We are so proud that Joel has developed so nicely considering that he was born prematurely and weighed a mere 900 grams.  Joel spent a lot of time in the incubator, respirated, oxygenized, fed-up of having blood tests every hour.  He had to be tube fed for the first three years of his life due to a paralysis of the vocal cords and every movement he learned was an accomplishment due to his CP.  The major effort of even learning to swallow took us several years,  every day several hours of physiotherapy, speech therapy, ergotherapy and all the other therapies.

What about today?

Joel is a great human being full of humour and optimism. He is keen on learning  even if  things do not come easy . He tries very hard to work on himself and improves constantly. He is finishing elementary school in a regular  class, speaks several languages with an amazing vocabulary, loves to hike, swim and is an active member of the scouts. Everybody loves and respects him. But ,but ,but ,his favorite passtime is the theater, getting dressed-up, giving performances to whoever is patient enough to watch him and most of all being succesfull (Harry Potter, Sherlock Holmes, Einstein). He loves all sorts of music, cinema, dancing.

To be Joel.s mother and sister is not always like licking a lollypop. Without Tamara's love, support  and example he deffinitely would not have made it. For me it is like trying to go through the jungle with a 'machete' (jungle knife) in my hand to open us a 'pathway'. Sometimes the jungle wins and sometimes I win. Definitely Joel taught me to recognize my limits, my internal, private me  and for that I am grateful.

Special need kids do not come with an instruction manual, neither as much do regular kids but at least you can compare to the 'environment'. Special needs children can not be compared, each one is unique and needs to be challenged and encouraged according to that uniqueness. The problem is sometimes to find the 'unique' stuff to encourage...

Joel has  taught  us to be  self secure,  has enhanced our capability of love and understanding , has opened our inner eyes and broadened our views of what is important in life. We, your mom and sister would like to thank you for this lesson  it has made us  better persons since we got in touch with you.

 

 Thank's to my friend Ruti  (ATARPLUS) who had the idea and designed this website.