I first heard about Shalva, a support program in Jerusalem for children with all kinds of delays and disabilities, in the early days of Yirmiyahu’s life.  However, I was quite busy with all that I had going on and it wasn’t until he was six months old that my headspace cleared out enough to consider taking him there for therapies on a regular basis.

When I called to set up the intake appointment, we were given a date almost two months later, which was yesterday.  Part of what I wanted to determine was if it was even feasible for me to get there by the 9:30 am program starting time; the earliest bus leaving Karmiel headed for Jerusalem is 6 am and since it usually takes three hours to get to Jerusalem and then I need a connecting bus to the Har Nof neighborhood, I didn’t know if this was possible.  I’m happy to say that it only took me 3 hours and forty minutes to get there and I wasn’t rushing, so I’m reassured on this front.  It’s definitely a long day of traveling, but it will be worth it for Yirmiyahu to get support from providers with a lot of experience with babies with T21.  And it will be very nice for me to have a chance to speak to other parents of infants with T21, something I haven’t been able to do in person until yesterday (though I was just there for the intake and my time with other parents was limited, that was really, really nice for me).

The facility is really wonderful; the immediate feeling is warm and relaxing.  The staff are all very welcoming.  It was nice being in an environment that was so American; the staff members I met were mostly Americans but everyone who works there speaks English (and Hebrew, obviously).  (Just being in Jerusalem is really different since you hear so much English everywhere you go; no one thinks about it or notices it, but here in Karmiel it’s uncommon!)

A three member team did an assessment of Yirmiyahu and were extremely positive about him. I don’t have anyone to compare him to, and it’s interesting for me to hear feedback from those who work with children with T21.  Their responses were similar to those I got at his evaluation at the Feuerstein Institute – it’s unusual to see a baby with T21 like him.  Specifically they said his muscle tone is excellent, he has a sparkle in his eyes that they said they usually don’t see at this age, he is very active and communicative, and of course he’s exceedingly cute. 🙂

This makes me wonder a lot.  But I’m going to post separately about my thoughts on this rather than get off topic here.

After Pesach he’ll be able to begin at Shalva; they’re very full now so he will probably only be able to go once every other week rather than weekly to their ‘Me and my Mommy’ program.  When he’s there, he’ll be able to receive physical, occupational and speech therapy, and maybe also hydrotherapy though it seems this is available only to babies who attend weekly.  I asked when a slot opens up weekly for Yirmiyahu to receive it; hydrotherapy looks so fun!  They were concerned that it wouldn’t be realistic for me to come weekly because of the distance; I didn’t ask if anyone else comes from so far but from the reaction of all the staff and parents who heard where we were coming from, I assume it’s very unusual.  I don’t have anything comparable locally so the choice is for him not to get anything more than what he’s currently getting, which isn’t okay with me.

I’m not looking forward to the traveling, but I am looking forward to Yirmiyahu getting more help in such a warm and supportive environment!

Avivah