ETB 49: I'm thrilled to introduce you to Darcy, a devoted parent and former teacher who's turned her personal journey into a mission to unlock the potential in children with Down syndrome. Imagine the heartache of knowing your child has thoughts, ideas, dreams locked away in their mind - simply because they struggle to communicate. Darcy, all too familiar with this struggle, has dedicated her life to tearing down these barriers using the unique and highly effective Speller's Method.
Darcy's son, Brady, is a loving 20-year-old with Down syndrome and apraxia. Darcy shares the trials, triumphs and transformative power of communication in Brady's world. Overcoming common misconceptions and trauma often associated with Down syndrome, she paints a powerful picture of Brady's journey. You'll be inspired hearing how he has learned to express himself by spelling, sharing his dreams, and even using mathematical equations to make sense of his world.
Communication is more than just words. It's a lifeline for individuals like Brady who face unique challenges due to Down syndrome and apraxia. Listen in as we delve into the importance of repetition, coaching, and purposeful motor skills in helping these children unlock their full potential. With Darcy's insights, we hope to inspire parents, educators, and anyone touched by special needs, offering hope and strategies to foster communication and inclusivity. Lets celebrate Brady's story - it's a testament to the power of patience, love, and the right strategies. It's proof that where there is a will, there is way - a way to unlock potential and give voice to beautiful minds.
Connect with Darcy:
https://brandnewday.life/
Email:
darcy@brandnewday.life
Brady, Darcy's son is part of The Army of Spellers that is giving hope to new SPELLERS.
https://spellers.com/an-army-of-spellers/brady-mohr
UNDERESTIMATED
https://a.co/d/ioga9Xg
Spellers Movie
https://spellersthemovie.com/
Website for SPELLERS
https://spellers.com/about-spellers-method
FB: Darcy Day (you can find me with a picture of my son on a 26 letter board)
https://www.facebook.com/darcy.mohr.12
Connect with Sandy:
IG: https://www.instagram.com/sandydeppisch
Embrace the Blessing Facebook Group: http://bit.ly/ETB4ME
Website: http://www.embracetheblessing.com/
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Sandy Deppisch (00:05):
Hey there, I'm Sandy Deppish, and this is the
Embrace, the Blessing podcast.
Each week, I talk with a parentwho has a child with a
disability.
They share their biggestchallenge, their greatest joy
and their hopes and dreams forthe future.
You'll learn about resourcesavailable to you and discover
helpful hints and tips If youwant to be inspired and
(00:27):
encouraged, stick around.
Let's walk the road lesstraveled together.
Well, darcy, I am ecstatic tohave you with us today.
I have been wanting you to haveon this show ever since I met
you back in January.
Darcy was our mentor and Idon't want to proceed what she's
(00:50):
going to tell us, so that I'lljust start with that little
tidbit.
But we were so blessed to haveyou because you were
instrumental, I think, in givingboth myself probably Josiah,
for sure, and definitely hiscaregiver Hope, and you gave all
of us a totally differentperspective on what we can
expect from a child with Downsyndrome Amazing.
(01:11):
So I'd like you to introduceyourself, tell us a little bit
about you and let's share yourexciting story.
Darcy Day (01:17):
Yeah, hope that's exactly right.
Yeah, so I'm Darcy Day for thelisteners and I live in Phoenix,
arizona.
I've homeschooled my kids, somy oldest is 20 and he has Down
syndrome, and then I have a 19and 18 and then an eight year
old, so I get to do it again.
I'm looking at what did I dowrong.
(01:39):
Now I can change.
So it's beautiful having thatage gap.
Sandy Deppisch (01:43):
Yes, you were a busy mom.
Darcy Day (01:45):
Yeah, and I was in teaching.
I have a master's in gifted andtalented, and I kind of went
that route.
And then when Brady was born,he had a tremendous amount of
medical issues and so quit,which was such a God thing, and
then full time helper for him,right, those of you listening
who have kids with Down syndromejust, we had a lot of surgeries
(02:07):
, lots of anesthesia, lots ofall the therapies and looking
back, I just, oh my gosh, nowwhat I know, what I know, it's
just, it's exciting because Ifeel I can share some things
that might help other parents,right, and just what we're
learning is it's you just haveto change your mindset, right,
(02:29):
sandy?
So I have a practice in Phoenix.
It's called brand new day and Iam a Speller's Method
Practitioner, so what that is iswe teach kids not how to spell.
Okay, this is going to shockyou.
Sandy Deppisch (02:44):
They already know that.
Darcy Day (02:47):
They already know how to spell Right.
Don't click off this podcast,because I would have, because I
didn't think my son could spelland we teach them how to
communicate right throughspelling.
And what I thought you knowwith my son was because he's I
(03:08):
would call him like well, peoplecall him nonverbal.
I guess that's his diagnosis,right, it's really speech
apraxia, even though he neverclicked all the boxes, but he
could say words, but I wasn'treally sure what they, you know
what it was.
And so, real, minimallyspeaking, and I just thought, oh
my gosh, if Brady could justtalk, he'd be so much higher
(03:30):
functioning.
Yes, I don't, you know.
Now I'm like what?
Speech has nothing to do withcognition, but that's why-.
Sandy Deppisch (03:38):
But the perception is there that others.
That's why I said yes.
Other people, when they seethat your child is non-speaking,
perceive limited intelligence.
Sorry, I'm probably stealingsome of your thunder.
I like that.
I like that, but I also I wantyou to.
Sorry to interrupt again, but Iwant to have you stop for a
(03:58):
second and explain thedefinition of apraxia.
Darcy Day (04:02):
Yeah.
So in layman's terms, it'sbasically where the body does
not obey the brain.
What?
What's that mean?
There's a disconnect, okay.
So we know in kids with Downsyndrome and autism and cerebral
palsy and Tourette's and lotsof syndromes, guys, that their
(04:23):
language centers are fullyintact.
So that has nothing to do withmotor.
That's everything to do withunderstanding and applying what
you've learned, and formulatingopinions and ideas and having
dreams and hopes and all thosethings.
That's all fine.
That's all fine in our kids'brains.
(04:43):
The obstacle is the motor.
So it's the other part of thebrain where it's the motor, and
so it's like, okay, I want tospeak out a word, I know a word
I want to speak out, but then itwon't even come out because
there's a glitch in the motorsystem.
So it's all motor and speech isall motor.
And guess what else is allmotor?
Which I had no idea, pointingto a picture to show that you
(05:08):
know, that's a tree.
It's the color blue.
That word says bat.
Well, my son, before I started,well, first of all, I tested him
on his letters.
He's 18.
And I said this isn't going towork.
I've never seen my son read.
I've never seen him.
I don't think he knows how toread.
I don't think he even knows hisletters.
(05:29):
I don't speak to him.
I thought I was.
You know, hey, I have amaster's, but I never saw
competency, but it's because hecould never show it.
That's what a praxia looks like.
So I would put I really did this.
I put five letters out in frontof him, sometimes four, an
array of four letters, and I go,okay, brady, point to the B and
he'd point to the T.
(05:50):
I'm like, okay, point to the C,and he'd point to, you know,
the L, and I'm like, oh, my gosh, how is this going to work?
He doesn't know his letters.
Write every assessment.
You think about this Like every.
We had to get his IQ tested forguardianship, which we are now
going to be reversing, andlisteners, you'll know why.
But anyway, um, ported decisionmaking yeah, right, like we
(06:15):
have full right, but I don't, wedon't want that now because
Right, no, no, no yeah, I meanyou're, you're taking away the
guardianship to do support.
Sandy Deppisch (06:23):
Yes, yes, yes, hallelujah, praise the Lord,
happy to hear that.
Okay, go ahead yeah.
Darcy Day (06:28):
Yeah and so, but when we got the IQ test, all the
assessments when he was inkindergarten and preschool, um,
any kind of assessment, guesswhat it takes.
Sandy Deppisch (06:40):
Motor.
Darcy Day (06:41):
Motor.
Who coaches motor?
No one.
So like, how are you going toget an answer right by pointing
if no one's ever coached yourmotor?
Well, you don't.
Like my son has spelled out,you know, since I'm fairly good
at failing all tests put beforeme, I think they need to.
Yeah, he has spelled that out.
Those are his words.
You know that I think thingsneed to change.
(07:02):
So he can't point reliably.
It's all fine motor guys.
So all pointing and puttingthis and that that's all showing
competency.
But if we have a child who hasa praxea but wait, my kid's not
diagnosed with praxea who cares?
Right, whatever, that doesn'tmatter.
Okay, like people get caught upon that, I'm like but can your
(07:25):
kids speak?
Can they have a fullconversation with you, like at
the same age?
Peer, almost everybody.
They say no.
Sandy Deppisch (07:34):
Right, and you can't understand them sometimes
when they do speak, because theyhave trouble articulating, even
though they have some speech ormaybe unreliable speech.
The articulation issue is thereas well, so that impacts
communication.
Darcy Day (07:48):
Even stuttering.
I'm seeing the client right nowwho stutters, and or I will be.
She's flying in from I can't.
Why better not say, but anyway,I don't want to violate HIPAA,
but anyway, she's flying in fromyou know, another state or
country and she stutters and shehas Down syndrome and but yet
(08:08):
she can't you know, she can'thave a full conversation.
So she does have a praxea, butshe has stuttering to right.
She can't fully eloquently saywhat is going on with her body,
what she wants to do in her life, what her hopes are, and you
know.
So anyway, praxea also lookslike being lazy.
I thought Brady was lazy, I'mlike my gosh.
(08:28):
He's sitting on the couch andwe're unpacking and going up the
stairs and you know when we goon vacations and he just be
sitting there, you know.
Sandy Deppisch (08:35):
Oh, this position is perfect.
Yes, I'm actually of them.
Darcy Day (08:39):
And I don't think I might have called him lazy.
But now I know well, that'sbecause he couldn't get up, he
couldn't start.
So it impacts the body Right.
The first step of a praxea, orof moving your body purposely,
is actually starting.
Well, that's really hard forour kids.
So why do kids sit in the carand they don't get out of praxea
(09:01):
?
Why do they just sit on theconcrete in the grocery store
and not get up?
No guys, it's not.
It's not about compliancy, it'sabout their body can't get
started.
You know why does my kid sit onthe playground and never, you
know, won't leave the playgroundof praxea.
That can't start.
Why does my kid Brady run offthe playground every time I go?
(09:23):
When he was young I never hadfriends because I'd say meet me
at the park and he would justrun.
I was always chasing him.
And why is that?
Oh, because he can't stop.
That's another stop, that'sanother step in moving your body
purposely.
If you have a praxea, you can'tinhibit or stop.
So go get your drink of water.
(09:43):
Do you know how many motorsteps are involved in going to
get a drink of water?
They know they're thirsty oh mygosh.
But they have to first get upfrom where they are, go get the
cup.
