The Family that Adopted Six Children with Down Syndrome (And One with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome)

tell me about your family my mom is amazing I did the precepts and she came she was 9 years old and about 18 pounds image is a first Tommy is ycu Buffalo because a while Asha is Yahoo watch it watch it go George what is that sure is animal monkeys first actually see ya from this year is here graduate and it came excellent the sweetest can ever yeah yeah he loves everyone he's a caretaker when I was going to do an answer when I would come home after a chemo treatment he would come home and he'd cover me with a blanket and asked me if I needed water he'd put lotion on my head woman and um by if I was he a butterfly back why is a cocoon that came out the first time you met Angela what did you think uh she talked a lot hey welcome to SBS K join me as I travel around the world an interview individuals living with a condition to prove no matter how communicate but what obstacles you face you're always deserving of love and acceptance so without hesitation let's meet today's friend yeah sure I came here to be your friend lots of people can see you you can wave them if you like great job waving if you would like to be friends just give me a big high five yeah I'm really happy you want to be my friend mm-hmm double high-five I'm really happy we get the be friends I'm really happy I get to spend time with you and I'm even happier that you want to be friends with me thank you where did your desire to adopt stem from um once we found out the conditions of kids with disabilities particularly Down syndrome in Eastern Europe what I don't understand is how people who are human can treat other humans the way our kids were treated how one human being can completely neglect somebody like that I'm good friends with you I look at this two bros hanging out I think it made a new best friend today he latches on to everybody so that was his survival skill in the institution he was confined in this room and the only way for him to get out of that room that he was in was to latch on to somebody so if somebody came into the room maybe it was a caregiver cuz often the kids were just locked in the room with no caregiver maybe it was a caregiver or maybe it was a cleaning lady or somebody he would latch on to them and get a hug and then he wouldn't let go well thank you for giving me a hug thank you for being here with me I'm having a lot of fun and you did amazing in that part of the interview that was his survival skill was to latch onto somebody we're at basics survival instincts like a dog or an animal has that's what we're dealing with when they come how would you describe a she is kill me he couldn't make eye contact at all and I'll never forget the day he looked at me around his bottle and he screamed and looked away and grinned again and then he reached up and touched my face and I was decrying all huh that was when we knew we were getting attachment because he was trying to touch somebody's face and making eye contact and and I would say of all of the adopted kids he is the most attached Hey goodbye hmm everybody here is really accepting of everybody when a new kid comes they're like okay another new person the kids who have acquired language have been very quick to start teaching the new kids sign language pointing out objects and labeling them and it's really interesting to watch and I am pretty sure that they remember how it felt to not understand anything are you ready for the interview if somebody wants to be your friend what should they do have a red key a red key do you like the color red there are not many people in the world particularly kids who use a treadmill as a reward but um for able the treadmill is a big deal we can pretty much get him to do anything if there's a treadmill involved so at school he earns treadmill time at school he runs a mile or two at school and he runs a mile or two at home afternoon five miles a day is this average that's about where we cut him off so he likes red keys because the treadmill has a red key so usually asks everyone if they have a red key in their pocket how do you feel when you run I like it raised up high so you have to go really fast mm-hmm he likes the incline on the treadmill as high as it will go then he likes to go as fast as he can but we go for endurance versus speed I don't like treadmill videos do you watch travel videos yeah oh one able first came home things were pretty rough day was a long time ago wasn't it so Abel had never been in a car before he had never been outside of the facility that he was housed in and um he was what is commonly referred to as a feral child I came here because I wanted to be your friend would you like to be friends with me do you think about food a lot yeah the Serbian authorities had told us peanut butter the Serbian authorities had told us that they had never presented his file to anyone before but they knew us well by then they knew that we could manage somebody havior bread you want bread you want peanut butter bread okay later okay you want a sandwich later yeah yeah with cookies okay um and he was starving mm-hmm so old ladies food he was 10 and a tiny little guy right no your big strong man I had a lot of fun with you today mm-hmm loud noisy love train mm-hmm I love loud trains too yeah and I'm happy my friends thank you well he's got a lot of information in his head that we don't always know it's there because he gets stuck on certain topics like treadmill some food trainers you like your Polar Express movie hmm what's your favorite part of Polar Express the sleeping boy the boy is sleeping and what happens when he is sleeping that's your favorite movie right hmm hmm what what's out there oh you want me to put it on the TV not today good try your silly will you feel disappointment if they never function independently no no and well I don't know there's a little part of me that is disappointed only because I know what they are capable of I know that they would be capable of doing this but their history prevents it and tells her her favorite thing they yep why does she like cows um we think that in the institution the only thing she had to play with was her bedding and so really the only thing she does anything with is bedding or towels sir stuff like that they're her favorites so for Christmas and birthdays she gets all kinds of different colored towels and different textures and she checks them out very thoroughly so in her room she has a big bin full of all