Give A Thought To Kids

With Special Needs

To the Editor:

On May 18, the Ta-Da Art studio in Newtown held a very special art class for a group of special needs children (the first of more to come). A very special thank you to Debbie Holmes and staff for reaching out to the community moms who so badly want to see the town offer activities for these kids. Whether they are autistic, have Down syndrome, or a rare brain malformity (like our son Daniel), they are like our normal children — children who like to play, who have skills to share, smile when they achieve something, learn, grow, dream, and develop. Daniel is 9 years old now, and I look around our beautiful town to see virtually no area where he can play safely in his wheel chair, and not one single program through the parks and recreation, private, or otherwise...that opens its arms to these children.

I know that it is “complicated,” that they can be hard to “fit” in, but if more people like Debbie at Ta-Da would try, they would realize that something like this is not only fun, but it truly touches a life — and it is really not so complicated. They are just children, too.

A few years ago I had hoped to rally the town to raise money for a boundless playground, or a special needs camp in the summer, but the reality of my life is a 24/7 medically fragile little boy. My ideas and efforts became weary, and caring for him, and our two other children absorbs 99 percent of this mom’s energy. I saw this amazing town come together to raise money to buy a van for Daniel a few years ago, and I thought, boy what they could do to make life great for other kids! But again, I have become a typical busy active mom with two normal children enrolled in everything from soccer, to piano, to baseball, to viola, to dancing, and in that way, I am like so many others. Rushing all over town in a mad attempt to give my children the wonderful access to what we have to offer them in Newtown. Two of my children anyways. There is nothing for Daniel.

But thank you, thank you, and I do say “TA DA!” because you are so wonderful. One small hand in a blob of finger paint amongst laughing silly kids goes a long way.

I wish Newtown realized how many special needs kids there really are here, of many many different types and degrees, and how very few people even consider incorporating them into what most people simply take for granted.

These children are our angels, and when you get to know them, your life becomes touched by angels forever.

Julie A. Hasselberger

35 Bennetts Bridge Road, Sandy Hook                           June 5, 2007