Well, how do you do that?
Think of all those motor steps.
It's not a cognition things,it's all motor steps.
Right, we create all thesegoals for our kids like, well,
they can't do two stepdirections.
(10:04):
Well, do you know why that is?
Sandy Deppisch (10:07):
They can't even do the first step.
Yeah, they can't get started.
Darcy Day (10:10):
Right, it's all motor .
So if we start coaching themotor talking to their body,
it's really weird at first,right, Sandy?
Sandy Deppisch (10:17):
Oh my gosh, so weird, so strange.
Darcy Day (10:20):
You talk to their hand.
Sandy Deppisch (10:22):
Your fingers.
Darcy Day (10:23):
Yes, you talk to their feet, walk over, okay,
step, step, step, fill a weightin your.
You know it's like it's alittle new way to talk to your
child, but it works, you know,and some of these kids are
injurious.
Well, that has some to do withsensory, but that's also has to
do with the praxea too.
You know it's not intentional,right?
(10:43):
So, anyway, a praxea looks likemy son not coming to the dinner
table now, you know.
So we have to coach his bodyand he does it.
Or they're glued to their likedevice on YouTube and they can't
stop, they can't press stop.
So there's other things withall technology too, but it's
partly a praxea too that theycan't stop it, right?
So hopefully I explained thatwell.
(11:04):
So somebody just connect.
Sandy Deppisch (11:07):
When you told me back in January that one of the
hardest things for kids with apraxea, young adults with a
praxea to do is to get in andout of a car, that was like a
huge light bulb moment for me,because that is a challenge for
Josiah.
He loves to go for rides,that's like one of his favorite
things, so you would think,great, getting in the car is no
(11:30):
problem.
Getting out, I always thought,was because he did not want to
leave that activity.
He wanted to keep on driving,riding in the car.
When you taught us that it'sthe hardest thing and we have to
tell his body what to do, thatmade such a huge difference,
like just thinking of it interms of all the things he has
to do to be able to execute thatmotion of getting out of the
(11:50):
car.
And then the other thing that Ijust thought of now is I always
say transitions are extremelyhard for Josiah.
Any transition starting it andstopping it are hard, oh, my
word.
He's all over it.
Well, that's a praxea.
I never dawned on me till thismoment that the transitions is a
praxea.
Darcy Day (12:07):
I know, and so isn't that in gray.
Yes, all our goals transitions,but we're not addressing what
the real issue is Right, it'smotor.
Sandy Deppisch (12:18):
We have children with a praxea, young adults
with a praxea, and they'restruggling to communicate.
So what do we do?
I've tried everything,everything.
Yes, we all fly to Arizona.
We moved to Arizona.
That's the key.
Darcy Day (12:36):
Oh, wow, you get them communicating on what we do.
It's called Speller's Methodand so it's super low tech and
we start with three boards.
They have the alphabet.
Don't get in your brain thatyour kid doesn't know the
alphabet, because I'm tellingyou right now, I've seen many,
many with Down syndrome.
Not one of them.
(12:57):
Okay, are you ready for this?
Not one of them is showingintellectual delay.
You've got to be kidding.
Yeah, we have now in our, ourvault.
We call him so Brady, calls himhis tribe and he spells out.
Now he's openly communicating.
But anyway, 55 Down syndromespellers and they're all 100%
(13:22):
showing competency.
Now, do all of them go, maybe asFlowing nicely and things are,
you know, progressing linear.
No, like Josiah, right, likesome of them have more.
The more severe practice youhave, the harder.
It is right, we have solutions,right, and so what it is is
(13:43):
it's using the differencebetween this and like an AAC
device.
By the way, we've used all theAAC devices, I think there there
are same.
They never worked, except onebutton Really worked well for
Brady, and it was the fartbutton.
Oh, I'm like, oh, my gosh.
So maybe because it's so manytimes you press the fart button,
(14:03):
but anyway, nothing else worked.
The reason is because that'sall fine motor.
So we take communication out ofthe fine motor.
Talking is fine motor, pointingfine motor, but we use the
shoulder and the elbow Becausethey are pointing, but yeah,
you're saying they're not justpointing with the finger,
(14:24):
they're, you know it's not afine motor pointing like you,
and you have to be with askilled practitioner to learn
how to do this, but you, you usethe gross motor to point to the
letterboard many Children areusing and adults pencils to poke
through a stencil.
I'm finding the Down syndromepopulation Almost them, well,
the majority of all my clientsthat I see we use a high
(14:45):
contrast kind of a sensory board.
I'm finding Ocular or praxis tobe super common in our kids and
the Down syndrome population.
What I'm seeing is they havemore severe eye Issues.
That might make sense becauselook at the shape of their eyes
and I don't know it's kind ofinteresting, but anyway I can't
research everything so I leavethat to other doctors,
(15:07):
developmental optometrist, so soanyway, you start very
elementary and it's reallyclumsy at first and you don't
know which board to pick up andyou spelt Things wrong for your
child and and, and then youprogress to a 26 letter board,
as I did with Brady.
And then you know he's gettinga little bit more automatic.
Wait what?
Oh, because we're coaching themotor, and anything you coach
(15:29):
and do repetitively, guess whatit becomes Purposeful.
So think about piano.
I like to use this analogy.
So when you first play piano,main go, my little one is Going
three, two, three, two, three,three, three.
You know, really simple, that'sthe three boards.
And then soon after that he'sgoing to be learning more chords
(15:50):
and then, and then he'll beplaying chords and then
transfers into compositions.
So it's a whole progression andyou have to have a teacher to
help you who's very skilled inpiano.
So it's the same thing inSpeller's method.
Yet they have a teacher, and,and then who helps you?
The parent, you know, work withyour child, because we want,
(16:12):
you know your kid wants tocommunicate with you more than
anybody, right?
And so we coach the parents andthen Then it becomes a symphony
.
So that's where we are now withBrady.
So he is I don't know if youknew this he's starting to type
now.
So the the his end goal.
Spellers are different, but manyof them want to just be
(16:33):
independently typing, and wedon't we don't Touch kids, you
know, it's all them, so we'renot, we're just coaching their
eyes like up, up, up, up up.
And so he's now starting totype and his goal is to be
completely independent, wherehe's just typing away like many
other Spellers are doing now.
So then he can go anywhere.
(16:53):
And it's not a, it's a regularkeyboard.
We don't doctor anythingbecause we want him to, you know
, be independent in the world,right, so so the sky is a limit
for him now and it's.
And he can tell me.
We just had a Doctor'sappointment with a doctor out in
Illinois, a zoom, and the firstthing he spelled to her was I
(17:13):
get nervous around new doctorsbecause they all think I'm
retarded.
And he's held that he is, he's,yeah, it's.
There's a lot of trauma, guys.
Yes, you know, we presumesomething for so long.
And why wouldn't we?
Because that's what we've beentold Since before our kids were
born.
We believe it, but it doesn'tmean it's true, right, just
(17:34):
because something has been saidfor so many years doesn't mean
it's true.
So what we're saying is peoplewith Down syndrome are not
intellectually delayed, period,and I have yet to seen someone
who is.
If you really look and thinkabout your own child, I knew
this like, oh my gosh, brady gotthat, you know, or like he'd
get a joke or maybe he'd saysomething, but I didn't really
(17:56):
understand him.
And then the next day I'm like,huh, that's what he was saying.
Right, feelings, and probablyyou too.
Those feelings are likefleeting, but I would just brush
him under the carpet becauselike seriously, I had no idea
what to do and when he wasyounger I had more gumption and
like I tried everything rightand then, and then, as he get
(18:16):
older I don't know about you,sandy, but it's like I guess it
was kind of giving up because Ijust didn't know.
Sandy Deppisch (18:23):
I don't know that it's giving up, darcy.
I think it's an acceptance,it's it's like a sentence,
that's it.
I just accepted this is as goodas it's gonna be, you know?
And and here's the thing that'sso saddening to me about this
whole Apraxia thing is they'relocked inside their bodies.
Yes, they are fully functioning, intellectual human beings with
(18:43):
the same hopes and dreams anddesires as anybody else.
Their age, they just their bodybetrays them, and so they can't
get out.
And can you imagine howfrustrating that is?
Number one, just to experiencethat for a day.
Don't talk for a day and try tocommunicate with somebody.
Your needs and wants right, andon top of that being presumed
completely In the luxury delayedexactly and then have them
(19:05):
either misinterpret you or Treatyou much younger, like I was
thinking.
Recently I was telling one ofour new caregivers that when
Josiah was probably 10, I wasbringing out light up toys that
play music like a toddler wouldenjoy, because he loved those
when he was little and he's veryinto sensory things.
He got so many through himacross the room.
Well, what ten-year-old wantsto be playing with toddler toys?
(19:25):
We don't know, you know, but sofor them there's so much
frustration and then probablythey come to an acceptance as
well as Hmm, I just have to livelike this, where the trauma
comes in, right.
Darcy Day (19:38):
Well, we're in the thick of it now, because now
Brady and Brady is reallyleading the Down syndrome
population, so, whether he likesit or not, but he's having a
little bit of a hard time.
So I'm the loudmouth for himand but you know, it's the
people's perceptions and and heis starting on a presentation
and his, his first sentence forthe presentation is introduction
(20:01):
says and these are his wordsthat he spelled out he said my
name is Brady Moore and I havean extra chromosome, aka Down
syndrome.
Remember one thing if nothingelse, a praxe of masks are
intelligence.
And so, yeah, he's, he isspelling such profound things
and talking about how, how hasscience gotten this all wrong?
(20:24):
Just yesterday we're on a zoomwith a bunch of spellers and
they all have autism.
So Brady's kind of like, here Iam and he was saying he's just,
he's being torment his words,I'm being tormented lately by
how science has, by how sciencehas depicted us with Down
syndrome as and he does use theword retarded.
(20:46):
He's just, he hates that word,but he uses it for impact
because he's like you know, andall these kids are like all
autism, and they're typing tohim saying you're brilliant, you
can be the, you know, becauseit's scary right Once you become
communicative, like oh no, nowyou're opening yourself up and
this is a whole new world forhim.
So, although it's glorious,it's also kind of scary for
(21:06):
spellers.
But what hope he has.
And I mean the way we treat him,the way we talked to him, and
you know he likes Shakespeare,so my husband reshakes to bear
to him at night.
He likes being read to by myhusband and then we're reading
all the classics and I've neverseen my son read, ever, okay,
ever, ever, ever.
(21:28):
So people say, well, my soncan't read.
Well, I would tell you the samething because I never saw him
reading a book in my life.
Well, he did.
I'm not sure.
And he says, mom, don't ask metoo many questions and go, don't
go too deep.
I'm like okay.
So like I can't really ask,like how do you know all this
stuff?
Right, right, that will becoming.
(21:48):
It's like peeling an onion, youknow.
