It’s never too early to prepare a special needs child for independence

Something I’m working towards for right now is teaching Gavin what needs to be done to do his IVIG infusion twice a week.  I feel very strongly that he will need to know how to do this at some point in his life because it will be vital to an increased level of future independence. 

So far, Gavin can monitor the infusion sites for leakage or problematic placement of the needles. 

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He’s learned to read the pump and recognize how many cc’s of GAMMAGARD is left to infuse.  When the infusion is complete, Gavin is able to disassemble the pump and remove the needles from his stomach.  He can then safely dispose of the dirty needles in the sharps container before putting the pump away. 

These are pretty significant steps towards the eventual goal of him being able to do his own IVIG infusions at some point in the future. 

As a result of who Gavin is and where his mental health falls, I can’t teach him things like right and wrong.  I can’t give him a conscience or provide him with his own moral compass.  I certainly can’t make him care about or otherwise respect other people’s feelings because he’s just not wired for these things.

What I can do is help him build some of the life skills that he will need for any degree of independent living that he may or may not be capable of. 

If that’s what I can do for him as his father to help him prepare for life than so be it.

This site is managed almost exclusively from my Samsung Galaxy Note 3. Please forgive any typos as auto-correct HATES me. 😉

Update: If you like this post, check out these as well. Click —–> Here <—– for my Top Posts.


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Rob Gorski

Full time, work from home single Dad to my 3 amazing boys. Oh...and creator fo this blog. :-)
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Christy Garrett

Way to go Gavin, Rob these are skills that are invaluable if he ever wants to try to live on his own one day. 😉

Dobby

Way to go Gavin and way to you to Rob for teaching him these things! Both of you need to pat yourself on the back!

Lost and Tired

Thanks Dobby. 🙂