern as a parent is always for her physical safety.  She cannot cut with sharp knives, cannot cook on the stove or oven, and mobility in winter time is treacherous - she cannot navigate unassisted.  She can do all other tasks - personal hygiene, household chores, etc. - but just not as easily or as well as others.  She works at a part-time job and has her own place with assistance from myself and family services for those living with a disability.

Her intelligence baffles me at times.  She can navigate quite well around a computer, her memory is exceptional (she got through school by memorizing everything), but she does have difficulty with thought process.  She will learn a job or information by repition and memory, but if she were placed in a situation where she had to do problem solving she would have difficulty.  She is very compassionate, a great sense of humor, and is well liked by everyone she meets.

Her daily living and any physical movement is very tiring for her.  She has to work very hard at making her body do what she wants to do.  When she was in school she would come home tired and take all the frustrations of her day out on me . . . we worked at that . . . but I came to realize I was her safe place to fall.  It didn't mean she could be mean to me, but when I realized she needed some down time and some rest, things were much better :)

My biggest fear in always for her safety, and always for . . . "what will she do, who will look after her, when I am gone . . ."

May blessings abound as you work with this delightful child, somegal . . . may you be filled with an abundance of strength, ability, wisdom, and help.  I know of a child such as this, and his workers and care-givers became more family than help - they loved him and he loved them dearly.

I don't get to work with this child every day, but I do get to be around him on a daily basis. He has taught me so much! One of the things I love is to watch how the other children in our group interact with him. Every day we draw a child's name to be his helper for the day. The kids get so excited about this! The helper gets to do things like push his wheelchair, pick a story to read with him, help him make crafts and play games with him. The other day we were doing a bowling-like activity and his helper "helped" him to bowl by simply holding his hand while she took his turn and telling him what she was doing. She liked getting to take an extra turn and he enjoyed the simple interaction. On another day, we were building a space station out of lego and his helper put a pile of lego on his tray and showed him how to build a space ship.

Having him in our group also ensures that the noise level is kept to a dull roar as the children are all aware that loud noises scare him - and that when he gets scared, he has seizures. When he does have a seizure as a result of their actions, we bring it to their attention and have them apologize to him. I believe this has taught them empathy, as they are genuine in their apologies to him (something that wasn't necessarily the case at the beginning of the year).