I'm getting to know the realBrady, yeah, and through him
we're hoping just to give peoplehope and just kind of like
think, like Understandingdoesn't have a look, it really
doesn't.
And guess what, and guess what.
People have been doing thissince the 70s and 80s.
So I did go down that rabbithole and there have been many
(22:12):
other people who have said Downsyndrome is not a cognitive
disability.
But guess what happens.
Sandy Deppisch (22:20):
What we all buy into that they get smeared.
Oh, those people who are tryingto pioneer that, yeah so you
know, and so am I.
Darcy Day (22:28):
I don't care, but anyway.
So that's what.
That's what happens, becauseit's so far fetched in people's
minds.
But I know people who arelistening, if I know, you know
your kid knows way More thanthey can show.
I just know it.
So, and if they have speech,same thing.
I mean I've yet to meetsomebody with Down syndrome that
(22:49):
can talk eloquently, right,like how Brady and these other
spellers are spelling out right,you know they're dumbed down
their vocabulary, but yay forthem that they can actually
articulate.
Like you know, brady said thathe wishes that was a superpower.
Yesterday he said he wished hissuperpower was speech.
Sandy Deppisch (23:09):
But I know well, I want you to back up a little
bit and paint a picture of Bradyprior to spelling and Brady now
, like, obviously, you said hehad some words, he was, you know
, able to communicate.
He appeared lazy.
Just give us an idea of what hewas like and and how he has
emerged so I mean, he seemedpretty happy.
Darcy Day (23:33):
But you, he did a lot of physical activity, so that's
what we focused on inhomeschooling.
Okay, so I would.
People are like, oh well, heheard everything you
homeschooled.
Well, no, actually I hadrespite and have workers and you
know what they did?
They rode bikes, they went tothe zoo, we had memberships to
everything.
So they go elsewhere.
While I taught the girls and andwhen I did co-ops, his sensory
(23:58):
system, just it would not allowhim to be in those co-ops like
you would run away.
Oh well, that's a proxy or two.
So it's kind of connected.
By the way, the aprexia and andsensory and and so he wasn't
included in those.
So he, I think he was prettyisolated.
He loves YouTube videos.
(24:19):
He'd play those.
He was like a master withcombining two devices and
coordinating them.
Yeah, he, it's amazing and andand he would like create these
symphonies.
I don't know if that's what I'msaying, that's what it appeared
to be, but like, not muchpurpose, right, and we're like
(24:39):
do we?
You know, my husband are like,okay, should we just like create
a nonprofit, like we werethinking, because now he's, at
that time he was 18 and I'm likewhat, what do we do?
What kind of job can he have?
I never wanted him in a placewhere they're coloring you know
we can't color anyway becauseyou can't hold a pencil really
and or crayon and the way thatyou have to write, and so it
(25:02):
just, you know, like thedocumentary and spellers and and
we can share that on your, yes,but anyway, the man who was
really in charge of thatdocumentary, jb Hanley.
He talks about this and I feltthe same way, like it's, it's
dark guys when they get older.
It's like what are we gonna do?
And as you're aging, what arewe gonna do?
(25:24):
And you worry, and you know Ilove God I have yet to surrender
that worry to him about what'sgonna happen to my kid when I'm
not here.
It's like a reality for a lotof us, like it's scary, right,
and like he just didn't have apurpose and I mean he just was
kind of there, right.
(25:45):
We didn't really have hugeconversations with him because,
you know, talk short and simplethat's what.
Sandy Deppisch (25:51):
That's what we're taught.
Couple of word sentences.
Darcy Day (25:54):
People yeah, don't talk in complete sentences, poor
guy, so anyway, but now, okay.
So a good example.
After he started spelling, hisnext birthday came around.
Most of his birthday cards thatwe would give him before I
would write really big and I'dsay and I haven't, dear Brady, I
love you, you are my shininglight, love mom.
(26:20):
And that was pretty much it,and same with the cards that the
, the girls, would make them.
Okay, the next birthday, afterhe started spelling, I took a
picture it's actually on myFacebook page and I took a
picture of the girls cards tohim.
You guys need to friend me onFacebook, seriously, darcy day,
and the picture is my son with a26 letter board and the picture
(26:41):
is of their birthday cards.
It's like two pages long, oh,saying how much I mean
completely Presuming competenceand just saying how much they
loved him and what a trooper hewas, and and you know how
inspirational and resilientRight, oh, my gosh, what kids
are so resilient.
So I mean now we, we talked tohim like.
(27:02):
We talked to him like we wouldtalk to any anyone else.
You probably have the same right.
He there's a different, hefeels different, like his Like,
because now he knows that weknow that he's fully in there.
So he's like he.
He walks different.
I don't know.
It's weird, sandy, like he isso engaged and but now he wants
(27:26):
everybody to know I'm in here.
So you know, we have a littlelaminate that we take around and
he'll spell, like he'll doorders at the restaurant for
what he wants.
Sandy Deppisch (27:36):
By laminate you mean the alphabet, the alphabet
on a laminate.
Darcy Day (27:41):
Yeah, yeah, so we have a smaller one for him
because of his eyes and all that.
So, anyway, um, so now he canorder the foods.
We know what he wants.
He is fully included inconversations.
We talked to him like heunderstands everything.
We don't dumb down language,you know.
He can go to these differentalternative type of doctors that
(28:02):
we see and say what's going onwith his gut.
That's a really big issue rightnow with him and he has pandas
as well.
So the whole detoxing channelsjust aren't working and a lot of
our kids have a hard time, youknow, with their limb system and
all that.
So, anyway, we're in the middleof that.
But he can tell us like westarted on something and it
really had an adverse reaction,and he told us what was going on
(28:25):
.
Well, that's out.
It's huge, huge, yeah, huge.
You know feeling and how theyare medically and and
emotionally.
And you know the first thing,one of the first things he ever
spelled was he talked about hisanxiety and he talked about
sound frequencies and howdifferent sound frequencies send
(28:46):
sparks up his spine and he saidhe calls it his, not said.
I'm saying said, but you knowwhat I mean.
Right spelled, right spelled.
I call it my hell spine.
And so, because we adopted alittle guy and he was Little and
there's a lot of trauma aroundthat and he screamed and so he
(29:07):
used to like run in the bathtuband curl up in a fetal position,
mark what is going on.
But now he can tell us.
Well, it was his frequency, andand so we asked him well, who's
your go-to person?
And he spelled out grace, whichis my 19 year old daughter.
And listen to what he spelled.
He spelled I love you more thanmetals have flowers or the sky
(29:29):
lit by stars Straight fromheaven you are.
Now what AC device can do that?
Sandy Deppisch (29:37):
None.
Darcy Day (29:37):
None, I want juice.
Yeah, that's why it didn't work.
Brady says.
I said Brady, why didn't?
So I did ask him a littlequestion at the beginning and
then he said back off.
But he says because he did sayback off, mom, no, he says Darcy
.
I'm like can you just call memom, I don't know.
No, it's always Darcy and myhusband Troy, it's like I make
(30:03):
his hand go and oh, it's allDarcy, so funny.
So, anyway, I'm trying to breakthat.
That's your name, yeah, but ohgosh, I can't remember what I
was saying the juice.
Sandy Deppisch (30:16):
You asked him yeah, I want you.
They're dumb.
Darcy Day (30:19):
They were dumb because his language oh my word.
Well, you think about it 18years.
What are you going to do if youcan't speak reliably or speak
at all?
Right, you're in your head thatwhole time.
So I'm imagining that he isjust playing with words.
He's listening.
Think of all the things we'rebombarded with in grocery stores
(30:41):
, all the conversations at everyEaster, christmas, thanksgiving
, family gatherings.
He's listening to all theseconversations and if the TV's on
, he's hearing.
That, he's hearing.
You know.
He's reading billboards andtickers.
If somebody is watching thenews, so they're just bombarded
with language.
And so his language isbeautiful and just like that
(31:03):
poem.
That was the first thing, oneof the first things he ever
spelled out, and I'm like, wow,and so that's the difference.
Like it's beneath him to say Iwant juice.
Like, come on, right, he wouldsay it very eloquently if he did
want juice now.
Anyway, can you just use moresimple words?
Like, can you dumb down yourlanguage for?
Sandy Deppisch (31:26):
me that is just amazing.
It is amazing and to know thatall those years he was in there.
Now he's free, but, like yousaid, so there's trauma.
So he's dealing with some ofemotions right, because now you
have to relive some of thatwhich I imagine is probably
really hard and hard for him toexpress.
(31:48):
Nobody wants to go to thosedeep emotional places, but I can
imagine as a mom that's hard tohear too.
Darcy Day (31:54):
Right, it's hard, it is, but you know, I just keep
trying to really reinforce that.
Let's focus on today, becauseyou know I went there.
I mean, oh my gosh, when hefirst started spelling the guilt
, I'm like, oh, I just rememberlooking at him going.
I am so sorry, don't youremember?
(32:15):
Yes, you know, realizing thatyour kid's always been in there
and like you didn't pick up onthat, like there's, but you just
can't live in that, right.
No, as you know, right, and Imean I dealt with it and I cried
like a baby, of course, but,I'm past that now and sometimes
I'll go like, sometimes I getmad, like why are you guys
(32:38):
saying your kids at a firstgrade level?
You know that gets me amped upbecause, like they're not, they
just can't show competency.
So yeah, dealing with traumaand just focusing on you know
what's important now and tryingto move on.
So I mean, all of our kids havetrauma if they've been presumed
completely intellectuallydelayed, you know when they're
(32:59):
really not.
Sandy Deppisch (33:00):
So and I've had recently written about Josiah
from professionals that he'sseverely, profoundly autistic.
Yeah, and seeing those words islike hard to read, Right, I
know he presents that waybecause of his complex you're
the one I think that told me isa very complex body because of
all his sensory issues.
(33:21):
But he's in there and I've seenit from the time he was very
little.
You know things like.
You're talking about amazingproblem solving skills.
The things he would do tofigure out something would just
blow my mind and I was like wow,and I know he was reading when
he was three and four years old.
People think like my other kidsgo like really Like yes, he was
(33:41):
, I knew he was.
But even today, if there'swords scrolling across the
screen which, if we put anythingon his iPad music video, we
always make sure there's lyricsbecause he is tuned into those
lyrics.
But here's the other thing youtaught me which is an amazing
tip I think all parents need touse with all of their children,
regardless of disability labelis we tell him buddy, we know
(34:05):
you're in there, we know you areso intelligent, we know you
probably know stuff way morethan we do.
Our job is to help you expressthat.
We've tried over the years somany different things and we're
so sorry, we just didn't work,but we're not giving up.
We will be in this till you'reable to fluently communicate
with us.
Darcy Day (34:23):
So it's going to be a marathon, but we're in it,
we're training and we're in itand how much hope you're giving
him, because he is really trickyright, and so your journey is
going to be quite theinspiration for so many people,
because he's probably one of thetrickiest bodies I've ever seen
, sandy.
