It’s heartbreaking. Every mother jokes about the first day of school being the beginning of her vacation. Our kids, as much as we love them, are a handful and many a mother will be drained, trying to keep up with their needs during the relatively unstructured summer months.
But then there are the others. The parents who truly cannot handle even one hour without the unbearable tension that accompanies life with a special child. As chaotic as a period of unstructured days may be, the parent of an average child cannot imagine marking her calendar with x’s on the days that he will be home. One father of a special child did just that upon the realization and dread of the block of unstructured days coming up. Unfortunately, he is one of many.
Not to be able to relax for a moment. To be constantly dealing with the possibility of uncontrolled anger. To be unable to plan for even the next hour. To ache for your other children who ask nothing more than to be able to play a game in peace or perhaps read a few pages of a favorite book. To feel helpless, hopeless.
Dear Ezer Mizion,
My wife and I have a special needs son, he is 14 years old and suffers from VEOS (very early onset schizophrenia) which manifests itself as SZ and PDD and ADHD.
He is, of course, being medicated and he dorms and schools in XXXXXX.
This year we await the long holidays with trepidation, 8 out of 9 weeks our son Yehuda is going to be home, through the long summer vacation and Holiday periods of Tishrei. (See attached calendar.) Without a suitable structure and framework we fear that we will not be able to entertain and provide for our son’s needs and those of the rest of the family.
If you have any program that may be suitable for our son, please inform us at your earliest convenience and direct me to the correct person to speak to.
Gratefully yours,
It is this need that Ezer Mizion seeks to address with its myriad of summer camp programs in Israel geared for varied requirements, its respite programs and its afternoon activity clubs. The programs help to alleviate pressure of physical demands and emotional strain experienced both by parents of a special needs child and his siblings. These beleaguered parents never stop expressing their gratitude.
My son is a 28-year-old boy with special needs. He partakes of many of Ezer Mizion’s programs including its summer camp and its holiday program. These two events are literally his oxygen supply.
When he walks through the streets of Jerusalem, young men stop him, smile and greet him warmly. They remember him from the “Retreat.” Therefore, there is no way in the world that we could have passed this up and not registered him. Just as a person can’t go without oxygen, so, it simply was not possible for him not to attend the Ezer Mizion camp. And now that he has been accepted and his registration sponsored, I, too, can let the worry melt away from my heart, breathe a sigh of relief, and say with joy filling my heart –Thank You! Thank you, Ezer Mizion and thank you to all of you generous people who have helped sponsor his stay. May you all be blessed.
