Our Joslyn

by Patti
(Omaha, NE)

My daughter is 5 years old, but has been delayed developmentally. She has always been about a year behind. (crawled at one, walked at two, talked at three, etc) She spent 2 years in our district's early development program and is now in Special Education Kindergarten. We have no clue why she is slow in developing, but she seems to be progressing and we are sure she will catch up.

I have always suspected her senses were somehow out of sync. She will eat anything from dry lettuce to a spicy taco with enthusiasm, she will nurture any living or unliving thing, but then turn around and wrestle with dad and brother (and win) She will look lovingly in your eyes while she strokes your face, but then be the biggest sass I have seen. She will cry that she wants something, then cry when she gets it. She does get hurt, but rarely bothers to stop long enough for me to know it. She is rarely startled by loud noises, but her hearing seems just fine. She will talk on and on about something she loves, but will not acknowledge something new we are trying to show her. She knows how to use the potty, and will go when we take her, but she just won't tell us or go on her own. As she gets older, and better able to communicate, I think some of this will work itself out.

In the meantime, at least there is something I can research that may help us understand why she is the way she is.