But thank you, yeah.
But look at you, you're notgiving up, no, and he's getting
(34:46):
better because it's becomingguess what More purposeful.
Why?
Because you're coaching themotor and you're repeating it
over and over with gross motor.
That's kind of the change,right, right for sure.
What hope he has.
I mean, you're a success story.
Sandy Deppisch (35:04):
The other thing we've done is we read him a lot
of nonfiction books written byother spellers.
Yes, they talk about what theirexperience is with ABA, what
they were like, and they talkabout all the things that
teachers you know well meaningI'm not, I'm not downing anybody
Well meaning professionals havetried to do with them, using
their best practices that theyknew at the time and how they
(35:25):
were inside screaming like no, Iknow way more than this, and so
I think for him to hear peerswriting in books, because they
are now keyboard writers, theycan type, sharing what those, I
think like the other day we'veread the same book
underestimated.
We're reading it a second timeand a brand new caregiver was
(35:48):
reading a part where Jamiespelled for the very first time
Jamie is the son right Spelledfor the very first time and
Josiah started jumping up anddown and screaming.
It was that he was an emotionalconnection he made with his
father and the caregiver waslike whoa, he was just calm the
whole time until we got to that.
So there's definitely a needfor our kids to know we know
(36:10):
they're extremely capable andthey're competent and we're
going to be in this with them.
But so when I say be in thiswith them, I took a class.
You were my mentor.
We, at the end of that nineweek course, are able to work
with Josiah, but we're notcertified to like you are.
You are certified.
So you recommend that peoplecome to somebody like you yeah,
(36:33):
but that they can work withtheir child right, and then over
time you coach the parents andhow to do this themselves.
Correct?
Darcy Day (36:38):
Right, I think the biggest misconception and what I
get is people oh my gosh, I'mgoing to get these boards.
It's an amazing story.
And then they put it in frontof their kid and then they can
doesn't do it, and then theygive up and they say it doesn't
work.
You have to have a teacher, youhave to have somebody trained
that can coach you, to coachyour child.
So absolutely yeah.
(36:58):
So you know, we we do theSpeller's Method, so that's kind
of spelling to communicate, butamped up.
So we, we just have a littlebit more enhanced training.
Okay, and so that's what yourcourse was through.
And you know they can contactme and there's different
practitioners around the stateand if not, I do out of state
(37:22):
people come, but then they gohome and then we coach online.
So I think it's very hard tostart somebody on Zoom.
I don't like doing it becauseyou have to assess, like with
Josiah, that would have neverworked, right, right, never.
And it takes so long to figureout.
Well, which board are we goingto use, you know, and so that's
(37:44):
why, really, you have to startin person and then if somebody
is not near you, then you gohome and then then you keep
working and you get mentoredonline and you know we have
different courses throughSpeller'scom.
We have, you know, like what youtook, the CRP course and
there's another course on therefor parents advocating for
getting the letterboards in theschool, where there's a great Dr
(38:04):
Daniels, who Brady sees, who'sa neurologic developmental
optometrist, who's saved myson's voice because his voice
comes through his eyes, right,because if he can't see he's not
going to be able to spell, tocommunicate, and so she has a
course on there for people tolearn about the different kind
(38:25):
of anomalies with eyes.
So Brady's actually in herseries, so it's kind of fun
because he's super tricky aswell.
So get with someone trained andI'm happy to lead people to
locations that might be, youknow, closer to them than
Arizona, although I am reallythe only one that's seeing these
Down syndrome clients becauseit's marketed toward autism,
(38:47):
right, so you'd never hear about.
Even in the documentary theydon't mention down syndrome,
even though that child has Downsyndrome.
You know that Sid has Downsyndrome in the movie, but they
don't say it.
Sandy Deppisch (39:02):
Did you know that?
I didn't?
I don't think I paid attentionto that piece Interesting I saw
the movie.
Darcy Day (39:08):
I paid close attention.
I took Jamie and JB Hanley and,like you have to mention Down
syndrome.
I'm always waving my hand likedon't forget it, I'm always
squeaking it in.
So I just I'm never going togive up kind of tooting that
horn about Down syndrome too.
So most of the information thatyour listeners are going to
find is going to be aroundautism.
But, guys, it works with kidswith Down syndrome, only
(39:31):
diagnosis Down syndrome.
It works with Down syndrome andautism.
It works with Down syndrome,autism and ADHD.
Like you know, if the kid can'ttalk like their same age peers,
this would be a thing thatyou'd want to consider.
I always say it like would thisbe good for me?
Well, can your child engage inconversation like a typical same
age peer?
(39:52):
You know, if the answer is no,then why wouldn't you try it?
Like no side effects, guys, youknow, only hope, I mean.
And yet we've yet to findanyone who can't do it.
Sandy Deppisch (40:04):
That's just incredible to me.
So I mean, it's not like amoney back guarantee, but it is
you know like.
I'm just like saying I'll giveyou free sessions.
I love a lot of friends overthis, I mean.
Darcy Day (40:16):
I literally lost friends because I don't know.
Sandy Deppisch (40:18):
you know, there's a whole camp that, like
what I'm saying is like wait,wait, wait, no, no, no, no, no,
no, so it's mind blowing and,like we said earlier, you get to
a point of acceptance and Iimagine if you have a child
that's verbal or, you know, hasminimal speech, even that you're
just like, ok, we've had thisdance through our life and we
(40:40):
know it's working.
It's not a well oiled machine,a well oiled machine, but it's
working.
And so why upset the apple cart?
You're asking people to liketotally change, like you said,
their whole mindset and believeme it's been hard, yeah, hasn't
it?
Darcy Day (40:56):
Yeah, like it's been hard.
But I want to talk about.
You said something abouttesting and we got that IQ test
for Brady to get guardianshipand guess what his score was?
I'll never reveal what it was,but immeasurable because it was
so low they could not measure it.
So he is in the most severecategory of severe.
Sandy Deppisch (41:17):
Yeah, that's where we would be.
I know if we had to go throughthat, we would be there.
Yeah, but on paper that's notreality.
Darcy Day (41:24):
Yeah, that's because, oh yeah, it requires motor, and
fine motor at that, not whatwe'll do on verbal test.
But what is that?
Oh, you have to point.
No, he fails that too.
But if he uses the gross motorNow, by the way, when we do
spellers methods, so you startwith that gross motor, right?
But now Brady is all in definedmotor because all those
(41:44):
pathways have been myelinated.
He knows where all the lettersare.
So this is and I'm showingSandy how he spells, but he's
like fluid going from letter toletter.
It's like a dance, it's reallybeautiful how he's spelled.
Sandy Deppisch (41:59):
How long has he been spelling?
Two years.
Darcy Day (42:02):
Okay.
So we stopped for about fivemonths, four to five months,
because he had an injury to hisneck and he literally couldn't
see.
So that's why we got into DrDaniels, the neurologic
developmental optometrist, so westopped and that was scary
because really the eyes are thevoice, right, right.
Sandy Deppisch (42:20):
So we stopped and then, but I always say two
years minus some months, I thinkfor Josiah, well, that will
have to be multiplied by likefive, you know.
But but that's okay, it'sbetter for, it's better for.
Well, you know what I say that?
But then, when you were talkingearlier, I was thinking about
when we first started.
We couldn't get him off.
Yes, remember, he cannot gethim off the floor or out of the
(42:43):
room into a chair.
Yes, and now he willingly walksto the chair.
He sits and looks at a.
Good, Sandy, say how youstarted.
We started with Josiah laying onthe floor, refusing to get up
to sit in a chair.
Yeah, just to sit in a chair.
We were, we were going to becontent with him sitting in the
recliner, which he enjoys in hisbedroom.
Just sit there, buddy, we'regood.
(43:04):
And he refused to do that.
Now it's like the timer willring hey, buddy, it's time for
spelling and boom up.
He goes and goes and says no.
When we went to a house, becausethere was a woman here that
worked with him for about acouple of months, maybe six
weeks or so, and the first timehe wouldn't get in her front
door.
And then, when he got in herfront door, he just sat on the
(43:25):
carpet, because it's carpet, thefun texture, the sensory issues
going on.
Then by the third time hewalked in and went straight to
her dining room and sat downlike, okay, I know what I'm
supposed to do now.
I'm like, just like, so it'sbaby steps.
Like when I first heard thisfirst I'll be really honest, and
this was years ago, before Imet you my thought was this
(43:45):
would work for everybody but mychild Same, right, and I'm sure
every parent probably thinksthat.
And then I thought, well, whatdo we have to lose?
We're going to try it.
I've seen so many amazingsuccess stories Like this would
be something I would take to mygrave and feel horrible about if
I didn't try with my child.
I think every parent needs togive their child this
opportunity.
And then when he started makingbaby step progress, that was
(44:11):
the fire was ignited.
Like watch out, we're on it now.
Like I said, if it takes us 10years, we're in it.
He knows we're in it.
We're not going to give up.
So the day when he can likespell a full thing is, yeah,
going to be mind blowing.
The biggest change for us atthis point with his very complex
body is we are treating himlike a 21 year old.
We talk to him, we read himthings that are his favorite.
(44:33):
Things are quantum mechanicsand physics oh yeah, because
podcasts.
He watches YouTube, he lovesthem, and I don't even
understand.
Like literally.
He'll look at mathematicalequations to take up the whole
page.
I have no idea what you'retalking about and he is fixated.
I'm like you're on your own,but I basic math has me.
Darcy Day (44:51):
I didn't think Brady knew numbers past eight.
Oh no, no, no, he does.
It's all mental math.
He's brilliant in math as well.
Yeah, I really, because it waspointing and so I gave up on
math.
I'm like nothing makes senseand they all say, oh, kids with
Down syndrome, they get you knowmath and all this.
Oh, yeah, whatever, I don'tbelieve any of it anymore.
(45:12):
Wow, yeah, you know.
The one thing is oh gosh, Ilost it.
But the whole that, these kids,I wanted to ask you, don't you
feel a difference just in hispresence?
Sandy Deppisch (45:30):
Yes, that's right, because you're presuming
competence and I think part ofthat is that we look at him
differently.
Yeah, we look at him assomebody who completely knows
everything that's going on andwe're so respectful of that and,
like you said earlier before,he was just there.
He was always just there and itwas.
(45:51):
Like you know, we I even tellcaregivers like I feel like our
days are spent with filling itup to keep him busy.
Right Now it's like we'retrying to do things that are
intellectually stimulating forhim to feed that brain that we
know is fully intact, right.
So, so exciting.
Darcy Day (46:10):
I just want to say something.
Yes, so Brady still listens tothe Wiggles.
Okay, good, this is a quickMinnie Mouse.
I hope, brady, you're okay thatI'm sharing this.
He sleeps with Minnie Mouseevery night.
