Service Dog Training Day Eight: Special Sibs

The big test is coming in two days and we need to get ready. Our training with Red concludes with a public access test with Jeremy, the training director at 4 Paws. We have to show that we can handle our dog out in public. Upon doing so, we receive certification as a service dog handler.

Someone else has been studying these two weeks. That would be Nick's older brother Joey. The timing of training was tough for us considering Joey's needs. After 9 years in a K-8 small school, he was starting as a freshman in a big high school. After his first week in a new school, we were hauling him off to Ohio. We debated the options, but they were limited. Ultimately, we wanted Joey to be a part of an experience that he would probably remember the rest of his life. So often, in a family with special needs, so much attention is directed on the child with the disability, that the child or children that are typical can feel left out. This was a time we didn't want Joey left out. We love that he's with us. He has done his best to keep up with his studies, doing some of his schoolwork with us while we are in class (above left picture) and in the evening when we get back to our hotel.

A special needs sibling myself, my instinct has been to want to protect Joey from the challenges of living with a brother with a disability. Over time, however, I have realized that while there are challenges and losses for Joey, there are opportunities to grow in character qualities would not develop as well if his brother Nick were typical. As a parent, I want my child to turn out with respectable qualities. Ironically, I want to protect him from the challenges that are the place those qualities grow.

It seems this principle not only applies to special needs siblings. It applies to me to. Life difficulties seem to shape me up the best.