kinds of towels we wanted to be able to function in the world and method that are all gone and just to get him to function in the world she wants to hold your hand thanks for holding my hand do you ever think about what would have happened if she did have that sensory input and that love we do all every day every day with every one of the kids that enters my mind every single day because there's always something more I think would you be able to do this you know whatever it is in the moment that they're not able to do or that's too much for them or overwhelming for them I ever there isn't a day that goes by that I don't think that if you had to describe your family to the world what would you say perfect my dad asked I'm dad and I'm why a man and my mom asked by my mom she is aa good Angela described you as wild and you as awkward awkward wild oh you're wild just get it all wrong she might have flipped it she by that how would you to describe her wild wild yeah while she answered right for the party yeah she is always the life the party I came here today I really want to be your friend what should I do so I can be your friend oh my games what kind of game sorry I like sorry thank you that's a fun game yeah what else should I do to be your friend um duh major all together yeah what type of things do you like to draw uh uh sent me I could go of application yeah got your poetry I when you do that do you pretend you're on vacation yeah what's your favorite thing about your family uh my family um big draw do you say the dog dog what animal is roaming one way Agia why is he an alligator because not be if somebody wants to be your friend what should they do go talk to me and say how are you so hey Roman yeah well how are you good what's so good I don't know so Roman has fetal alcohol syndrome and Tourette's are his in language impairment are his primary diagnosis so the language impairment is probably the most difficult for him um he it takes him a while to process what's asked of him and because he's not very confident in himself um so he just tends to say I don't know or I don't remember because that's easier what in the world makes you the happiest I don't know Roman is just a really sweet sweet kid and he gets pretty frustrated with with his difficult areas like the language processing if you had to describe your family to the world what would you say and they are awesome wait I Roman is the most courteous teenager I have ever met and helpful you always help everybody want you yes I do like without even I've never met a teenager who will go empty the garbage without being asked what's so awesome about them hmm they are good people and they are nights when you meet someone new how can you tell if they're gonna be your friend they do nice to wait and do something nice for friend huh how do you feel as you sit beside your family fit awesome grateful grateful okay maybe a ms/ms has taught me to slow down a little bit I'm always in a hurry and always rushing around somewhere and Amos has a different pace than everyone else in the family and sometimes he reminds me I just need to take a breath and slow down right because you like to just look around at the world a little bit more don't you when somebody meets your family for the first time what do you hope they think that we're not crazy it takes everything in oh yeah that's one of the biggest problems at school is at bus time he doesn't want to walk because he just wants to sit and watch all the buses come in and all the kids walk to the buses and off and on the buses he just wants to see all that activity happen and then he'll get up and go the seam here when we're all getting ready to go somewhere sometimes he just wants to sit and watch all of it and process at all before he's ready to do his part right is there anything you've learned through raising so many children with different backgrounds it would be beneficial for other people to know to never give up never give up keep your expectations and I expect succession he was in a laying down room so um he saw nothing but the sights of his crib and maybe a caregiver when they walked past what does a laying down room mean um none of the kids are walking they're all laying down most of the time those kids are there till they die and so I think that now he just it's so much to process the world happening around you and he just wants to take it all in and see everything and figure it all out in his head right yeah you know I'm your Cutler it's not very many people not very many families walking around like ours but at the same time these guys are just brothers and sisters they pester each other like brothers and sisters they love each other like brothers and sisters do what is axles animal no - laughs - was he a giraffe dang it next guy tall you know yes yep that's my watch you asked earlier about thinking about how they would be had they been born in a family raising a family their whole life's and then we think with him I mean he would be perfectly capable of living completely independent but communication this is whole back yeah do you to love one another love her a lot yeah and uh fish have you come to enjoy the quirks oh sure oh yeah I mean you have to if it irritates ya any of their quirks it shouldn't be here yeah it's it's a it's fun to watch them can I remember then at 3:00 a.m. when Andres banging on along yeah well that's why I sleep on this site because I can't hear out of that side when somebody takes the time to understand evil what will they see they will see a very funny young man he's got a very quick wit and he can make anything into a joke but if you don't know him you won't realize that you are the butt of the joke peanut butter cake mm-hmm I know communication is largely nonverbal and you're communicating of me so many things yeah that's us two buddies two bros you two besties thanks for watching SBS k we believe the world is a better place when everyone takes the time to understand one another if you want to be part of the community of people who believe that click the big yellow SBS K button to subscribe thank you and see you next time

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Views: 1,206,206

Rating: 4.9663882 out of 5

Keywords: Down syndrome, Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, Adoption, Special Needs Adoption, Autism, Institutional Autism, Tourette, Chris Ulmer, SBSK, Special Books by Special Kids, Inclusion, Education, Special Education

Id: azxCUOE6srI

Length: 20min 5sec (1205 seconds)

Published: Thu Nov 29 2018