He likes little kind of kidstuff.
So he I'm like why is he doingthat and why is he listening to
(46:31):
the Wiggles and Blippi?
I love Blippi, but anyway, Iused to talk about Blippi when
we'd go to the playground beforeBlippi was around.
This is a slide, let's go down.
Brady's like I already know,but he says it gives him comfort
.
All those childlike things givehim comfort.
(46:53):
There's a kid in the movie,right, speller's documentary,
and I can give you the link.
Yes, anybody can get the linkfor the movie.
And the kid always carriesaround flour from Bambi, right,
and he is brilliant and you cansee that in the film because
he's spelt in the film.
But his brother, excuse me,always has his flour.
(47:15):
And so many of these kids havethese childlike tendencies and
that's what's masking to theirintelligence.
But why does my kid like SesameStreet?
Many kids with autism stilllisten to Elmo.
It brings them that joy andthat comfort.
Yes, and Brady still willlisten to other types of things,
(47:40):
but he does say listening topodcasts and other things is
hard for him because of hiswords, novel voices, so he's got
severe sensory issues with hisears.
Sandy Deppisch (47:52):
Wow, that's so interesting.
Darcy Day (47:53):
Yeah, he can't listen to.
Even movies are difficult forhim, just because of the
frequencies he talks about, thefrequencies of hearing.
I learned so much from you.
Sandy Deppisch (48:05):
I just need to commission Brady to answer
questions for me about Josiah.
Yeah, like literally, I justsaid the other day that's it.
No more movies for Josiah.
I love movies and so I keeptaking the sensory friendly
movies, sensory friendlyactivities, that that you know
like a play and stuff like that.
Yeah, and he does not enjoy it.
And so I finally put up thewhite flag, like why am I making
(48:27):
this kid do something?
And I never thought about thedifferent voices that might be
difficult to process.
Yeah, wow.
Darcy Day (48:34):
Also remember apraxia is makes your body unreliable.
So what looks like?
They may not like it.
Actually, they may like it, butdo you put headphones on him?
Sandy Deppisch (48:49):
He won't wear them.
We've tried, we don't wear themyeah we've tried.
Yeah, we have the kind that youknow will play music and the
kind that are noise cancelingand yeah.
So, to wrap this up, I want youto tell parents listening today
that have a child with Downsyndrome, who they feel like.
We're good, my kid's reading,my kid speaks, I understand them
(49:09):
.
Maybe some other people don't,but I, you know, interpret for
them what.
What should they do?
Darcy Day (49:16):
Ask yourself what?
What's that future going tolook like?
Right, and do they have accessto their world?
Like that's what Speller'sMethod is Brady's future?
His future is totally different.
Now he can do whatever he wants.
If he wants to go to college, Ithink he's going to be going
(49:36):
into advocacy.
He wants to change.
He's very upset about this I'mgoing to call it narrative about
Down syndrome and, and you know, intellectual delay.
So he's very upset about thescience part and what they say
about people like him.
His future is, I mean, okay, sothat sounds like well, my kid
(49:58):
couldn't do that Well, becausethey don't have access to full,
reliable, robust communication.
So I would say, ask yourself,what kind of future do you want
for your child?
Like, if what I'm saying istrue and it is, if what I'm
saying is true, what could thatdo for your child?
To have it complete, fullaccess to all their thoughts,
(50:20):
ideas, hopes and dreams.
You know one they can actuallyeat what they like to eat and
they can actually do what theyreally want to do and not be in
these places that treat themlike a child.
I mean the future, oh my gosh,like it's completely different,
right, isn't it?
I mean I just it's so excitingand and that's why we just want
(50:44):
he always says he wants to fleehis people from their nest.
He says he's flown out of hisnest but now he, his job, is to
flee all those brothers andsisters that's what he calls
them, his brothers and sistersin the nest.
So they're still there, righttrapped, and he really does call
it a prison of silence.
It's a prison.
It's probably worse than aprison, right, but that's what
(51:06):
he calls it, his prison ofsilence that he used to be in.
So I mean I just encourageeverybody to like look at your
child today and look for signsthat yes, they got that, or oh
my gosh, I know they're in there, and then try it like,
seriously, there's no, a kidvery quickly can show you
(51:27):
competency through this Processand that's what I've seen with
people coming in right and mycurrent clients are local too.
All of them.
Sandy Deppisch (51:37):
Yeah, definitely , and I, I think too and we're
gonna put this in the show notesthe book Underestimated by JB
and Jamie Hanley.
That book will open your eyes,you know, because he didn't
believe his son could do iteither and he was weeping when
he did right, like, oh my gosh,the same.
Everything you've talked abouthere's, here's.
My final thought is you owe itto your child To do this.
(52:00):
Every parent that has a childwith downs or demos it to their
child to seek this opportunity.
That's right.
Yeah, so you just have to comehere and visit all of us, or we
have to come.
Darcy Day (52:10):
You know what?
Sandy Deppisch (52:11):
I have somebody from Houston.
Darcy Day (52:12):
That is inquiring.
So now there's yeah, so there'swe get a group of us.
How many do you need?
I mean, if I had four, I wouldfly out to you guys, okay.
Yeah, I would do so if you canget four, which I think we could
probably do.
That, you know, preferably withDown syndrome, because that's
my yes.
Yes, but you know, I'll do cuzI.
Sandy Deppisch (52:33):
Octasom too, I was gonna say well, josiah fit
in, cuz he's got the dualdiagnosis.
Darcy Day (52:36):
Actually he's no but you know I like Expand the hard
tribe as I call it.
You know we call him thespelling homies with an extra
chromie.
Sandy Deppisch (52:48):
So yeah, so there's somebody in the Houston
area.
It's already interested.
Darcy Day (52:54):
Yeah and she, they may fly out here, but like, so
yes okay, that would.
Sandy Deppisch (53:01):
We'll have to talk after and connect, and then
we just need two more.
Darcy Day (53:06):
Well, no, we don't need one more.
Why you and I don't want to sayher name, but you know.
And then the one, the other one, and then we need one more.
So the okay, I didn't reallywish you and I think she'll do
it.
Sandy Deppisch (53:19):
Okay, oh, I know , I know who you mean Okay, yes,
yeah, I need to have her on theshow too.
She's awesome yeah.
Darcy Day (53:25):
Yeah, and and I do workshops, by the way, and I
show Brady's progression ofspelling, you can't dispute it.
So I just did a conference ohgosh, not too long ago, maybe
two weeks and so I put togethera clip of Brady starting on
flapped boards with the threeboards.
We had to flap them so you onlysaw four letters at a time
because his eyes, and then itshows them without the flaps,
(53:46):
and then on the 26th, and thenon the lamina and then typing,
so I have a whole progression ofwhat it looks like.
So you have a link to that.
I Don't know, I don't like justhand that out.
Yeah, okay, yeah.
Sandy Deppisch (53:59):
I was just gonna say that'd be just so
Incredible for people to seethat you know.
Darcy Day (54:03):
Wow, I know but in the area we could do a talk.
We'll talk later, but yeah, andI could show that to everybody.
Sandy Deppisch (54:09):
Oh, oh yeah, she H feds parents group, the Down
syndrome support group.
Darcy Day (54:13):
You could come be a speaker, I could do it.
Sandy Deppisch (54:16):
Oh, girl, we're gonna make it happen.
Okay, you're amazing.
Thank you so much.
What I hope I made sense foryour listeners you did.
I mean, I keep trying to thinkof it.
If this was the first time Iever heard this concept, what
would I want to know?
And so I was trying to askthose kind of questions.
But it's hard because I'malready vested in it, you know,
(54:38):
and I know about it.
But yeah, I mean, we coulddefinitely come back and and do
it again if we have to, toexplain it in more detail.
But there's so much to thisthat, like I wanted to bring up
the whole piece about thepurposeful motor, like going to
Strong classes, like just I wasdoing those kind of things are
so important because they buildthe synapses in the brain to
make this more.
(54:58):
Yeah, have it for me so awesome.
Thank you, darcy, it was greatAppreciate.
Love you too.
Darcy Day (55:06):
Thanks.
Sandy Deppisch (55:07):
All right, see ya, bye, bye, thank you.
Thanks for listening to theembrace the blessing podcast.
Visit embrace the blessing calmslash podcast for show notes
and links to any resourcesmentioned.
If this has been beneficial toyou, please share it with a
friend or post it on your socialmedia pages.
Join me next Wednesday for moreinspiring stories from people
(55:29):
just like you.
Hey there, I'm Sandy Deppish, and this is the
Embrace, the Blessing podcast.
Each week, I talk with a parentwho has a child with a
disability.
They share their biggestchallenge, their greatest joy
and their hopes and dreams forthe future.
You'll learn about resourcesavailable to you and discover
helpful hints and tips If youwant to be inspired and
(00:27):
encouraged, stick around.
Let's walk the road lesstraveled together.
Well, darcy, I am ecstatic tohave you with us today.
I have been wanting you to haveon this show ever since I met
you back in January.
Darcy was our mentor and Idon't want to proceed what she's
(00:50):
going to tell us, so that I'lljust start with that little
tidbit.
But we were so blessed to haveyou because you were
instrumental, I think, in givingboth myself probably Josiah,
for sure, and definitely hiscaregiver Hope, and you gave all
of us a totally differentperspective on what we can
expect from a child with Downsyndrome Amazing.
(01:11):
So I'd like you to introduceyourself, tell us a little bit
about you and let's share yourexciting story.
Darcy Day (01:17):
Yeah, hope that's exactly right.
Yeah, so I'm Darcy Day for thelisteners and I live in Phoenix,
arizona.
I've homeschooled my kids, somy oldest is 20 and he has Down
syndrome, and then I have a 19and 18 and then an eight year
old, so I get to do it again.
I'm looking at what did I dowrong.
(01:39):
Now I can change.
So it's beautiful having thatage gap.
Sandy Deppisch (01:43):
Yes, you were a busy mom.
Darcy Day (01:45):
Yeah, and I was in teaching.
I have a master's in gifted andtalented, and I kind of went
that route.
And then when Brady was born,he had a tremendous amount of
medical issues and so quit,which was such a God thing, and
then full time helper for him,right, those of you listening
who have kids with Down syndromejust, we had a lot of surgeries
(02:07):
, lots of anesthesia, lots ofall the therapies and looking
back, I just, oh my gosh, nowwhat I know, what I know, it's
just, it's exciting because Ifeel I can share some things
that might help other parents,right, and just what we're
learning is it's you just haveto change your mindset, right,
(02:29):
sandy?
So I have a practice in Phoenix.
It's called brand new day and Iam a Speller's Method
Practitioner, so what that is iswe teach kids not how to spell.
Okay, this is going to shockyou.
Sandy Deppisch (02:44):
They already know that.
Darcy Day (02:47):
They already know how to spell Right.
Don't click off this podcast,because I would have, because I
didn't think my son could spelland we teach them how to
communicate right throughspelling.
And what I thought you knowwith my son was because he's I
(03:08):
would call him like well, peoplecall him nonverbal.
I guess that's his diagnosis,right, it's really speech
apraxia, even though he neverclicked all the boxes, but he
could say words, but I wasn'treally sure what they, you know
what it was.
And so, real, minimallyspeaking, and I just thought, oh
my gosh, if Brady could justtalk, he'd be so much higher
(03:30):
functioning.
Yes, I don't, you know.
Now I'm like what?
Speech has nothing to do withcognition, but that's why-.
Sandy Deppisch (03:38):
But the perception is there that others.
That's why I said yes.
Other people, when they seethat your child is non-speaking,
perceive limited intelligence.
Sorry, I'm probably stealingsome of your thunder.
I like that.
I like that, but I also I wantyou to.
Sorry to interrupt again, but Iwant to have you stop for a
(03:58):
second and explain thedefinition of apraxia.
Darcy Day (04:02):
Yeah.
So in layman's terms, it'sbasically where the body does
not obey the brain.
What?
What's that mean?
There's a disconnect, okay.
So we know in kids with Downsyndrome and autism and cerebral
palsy and Tourette's and lotsof syndromes, guys, that their
(04:23):
language centers are fullyintact.
So that has nothing to do withmotor.
That's everything to do withunderstanding and applying what
you've learned, and formulatingopinions and ideas and having
dreams and hopes and all thosethings.
That's all fine.
That's all fine in our kids'brains.
(04:43):
The obstacle is the motor.
So it's the other part of thebrain where it's the motor, and
so it's like, okay, I want tospeak out a word, I know a word
I want to speak out, but then itwon't even come out because
there's a glitch in the motorsystem.
So it's all motor and speech isall motor.
And guess what else is allmotor?
Which I had no idea, pointingto a picture to show that you
(05:08):
know, that's a tree.
It's the color blue.
That word says bat.
Well, my son, before I started,well, first of all, I tested him
on his letters.
He's 18.
And I said this isn't going towork.
I've never seen my son read.
I've never seen him.
I don't think he knows how toread.
I don't think he even knows hisletters.
(05:29):
I don't speak to him.
I thought I was.
You know, hey, I have amaster's, but I never saw
competency, but it's because hecould never show it.
That's what a praxia looks like.
So I would put I really did this.
I put five letters out in frontof him, sometimes four, an
array of four letters, and I go,okay, brady, point to the B and
he'd point to the T.
(05:50):
I'm like, okay, point to the C,and he'd point to, you know,
the L, and I'm like, oh, my gosh, how is this going to work?
He doesn't know his letters.
Write every assessment.
You think about this Like every.
We had to get his IQ tested forguardianship, which we are now
going to be reversing, andlisteners, you'll know why.
But anyway, um, ported decisionmaking yeah, right, like we
(06:15):
have full right, but I don't, wedon't want that now because
Right, no, no, no yeah, I meanyou're, you're taking away the
guardianship to do support.
Sandy Deppisch (06:23):
Yes, yes, yes, hallelujah, praise the Lord,
happy to hear that.
Okay, go ahead yeah.
Darcy Day (06:28):
Yeah and so, but when we got the IQ test, all the
assessments when he was inkindergarten and preschool, um,
any kind of assessment, guesswhat it takes.
Sandy Deppisch (06:40):
Motor.
Darcy Day (06:41):
Motor.
Who coaches motor?
No one.
So like, how are you going toget an answer right by pointing
if no one's ever coached yourmotor?
Well, you don't.
Like my son has spelled out,you know, since I'm fairly good
at failing all tests put beforeme, I think they need to.
Yeah, he has spelled that out.
Those are his words.
You know that I think thingsneed to change.
(07:02):
So he can't point reliably.
It's all fine motor guys.
So all pointing and puttingthis and that that's all showing
competency.
But if we have a child who hasa praxea but wait, my kid's not
diagnosed with praxea who cares?
Right, whatever, that doesn'tmatter.
Okay, like people get caught upon that, I'm like but can your
(07:25):
kids speak?
Can they have a fullconversation with you, like at
the same age?
Peer, almost everybody.
They say no.
Sandy Deppisch (07:34):
Right, and you can't understand them sometimes
when they do speak, because theyhave trouble articulating, even
though they have some speech ormaybe unreliable speech.
The articulation issue is thereas well, so that impacts
communication.
Darcy Day (07:48):
Even stuttering.
I'm seeing the client right nowwho stutters, and or I will be.
She's flying in from I can't.
Why better not say, but anyway,I don't want to violate HIPAA,
but anyway, she's flying in fromyou know, another state or
country and she stutters and shehas Down syndrome and but yet
(08:08):
she can't you know, she can'thave a full conversation.
So she does have a praxea, butshe has stuttering to right.
She can't fully eloquently saywhat is going on with her body,
what she wants to do in her life, what her hopes are, and you
know.
So anyway, praxea also lookslike being lazy.
I thought Brady was lazy, I'mlike my gosh.
(08:28):
He's sitting on the couch andwe're unpacking and going up the
stairs and you know when we goon vacations and he just be
sitting there, you know.
Sandy Deppisch (08:35):
Oh, this position is perfect.
Yes, I'm actually of them.
Darcy Day (08:39):
And I don't think I might have called him lazy.
But now I know well, that'sbecause he couldn't get up, he
couldn't start.
So it impacts the body Right.
The first step of a praxea, orof moving your body purposely,
is actually starting.
Well, that's really hard forour kids.
So why do kids sit in the carand they don't get out of praxea
(09:01):
?
Why do they just sit on theconcrete in the grocery store
and not get up?
No guys, it's not.
It's not about compliancy, it'sabout their body can't get
started.
You know why does my kid sit onthe playground and never, you
know, won't leave the playgroundof praxea.
That can't start.
Why does my kid Brady run offthe playground every time I go?
(09:23):
When he was young I never hadfriends because I'd say meet me
at the park and he would justrun.
I was always chasing him.
And why is that?
Oh, because he can't stop.
That's another stop, that'sanother step in moving your body
purposely.
If you have a praxea, you can'tinhibit or stop.
So go get your drink of water.
(09:43):
Do you know how many motorsteps are involved in going to
get a drink of water?
They know they're thirsty oh mygosh.
But they have to first get upfrom where they are, go get the
cup.
Well, how do you do that?
Think of all those motor steps.
It's not a cognition things,it's all motor steps.
Right, we create all thesegoals for our kids like, well,
they can't do two stepdirections.
(10:04):
Well, do you know why that is?
Sandy Deppisch (10:07):
They can't even do the first step.
Yeah, they can't get started.
Darcy Day (10:10):
Right, it's all motor .
So if we start coaching themotor talking to their body,
it's really weird at first,right, Sandy?
Sandy Deppisch (10:17):
Oh my gosh, so weird, so strange.
Darcy Day (10:20):
You talk to their hand.
Sandy Deppisch (10:22):
Your fingers.
Darcy Day (10:23):
Yes, you talk to their feet, walk over, okay,
step, step, step, fill a weightin your.
You know it's like it's alittle new way to talk to your
child, but it works, you know,and some of these kids are
injurious.
Well, that has some to do withsensory, but that's also has to
do with the praxea too.
You know it's not intentional,right?
(10:43):
So, anyway, a praxea looks likemy son not coming to the dinner
table now, you know.
So we have to coach his bodyand he does it.
Or they're glued to their likedevice on YouTube and they can't
stop, they can't press stop.
So there's other things withall technology too, but it's
partly a praxea too that theycan't stop it, right?
So hopefully I explained thatwell.
(11:04):
So somebody just connect.
Sandy Deppisch (11:07):
When you told me back in January that one of the
hardest things for kids with apraxea, young adults with a
praxea to do is to get in andout of a car, that was like a
huge light bulb moment for me,because that is a challenge for
Josiah.
He loves to go for rides,that's like one of his favorite
things, so you would think,great, getting in the car is no
(11:30):
problem.
Getting out, I always thought,was because he did not want to
leave that activity.
He wanted to keep on driving,riding in the car.
When you taught us that it'sthe hardest thing and we have to
tell his body what to do, thatmade such a huge difference,
like just thinking of it interms of all the things he has
to do to be able to execute thatmotion of getting out of the
(11:50):
car.
And then the other thing that Ijust thought of now is I always
say transitions are extremelyhard for Josiah.
Any transition starting it andstopping it are hard, oh, my
word.
He's all over it.
Well, that's a praxea.
I never dawned on me till thismoment that the transitions is a
praxea.
Darcy Day (12:07):
I know, and so isn't that in gray.
Yes, all our goals transitions,but we're not addressing what
the real issue is Right, it'smotor.
Sandy Deppisch (12:18):
We have children with a praxea, young adults
with a praxea, and they'restruggling to communicate.
So what do we do?
I've tried everything,everything.
Yes, we all fly to Arizona.
We moved to Arizona.
That's the key.
Darcy Day (12:36):
Oh, wow, you get them communicating on what we do.
It's called Speller's Methodand so it's super low tech and
we start with three boards.
They have the alphabet.
Don't get in your brain thatyour kid doesn't know the
alphabet, because I'm tellingyou right now, I've seen many,
many with Down syndrome.
Not one of them.
(12:57):
Okay, are you ready for this?
Not one of them is showingintellectual delay.
You've got to be kidding.
Yeah, we have now in our, ourvault.
We call him so Brady, calls himhis tribe and he spells out.
Now he's openly communicating.
But anyway, 55 Down syndromespellers and they're all 100%
(13:22):
showing competency.
Now, do all of them go, maybe asFlowing nicely and things are,
you know, progressing linear.
No, like Josiah, right, likesome of them have more.
The more severe practice youhave, the harder.
It is right, we have solutions,right, and so what it is is
(13:43):
it's using the differencebetween this and like an AAC
device.
By the way, we've used all theAAC devices, I think there there
are same.
They never worked, except onebutton Really worked well for
Brady, and it was the fartbutton.
Oh, I'm like, oh, my gosh.
So maybe because it's so manytimes you press the fart button,
(14:03):
but anyway, nothing else worked.
The reason is because that'sall fine motor.
So we take communication out ofthe fine motor.
Talking is fine motor, pointingfine motor, but we use the
shoulder and the elbow Becausethey are pointing, but yeah,
you're saying they're not justpointing with the finger,
(14:24):
they're, you know it's not afine motor pointing like you,
and you have to be with askilled practitioner to learn
how to do this, but you, you usethe gross motor to point to the
letterboard many Children areusing and adults pencils to poke
through a stencil.
I'm finding the Down syndromepopulation Almost them, well,
the majority of all my clientsthat I see we use a high
(14:45):
contrast kind of a sensory board.
I'm finding Ocular or praxis tobe super common in our kids and
the Down syndrome population.
What I'm seeing is they havemore severe eye Issues.
That might make sense becauselook at the shape of their eyes
and I don't know it's kind ofinteresting, but anyway I can't
research everything so I leavethat to other doctors,
(15:07):
developmental optometrist, so soanyway, you start very
elementary and it's reallyclumsy at first and you don't
know which board to pick up andyou spelt Things wrong for your
child and and, and then youprogress to a 26 letter board,
as I did with Brady.
And then you know he's gettinga little bit more automatic.
Wait what?
Oh, because we're coaching themotor, and anything you coach
(15:29):
and do repetitively, guess whatit becomes Purposeful.
So think about piano.
I like to use this analogy.
So when you first play piano,main go, my little one is Going
three, two, three, two, three,three, three.
You know, really simple, that'sthe three boards.
And then soon after that he'sgoing to be learning more chords
(15:50):
and then, and then he'll beplaying chords and then
transfers into compositions.
So it's a whole progression andyou have to have a teacher to
help you who's very skilled inpiano.
So it's the same thing inSpeller's method.
Yet they have a teacher, and,and then who helps you?
The parent, you know, work withyour child, because we want,
(16:12):
you know your kid wants tocommunicate with you more than
anybody, right?
And so we coach the parents andthen Then it becomes a symphony
.
So that's where we are now withBrady.
So he is I don't know if youknew this he's starting to type
now.
So the the his end goal.
Spellers are different, but manyof them want to just be
(16:33):
independently typing, and wedon't we don't Touch kids, you
know, it's all them, so we'renot, we're just coaching their
eyes like up, up, up, up up.
And so he's now starting totype and his goal is to be
completely independent, wherehe's just typing away like many
other Spellers are doing now.
So then he can go anywhere.
(16:53):
And it's not a, it's a regularkeyboard.
We don't doctor anythingbecause we want him to, you know
, be independent in the world,right, so so the sky is a limit
for him now and it's.
And he can tell me.
We just had a Doctor'sappointment with a doctor out in
Illinois, a zoom, and the firstthing he spelled to her was I
(17:13):
get nervous around new doctorsbecause they all think I'm
retarded.
And he's held that he is, he's,yeah, it's.
There's a lot of trauma, guys.
Yes, you know, we presumesomething for so long.
And why wouldn't we?
Because that's what we've beentold Since before our kids were
born.
We believe it, but it doesn'tmean it's true, right, just
(17:34):
because something has been saidfor so many years doesn't mean
it's true.
So what we're saying is peoplewith Down syndrome are not
intellectually delayed, period,and I have yet to seen someone
who is.
If you really look and thinkabout your own child, I knew
this like, oh my gosh, brady gotthat, you know, or like he'd
get a joke or maybe he'd saysomething, but I didn't really
(17:56):
understand him.
And then the next day I'm like,huh, that's what he was saying.
Right, feelings, and probablyyou too.
Those feelings are likefleeting, but I would just brush
him under the carpet becauselike seriously, I had no idea
what to do and when he wasyounger I had more gumption and
like I tried everything rightand then, and then, as he get
(18:16):
older I don't know about you,sandy, but it's like I guess it
was kind of giving up because Ijust didn't know.
Sandy Deppisch (18:23):
I don't know that it's giving up, darcy.
I think it's an acceptance,it's it's like a sentence,
that's it.
I just accepted this is as goodas it's gonna be, you know?
And and here's the thing that'sso saddening to me about this
whole Apraxia thing is they'relocked inside their bodies.
Yes, they are fully functioning, intellectual human beings with
(18:43):
the same hopes and dreams anddesires as anybody else.
Their age, they just their bodybetrays them, and so they can't
get out.
And can you imagine howfrustrating that is?
Number one, just to experiencethat for a day.
Don't talk for a day and try tocommunicate with somebody.
Your needs and wants right, andon top of that being presumed
completely In the luxury delayedexactly and then have them
(19:05):
either misinterpret you or Treatyou much younger, like I was
thinking.
Recently I was telling one ofour new caregivers that when
Josiah was probably 10, I wasbringing out light up toys that
play music like a toddler wouldenjoy, because he loved those
when he was little and he's veryinto sensory things.
He got so many through himacross the room.
Well, what ten-year-old wantsto be playing with toddler toys?
(19:25):
We don't know, you know, but sofor them there's so much
frustration and then probablythey come to an acceptance as
well as Hmm, I just have to livelike this, where the trauma
comes in, right.
Darcy Day (19:38):
Well, we're in the thick of it now, because now
Brady and Brady is reallyleading the Down syndrome
population, so, whether he likesit or not, but he's having a
little bit of a hard time.
So I'm the loudmouth for himand but you know, it's the
people's perceptions and and heis starting on a presentation
and his, his first sentence forthe presentation is introduction
(20:01):
says and these are his wordsthat he spelled out he said my
name is Brady Moore and I havean extra chromosome, aka Down
syndrome.
Remember one thing if nothingelse, a praxe of masks are
intelligence.
And so, yeah, he's, he isspelling such profound things
and talking about how, how hasscience gotten this all wrong?
(20:24):
Just yesterday we're on a zoomwith a bunch of spellers and
they all have autism.
So Brady's kind of like, here Iam and he was saying he's just,
he's being torment his words,I'm being tormented lately by
how science has, by how sciencehas depicted us with Down
syndrome as and he does use theword retarded.
(20:46):
He's just, he hates that word,but he uses it for impact
because he's like you know, andall these kids are like all
autism, and they're typing tohim saying you're brilliant, you
can be the, you know, becauseit's scary right Once you become
communicative, like oh no, nowyou're opening yourself up and
this is a whole new world forhim.
So, although it's glorious,it's also kind of scary for
(21:06):
spellers.
But what hope he has.
And I mean the way we treat him,the way we talked to him, and
you know he likes Shakespeare,so my husband reshakes to bear
to him at night.
He likes being read to by myhusband and then we're reading
all the classics and I've neverseen my son read, ever, okay,
ever, ever, ever.
(21:28):
So people say, well, my soncan't read.
Well, I would tell you the samething because I never saw him
reading a book in my life.
Well, he did.
I'm not sure.
And he says, mom, don't ask metoo many questions and go, don't
go too deep.
I'm like okay.
So like I can't really ask,like how do you know all this
stuff?
Right, right, that will becoming.
(21:48):
It's like peeling an onion, youknow.
I'm getting to know the realBrady, yeah, and through him
we're hoping just to give peoplehope and just kind of like
think, like Understandingdoesn't have a look, it really
doesn't.
And guess what, and guess what.
People have been doing thissince the 70s and 80s.
So I did go down that rabbithole and there have been many
(22:12):
other people who have said Downsyndrome is not a cognitive
disability.
But guess what happens.
Sandy Deppisch (22:20):
What we all buy into that they get smeared.
Oh, those people who are tryingto pioneer that, yeah so you
know, and so am I.
Darcy Day (22:28):
I don't care, but anyway.
So that's what.
That's what happens, becauseit's so far fetched in people's
minds.
But I know people who arelistening, if I know, you know
your kid knows way More thanthey can show.
I just know it.
So, and if they have speech,same thing.
I mean I've yet to meetsomebody with Down syndrome that
(22:49):
can talk eloquently, right,like how Brady and these other
spellers are spelling out right,you know they're dumbed down
their vocabulary, but yay forthem that they can actually
articulate.
Like you know, brady said thathe wishes that was a superpower.
Yesterday he said he wished hissuperpower was speech.
Sandy Deppisch (23:09):
But I know well, I want you to back up a little
bit and paint a picture of Bradyprior to spelling and Brady now
, like, obviously, you said hehad some words, he was, you know
, able to communicate.
He appeared lazy.
Just give us an idea of what hewas like and and how he has
emerged so I mean, he seemedpretty happy.
Darcy Day (23:33):
But you, he did a lot of physical activity, so that's
what we focused on inhomeschooling.
Okay, so I would.
People are like, oh well, heheard everything you
homeschooled.
Well, no, actually I hadrespite and have workers and you
know what they did?
They rode bikes, they went tothe zoo, we had memberships to
everything.
So they go elsewhere.
While I taught the girls and andwhen I did co-ops, his sensory
(23:58):
system, just it would not allowhim to be in those co-ops like
you would run away.
Oh well, that's a proxy or two.
So it's kind of connected.
By the way, the aprexia and andsensory and and so he wasn't
included in those.
So he, I think he was prettyisolated.
He loves YouTube videos.
(24:19):
He'd play those.
He was like a master withcombining two devices and
coordinating them.
Yeah, he, it's amazing and andand he would like create these
symphonies.
I don't know if that's what I'msaying, that's what it appeared
to be, but like, not muchpurpose, right, and we're like
(24:39):
do we?
You know, my husband are like,okay, should we just like create
a nonprofit, like we werethinking, because now he's, at
that time he was 18 and I'm likewhat, what do we do?
What kind of job can he have?
I never wanted him in a placewhere they're coloring you know
we can't color anyway becauseyou can't hold a pencil really
and or crayon and the way thatyou have to write, and so it
(25:02):
just, you know, like thedocumentary and spellers and and
we can share that on your, yes,but anyway, the man who was
really in charge of thatdocumentary, jb Hanley.
He talks about this and I feltthe same way, like it's, it's
dark guys when they get older.
It's like what are we gonna do?
And as you're aging, what arewe gonna do?
(25:24):
And you worry, and you know Ilove God I have yet to surrender
that worry to him about what'sgonna happen to my kid when I'm
not here.
It's like a reality for a lotof us, like it's scary, right,
and like he just didn't have apurpose and I mean he just was
kind of there, right.
(25:45):
We didn't really have hugeconversations with him because,
you know, talk short and simplethat's what.
Sandy Deppisch (25:51):
That's what we're taught.
Couple of word sentences.
Darcy Day (25:54):
People yeah, don't talk in complete sentences, poor
guy, so anyway, but now, okay.
So a good example.
After he started spelling, hisnext birthday came around.
Most of his birthday cards thatwe would give him before I
would write really big and I'dsay and I haven't, dear Brady, I
love you, you are my shininglight, love mom.
(26:20):
And that was pretty much it,and same with the cards that the
, the girls, would make them.
Okay, the next birthday, afterhe started spelling, I took a
picture it's actually on myFacebook page and I took a
picture of the girls cards tohim.
You guys need to friend me onFacebook, seriously, darcy day,
and the picture is my son with a26 letter board and the picture
(26:41):
is of their birthday cards.
It's like two pages long, oh,saying how much I mean
completely Presuming competenceand just saying how much they
loved him and what a trooper hewas, and and you know how
inspirational and resilientRight, oh, my gosh, what kids
are so resilient.
So I mean now we, we talked tohim like.
(27:02):
We talked to him like we wouldtalk to any anyone else.
You probably have the same right.
He there's a different, hefeels different, like his Like,
because now he knows that weknow that he's fully in there.
