Thursday 16 November 2017

Welcome to the family!

Over the last two years L has come out of his shell and has made the most wonderful bonds with people that he has met at school and at the Early Intervention centre that he attends.

Over the next three weeks, L now needs to say goodbye to various people, both children and adults, who have made a huge impact on his life as we prepare to relocate to Queensland.

One person who L has made an incredible bond with over the last eight months is Zaim, our amazing support worker who came into our lives in March of this year. When we were told by the NDIS that they had allocated support worker funding to L, we were reduced to tears of happiness. We were also truly thankful.


I don't think people realised just what a big deal it was to us to have someone come into our house once a week to support L. Having a support worker meant that we could take O to her activities without having to take L.

It sounds dreadful saying it like that - without taking L. But when we are out as a family one of us always has to be on the lookout for L just in case he runs off, which happens on a fairly regular basis.

Having a support worker at home caring for L, meant that when we took O to cubs, we could devote out time and attention to O. O has been very understanding that L has needs that we have to look after but she does miss out on going to activities or events as it is easier on everyone if we don't go. A support worker meant that O could have one on one time with us.

Having a support worker meant that we had yet another person to assist L with meeting his therapy goals and this in itself gave us some relief.

Having a support worker meant that when Scott was away for work, I was able to take some time out once a week.

I will admit that we were a little hesitant to begin with.

We'd never met Zaim prior his first session with L. We had to trust that the service provider we'd engaged to provide our support worker would match Zaim to L's needs. We had to place our complete trust and faith in Zaim to come into our house and look after L while we weren't at home.

We had to trust that Zaim would be capable of caring for L and would ensure that L was kept safe at all times.


And oh my gosh, we are incredibly thankful that Zaim became part of our "family!'

L took to Zaim immediately and this in itself is a rare occurrence. After L's first session with Zaim we found L in the toy room playing with a toy drum kit. When we asked what he was doing, L said "I be just like Zaim! I play the drums." Zaim just happened to tell L that he played the drums during his first visit!

Every Wednesday afternoon from then onwards L would eagerly await Zaim's arrival. He'd quite often be waiting at the front door with his shoes and hat on and as soon as he spotted Zaim getting out of his car, L would start yelling "Zaim, we go park?"

Zaim was instrumental in assisting L to practice the new skills that he was learning at the EI centre. L was able to work towards his therapy goals and his NDIS goals - being safe in the community, making new friends ....


This Wednesday just gone was our final session with Zaim and it really was a bittersweet moment. The bond that L shares with Zaim is wonderful and we are really going to miss Zaim and the support and friendship that he provides to L.

We'd brought a small present for Zaim and yesterday afternoon I asked L if he wanted to write in the thank you card.

L's reply was "Yep! Zaim go wait in my bedroom!"

I couldn't help myself and let out a little giggle to which L looked at me and said "Well he has to wait somewhere!"

L then "helped" Zaim to unpack the bag of gifts that he'd chosen!



So from the bottom of our hearts thank you Zaim for everything that you have done for L (and us) over the last eight months. We are truly thankful. You rose to the occasion, took all of our advice on board and took care of L as though he was part of your own family. You have become part of our superhero family and we know that L especially is going to miss you once we've moved to Queensland.

And to Zaim's family, thank you for letting him become part of our family!

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