Issue #16 November, 2007
From the Verreijt Family
The Netherlands
Every issue of "Safe Harbor" is very
welcome to us. It gives us a chance to
compare our FHS child with others. We
guess it is our turn now to tell about
Sophie.
Sophie is 9 years old and 110 cm (43
inches or 3 foot 7 inches). She attends a
special school for children with speaking
problems. Luckily this school is only 10
minutes away. Besides FHS Sophie has
been diagnosed with both ADHD and a
mild form of autism. After school hours
she attends a special program 4 days
a week to address her social/emotional
behaviour. She is doing very well in this
program and she likes to go there. It
made her more mature over the last year.
Sophie is very sweet and social but due to
her height and behaviour adults and
children (of her own age) think she is
very much younger and interact with her
accordingly. This makes it very difficult
for her to play with children of her own
age. Luckily she has a sister and brother
(8 and 6 years old).
On the weekends she attends a children's
choir and scouting. She really loves it
there.
Sometimes Sophie has "rages". Probably
not as "heavy" as described about Jesse in
the July 2007 issue but still enough to
have her slamming the doors and
throwing stuff on the floor. These rages
go over into sad crying. This really is
something we monitor very closely,
especially because puberty is on its way.
We are very interested in FHS experiences
from girls older than Sophie. Please write
if you are a girl in the age 10-20 years old
(or parent) and let this support group and
us know how you are doing!
Feel free to use this 'story' and pictures in
the next issue of Safe
Harbor and/or the website. We are
looking forward to upcoming editions.
Thanks for keeping this support group
alive!
Brigitte & Jeroen Verreijt
Neeve, 5 in the United Kingdom
Here is some more recent information on
Neeve. She was 5 years old on 09/07/07.
She is now 98 cm tall 38 inches (or 3 foot 2
inches) and weighs 30 lbs. Neeve has
been receiving growth hormone
treatment since April, she is on a 2 year
trial. She has grown since she started it,
but then she was still growing before it,
albeit slowly. She has speech therapy,
and has a special chair, steps to reach the
toilet etc. at school.
We are still waiting (it has been 6 months
now) for a chair for her at home. We live
in the UK, and have problems getting
help for her in school. She struggles with
recognising letters and numbers, and
cannot read or write her name yet.She is
a very independent, and a sometimes
bossy (as stated on her school report)
child. She also becomes attached to
people quickly and is very loving.
Chelsea Newman, 20, America
Chelsea is now enrolled in a community
living program, which is part of the special
education program for Lane County 4J
school district. In this program, she works
3 hours a day, 5 days a week. Three at the
University of Oregon Library, shelving
books and two days at Eugene City Hall,
filing parking tickets, and doing lightweight
secretarial skills.
Chelsea turned 20 in October. She is
still 80 pounds and five feet tall (152 cm.).
She wears a size 3 shoe in children and an
x-small in womens shirts and a size zero in
pants.
She is generally happy but still maintains
OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder)
behaviors which distance her from her
non-special education peers. One thing
that she obsesses about is her boyfriend,
whom she has "dated" for three years this
December. But they have never been on an
unchaperoned date, and most of their
relationship is over the phone.
She is learning how to take the city bus
during the daytime, but has not been
on a "Solo" trip yet.
Andy Martin, 18, America
Andy is now 18 years old and in 12thgrade
in school. He is ins pecial
. education and he
goes to regular education woodshop. He has
.
had wood shop classes for the last two years
.
He has made a night stand and a bed frame
.
He is five feet 2 inches tall 157 cm and he
( )
weighs about 110pounds. His height and
.
weight has stayed the same for quite some
time now .
.
This last Monday Andystarted on the
wrestling team at the High School. I talked to
.
the coach and he is very willing to work with
Andy. The aide that he has when he is out of the
.
classroom is very involved with the wrestling
team. That helps a lot. He is very strong. So
. . .
we will see how this goes .
.Giovanni in Brazil
Giovani is 7 years old and is 97 cm tall
(38 inches or 3 feet, 2 inches). He
weighs 13,500 kg. (28 pounds). He has
difficulties speaking, doesn't like to go
to school and doesn't like to write. He
also hits people sometimes and doesn't
obey very well. He is very nervous,
but at the same time loving and
affectionate.
He has some strange habits like
arranging shoes, moving the rug, and
repairing the remote control and
trucks. He also puts on a show with a
microphone, guitar, hat and shirt. He
adores country music.
Membership update
We now have 49 families in
different countries as
follows:
USA 22, UK 13, Austrailia 1,
Canada 3, Brazil 2,
The Netherlands 2, Scotland 1,
Germany 1, Israel 1, Ireland 1,
New Zealand 1, France 1
Donate Online via PayPal
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Harbor. If anyone would like to
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Thanks!
What's New?
Well, not much except that we got a
great response from the last issue.
Thanks to all of you who sent in
updates, e-mails and pictures. It is
good to keep in touch and find out
how the other Floating Harbor
children are doing. Please send any
information, updates, articles with
pictures etc. either to our e-mail
address at:
