Parent Information

Welcome To Holland

by Emily Perl Kingsley
Copyright©1987 by Emily Perl Kingsley.
All rights reserved.
Reprinted by permission of the author.

I am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with a disability – to try to help people who have not shared that unique experience to understand it, to imagine how it would feel. It’s like this……

When you’re going to have a baby, it’s like planning a fabulous vacation trip – to Italy. You buy a bunch of guide books and make your wonderful plans. The Coliseum. The Michelangelo David. The gondolas in Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It’s all very exciting.

After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The flight attendant comes in and says, “Welcome to Holland.”

“Holland?!?” you say. “What do you mean Holland?? I signed up for Italy! I’m supposed to be in Italy. All my life I’ve dreamed of going to Italy.”

But there’s been a change in the flight plan. They’ve landed in Holland and there you must stay.

The important thing is that they haven’t taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place, full of pestilence, famine and disease. It’s just a different place.

So you must go out and buy new guide books. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met.

It’s just a different place. It’s slower-paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you’ve been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around…. and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills….and Holland has tulips. Holland even has Rembrandts.

But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy… and they’re all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life, you will say “Yes, that’s where I was supposed to go. That’s what I had planned.”

And the pain of that will never, ever, ever, ever go away… because the loss of that dream is a very very significant loss.

But… if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn’t get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things … about Holland.

Welcome New Parents

New parent baskets are provided by our organization and are delivered by one of our trained volunteers.  This lovely basket can be delivered to the hospital or your home, after initial contact with the DSAHV is made.
The baskets include:
Specially chosen guidebooks for parents with the most current information on Down syndrome
Sign Language DVD to assist parents in early pre-verbal communication
Animated elementary book, for siblings and young family members/friends
Newborn outfit up to 18 months
DSAHV bib
Onesie
Handmade blanket
Infant stimulation toy
And more!

Early Intervention

Early Intervention is a statewide program for families and children in New York State.  It is run by  the NYS Department of Health.  It is managed by an Early Intervention Official  (EIO), in each municipality or county.

In order to refer a child or inquire about the program, the main phone number is 518-473- 7016 or go to the website at NYS Department of Health.  The website has a list of contacts for each county in New York State.

School Enrollment

Grade School

Each school district has a website pertaining to enrollment:
Dutchess
Orange
Putnam
Ulster
Sulivan

Adult

Dutchess:Taconic DDSO
Orange: Center for Independent Living
Putnam
Ulster
Sulivan