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Connecting and supporting families of individuals with special needs A Family to Family Health Care Information & Education Center |
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Regional Coordinator I live on Staten Island with my husband, Vinny, and our 9-year-old twins, Jack and Brigid. I am a native Staten Islander, but left to explore the world outside of the borough for about 20 years. After the birth of my children, I returned, realizing that the things I hated as a teenager on Staten Island, I loved as a parent (everybody knows not only you, but your parents, aunts, uncles, grandparents, etc.). For 18 years, I worked in advertising and in the financial industry in NYC. The crazy 12 hour days did not give me much quality time with my family and I couldn’t stand that Jack and Brigid’s babysitter got to see them roll over first, speak first and walk first. (Although in the revisionist history my husband and I have created for Jack and Brigid, Mommy was there for all of it.) So, when Jack and Brigid were two, I decided to stop working full time. It was an adjustment, but I loved being the one that took them to the park and the playground and got to share in the daily ups and downs of their lives. When he was four, Jack was diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome. Since he had been the baby to speak first and walk first and he seemed so advanced, the diagnosis threw us for a loop. But certain things began to make sense: his sensory integration issues, his difficulty in getting along with other children and his inexplicable (to us) meltdowns. As we immersed ourselves in the world of physical therapy, occupational therapy and counseling, I quickly learned first-hand the unique challenges facing a parent who has a child with special needs and the uphill battles we must fight in the best interests of our children. The one thing that helped me the most were the moms I met along the way – in therapists’ offices, in doctors’ offices and in schoolyards. I learned where to go for a social skills program, what neurologists to go to and the best dentists for children with special needs. Over the years, I have enjoyed helping other parents and sharing with them the things I have learned. I am so very excited to be working for Parent to Parent of NYS and I look forward to the opportunity to help other parents the way that I have been helped. To contact Maryalice, call (718) 494-3469 or email siparenttoparent@verizon.net
This page last updated on
April 23, 2010
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