What Parents Have to Say

Here are parent descriptions of their child served by The Wellsongs Project.

The children have a variety of diagnoses: autism, genetic disorders with physical and emotional challenges, cerebral palsy, Down syndrome. The Wellsongs Project recognizes that all children are the same, just differently able than their peers.

Text that is BOLD are the parents words

ABOUT SID

Sid is full of energy. He is at a stage where he is full of questions and curiosity. One of the question that he repeatedly asks is why he wasn't invited to our wedding (his parents wedding)? He doesn't need a reason to laugh or simply giggle thinking about something that occurred to him. He likes everything that is fast: Run around the house fast, eat fast, finish a puzzle fast, play the piano fast... He loves reading books, he is learning to play the piano and loves to swim. 

The joyful thing that my child brings to my family is his laughter and positive energy. It's fun everyday watching him grow.

ABOUT GRETA

The joyful things that my child brings to our family is her great sense of humor, her inquisitiveness, her silly laughter and her sassy determination. Greta loves to sing, play piano, play sled hockey with the New York Sled Rangers, write stories, and make videos on her new favorite app, Musical.ly. She also loves to watch Master Chef Junior and Child Genius. Greta has the most beautiful spirit and everyone that meets her is drawn to her. People always comment that she is destined for big things and we couldn’t agree more. When Greta grows up she wants to be a detective!

ABOUT JORGE

The joyful things that Jorge brings to our family is the laughter that fills our home from his stories and jokes, the interesting stories about new technological advances, his discoveries of new games on the phone, and his overall interests in many sports. Jorge is a very kind and thoughtful individual; he will always try to brighten your day by making you laugh, listening to you, and even offering you a massage. Jorge is exceptionally good with electronics, he will offer help with your mobile devices even when no one else can figure out what is wrong with them. Jorge also often finds many interesting apps and games on the phone and he enjoys sharing his discoveries with everyone around him. Jorge participates in Special Olympics and is a very competitive athlete; he enjoys swimming, bowling, and basketball. Jorge's favorite basketball player is Lebron James. Jorge also enjoys to sing, to dance, to listen to music, to collect sneakers, and to collect watches. Jorge always helps our family out whenever he can and is very dependable; he often helps wash dishes, cleans floors, and helps maintain our family's laundromat. Jorge is very kind and sociable; he has many friends and they enjoy his company. Jorge brings many joyful things to our family and all those around him.

NOTE: When we met Jorge and his family, we recognized right away what a kind, considerate and fun loving young man he was with a wicked sense of humor. Jorge has Down syndrome, and inspired us due to his inability to let anything get him down! He loves to dance, and we all danced that day, and he enjoys kung-foo. Of course he showed us some moves and he almost knocked me down with one. We all laughed and had a great time.

ABOUT CAROLINE

The joyful things that Caroline brings to our family are happiness, appreciation of family, and never taking one day for granted. She has taught us all to never "sweat the small stuff" and that you can overcome any curve balls life throws at you with a positive attitude. Caroline is our HERO!!!!! When Caroline is not at rehearsal for an upcoming performance, she enjoys hanging out with friends at dinner, bowling or the movies. We just recently found out she loves horseback riding so we will be getting her signed up for lessons. And Caroline's most favorite place on earth is of course Disney world!!!!

NOTE: Caroline was one of our first participants in Touching Humanity’s performing arts classes. It was through those classes she learned that she loved performing. Her parents told me it was because of the performing arts that she began to speak up more at home and felt and looked more confident in her approach to things.

ABOUT ARIANNE

Arianne is a joyful child, with fun pouring out of her. Arianne is one of 3 children in the world that has a rare genetic disorder called CDG or congenital disorders of glycosylation. It impacts her physically and emotionally, however as her parents wrote:

Arianne is a beautiful girl inside and out. She loves to have fun, go to parties and perform for her family. She works hard at school and enjoys doing crafts, watching Disney channel and playing with her friends. Her favorite activity is cheerleading and when you watch her jump up and down with pom poms, her whole body smiles. The joyful things that my child brings to our family is......Lots of hugging, tickling and fun. She loves to play games, be silly and have family movie nights.

ABOUT RAY

Ray was one of the first participants in our performing arts classes. His mom came up to me and told me she didn't realize the children needed to be higher functioning on the autism spectrum and would just leave. And how do you turn a mother away when she just wants the best for her child and traveled a long way? Well, Ray was a true star, and he made significant progress in his movement abilities, followed directions and even did our choreography with little help. Ray became my hero as did his mom Lucy, such a strong advocate and great mom.

Ray has echolalia, where he repeats or echoes what was last said. The composer I matched him up with happened to be a beat boxer (imitate it) which I thought was a perfect match. That composer could not make it, so I asked Lin Manuel Miranda (by Facebook and his agents) but he was a bit busy, as was the whole cast of Hamilton. I wanted to mention Ray because he was a great example of someone who could still participate in life if we learn to adapt and are innovative in our approaches to maximizing abilities of children, thereby improving their well-being and quality of life!

ABOUT MENA

The joyful things my child brings to our family are her unflinching kindness, her unique sense of humor and most importantly, her immeasurable love and affection. If The Wellsongs Project was designed to inspire children and their families, we're already one step ahead because Mena inspires us every single day. Mena doesn't have special needs. She has a rare gift. It's her towering lust for life and sometimes it pours from her soul faster than any of us can handle.