So he's like he.
He walks different.
I don't know.
It's weird, sandy, like he isso engaged and but now he wants
(27:26):
everybody to know I'm in here.
So you know, we have a littlelaminate that we take around and
he'll spell, like he'll doorders at the restaurant for
what he wants.
Sandy Deppisch (27:36):
By laminate you mean the alphabet, the alphabet
on a laminate.
Darcy Day (27:41):
Yeah, yeah, so we have a smaller one for him
because of his eyes and all that.
So, anyway, um, so now he canorder the foods.
We know what he wants.
He is fully included inconversations.
We talked to him like heunderstands everything.
We don't dumb down language,you know.
He can go to these differentalternative type of doctors that
(28:02):
we see and say what's going onwith his gut.
That's a really big issue rightnow with him and he has pandas
as well.
So the whole detoxing channelsjust aren't working and a lot of
our kids have a hard time, youknow, with their limb system and
all that.
So, anyway, we're in the middleof that.
But he can tell us like westarted on something and it
really had an adverse reaction,and he told us what was going on
(28:25):
.
Well, that's out.
It's huge, huge, yeah, huge.
You know feeling and how theyare medically and and
emotionally.
And you know the first thing,one of the first things he ever
spelled was he talked about hisanxiety and he talked about
sound frequencies and howdifferent sound frequencies send
(28:46):
sparks up his spine and he saidhe calls it his, not said.
I'm saying said, but you knowwhat I mean.
Right spelled, right spelled.
I call it my hell spine.
And so, because we adopted alittle guy and he was Little and
there's a lot of trauma aroundthat and he screamed and so he
(29:07):
used to like run in the bathtuband curl up in a fetal position,
mark what is going on.
But now he can tell us.
Well, it was his frequency, andand so we asked him well, who's
your go-to person?
And he spelled out grace, whichis my 19 year old daughter.
And listen to what he spelled.
He spelled I love you more thanmetals have flowers or the sky
(29:29):
lit by stars Straight fromheaven you are.
Now what AC device can do that?
Sandy Deppisch (29:37):
None.
Darcy Day (29:37):
None, I want juice.
Yeah, that's why it didn't work.
Brady says.
I said Brady, why didn't?
So I did ask him a littlequestion at the beginning and
then he said back off.
But he says because he did sayback off, mom, no, he says Darcy
.
I'm like can you just call memom, I don't know.
No, it's always Darcy and myhusband Troy, it's like I make
(30:03):
his hand go and oh, it's allDarcy, so funny.
So, anyway, I'm trying to breakthat.
That's your name, yeah, but ohgosh, I can't remember what I
was saying the juice.
Sandy Deppisch (30:16):
You asked him yeah, I want you.
They're dumb.
Darcy Day (30:19):
They were dumb because his language oh my word.
Well, you think about it 18years.
What are you going to do if youcan't speak reliably or speak
at all?
Right, you're in your head thatwhole time.
So I'm imagining that he isjust playing with words.
He's listening.
Think of all the things we'rebombarded with in grocery stores
(30:41):
, all the conversations at everyEaster, christmas, thanksgiving
, family gatherings.
He's listening to all theseconversations and if the TV's on
, he's hearing.
That, he's hearing.
You know.
He's reading billboards andtickers.
If somebody is watching thenews, so they're just bombarded
with language.
And so his language isbeautiful and just like that
(31:03):
poem.
That was the first thing, oneof the first things he ever
spelled out, and I'm like, wow,and so that's the difference.
Like it's beneath him to say Iwant juice.
Like, come on, right, he wouldsay it very eloquently if he did
want juice now.
Anyway, can you just use moresimple words?
Like, can you dumb down yourlanguage for?
Sandy Deppisch (31:26):
me that is just amazing.
It is amazing and to know thatall those years he was in there.
Now he's free, but, like yousaid, so there's trauma.
So he's dealing with some ofemotions right, because now you
have to relive some of thatwhich I imagine is probably
really hard and hard for him toexpress.
(31:48):
Nobody wants to go to thosedeep emotional places, but I can
imagine as a mom that's hard tohear too.
Darcy Day (31:54):
Right, it's hard, it is, but you know, I just keep
trying to really reinforce that.
Let's focus on today, becauseyou know I went there.
I mean, oh my gosh, when hefirst started spelling the guilt
, I'm like, oh, I just rememberlooking at him going.
I am so sorry, don't youremember?
(32:15):
Yes, you know, realizing thatyour kid's always been in there
and like you didn't pick up onthat, like there's, but you just
can't live in that, right.
No, as you know, right, and Imean I dealt with it and I cried
like a baby, of course, but,I'm past that now and sometimes
I'll go like, sometimes I getmad, like why are you guys
(32:38):
saying your kids at a firstgrade level?
You know that gets me amped upbecause, like they're not, they
just can't show competency.
So yeah, dealing with traumaand just focusing on you know
what's important now and tryingto move on.
So I mean, all of our kids havetrauma if they've been presumed
completely intellectuallydelayed, you know when they're
(32:59):
really not.
Sandy Deppisch (33:00):
So and I've had recently written about Josiah
from professionals that he'sseverely, profoundly autistic.
Yeah, and seeing those words islike hard to read, Right, I
know he presents that waybecause of his complex you're
the one I think that told me isa very complex body because of
all his sensory issues.
(33:21):
But he's in there and I've seenit from the time he was very
little.
You know things like.
You're talking about amazingproblem solving skills.
The things he would do tofigure out something would just
blow my mind and I was like wow,and I know he was reading when
he was three and four years old.
People think like my other kidsgo like really Like yes, he was
(33:41):
, I knew he was.
But even today, if there'swords scrolling across the
screen which, if we put anythingon his iPad music video, we
always make sure there's lyricsbecause he is tuned into those
lyrics.
But here's the other thing youtaught me which is an amazing
tip I think all parents need touse with all of their children,
regardless of disability labelis we tell him buddy, we know
(34:05):
you're in there, we know you areso intelligent, we know you
probably know stuff way morethan we do.
Our job is to help you expressthat.
We've tried over the years somany different things and we're
so sorry, we just didn't work,but we're not giving up.
We will be in this till you'reable to fluently communicate
with us.
Darcy Day (34:23):
So it's going to be a marathon, but we're in it,
we're training and we're in itand how much hope you're giving
him, because he is really trickyright, and so your journey is
going to be quite theinspiration for so many people,
because he's probably one of thetrickiest bodies I've ever seen
, sandy.
But thank you, yeah.
But look at you, you're notgiving up, no, and he's getting
(34:46):
better because it's becomingguess what More purposeful.
Why?
Because you're coaching themotor and you're repeating it
over and over with gross motor.
That's kind of the change,right, right for sure.
What hope he has.
I mean, you're a success story.
Sandy Deppisch (35:04):
The other thing we've done is we read him a lot
of nonfiction books written byother spellers.
Yes, they talk about what theirexperience is with ABA, what
they were like, and they talkabout all the things that
teachers you know well meaningI'm not, I'm not downing anybody
Well meaning professionals havetried to do with them, using
their best practices that theyknew at the time and how they
(35:25):
were inside screaming like no, Iknow way more than this, and so
I think for him to hear peerswriting in books, because they
are now keyboard writers, theycan type, sharing what those, I
think like the other day we'veread the same book
underestimated.
We're reading it a second timeand a brand new caregiver was
(35:48):
reading a part where Jamiespelled for the very first time
Jamie is the son right Spelledfor the very first time and
Josiah started jumping up anddown and screaming.
It was that he was an emotionalconnection he made with his
father and the caregiver waslike whoa, he was just calm the
whole time until we got to that.
So there's definitely a needfor our kids to know we know
(36:10):
they're extremely capable andthey're competent and we're
going to be in this with them.
But so when I say be in thiswith them, I took a class.
You were my mentor.
We, at the end of that nineweek course, are able to work
with Josiah, but we're notcertified to like you are.
You are certified.
So you recommend that peoplecome to somebody like you yeah,
(36:33):
but that they can work withtheir child right, and then over
time you coach the parents andhow to do this themselves.
Correct?
Darcy Day (36:38):
Right, I think the biggest misconception and what I
get is people oh my gosh, I'mgoing to get these boards.
It's an amazing story.
And then they put it in frontof their kid and then they can
doesn't do it, and then theygive up and they say it doesn't
work.
You have to have a teacher, youhave to have somebody trained
that can coach you, to coachyour child.
So absolutely yeah.
(36:58):
So you know, we we do theSpeller's Method, so that's kind
of spelling to communicate, butamped up.
So we, we just have a littlebit more enhanced training.
Okay, and so that's what yourcourse was through.
And you know they can contactme and there's different
practitioners around the stateand if not, I do out of state
(37:22):
people come, but then they gohome and then we coach online.
So I think it's very hard tostart somebody on Zoom.
I don't like doing it becauseyou have to assess, like with
Josiah, that would have neverworked, right, right, never.
And it takes so long to figureout.
Well, which board are we goingto use, you know, and so that's
(37:44):
why, really, you have to startin person and then if somebody
is not near you, then you gohome and then then you keep
working and you get mentoredonline and you know we have
different courses throughSpeller'scom.
We have, you know, like what youtook, the CRP course and
there's another course on therefor parents advocating for
getting the letterboards in theschool, where there's a great Dr
(38:04):
Daniels, who Brady sees, who'sa neurologic developmental
optometrist, who's saved myson's voice because his voice
comes through his eyes, right,because if he can't see he's not
going to be able to spell, tocommunicate, and so she has a
course on there for people tolearn about the different kind
(38:25):
of anomalies with eyes.
So Brady's actually in herseries, so it's kind of fun
because he's super tricky aswell.
So get with someone trained andI'm happy to lead people to
locations that might be, youknow, closer to them than
Arizona, although I am reallythe only one that's seeing these
Down syndrome clients becauseit's marketed toward autism,
(38:47):
right, so you'd never hear about.
Even in the documentary theydon't mention down syndrome,
even though that child has Downsyndrome.
You know that Sid has Downsyndrome in the movie, but they
don't say it.
Sandy Deppisch (39:02):
Did you know that?
I didn't?
I don't think I paid attentionto that piece Interesting I saw
the movie.
Darcy Day (39:08):
I paid close attention.
I took Jamie and JB Hanley and,like you have to mention Down
syndrome.
I'm always waving my hand likedon't forget it, I'm always
squeaking it in.
So I just I'm never going togive up kind of tooting that
horn about Down syndrome too.
So most of the information thatyour listeners are going to
find is going to be aroundautism.
But, guys, it works with kidswith Down syndrome, only
(39:31):
diagnosis Down syndrome.
It works with Down syndrome andautism.
It works with Down syndrome,autism and ADHD.
Like you know, if the kid can'ttalk like their same age peers,
this would be a thing thatyou'd want to consider.
I always say it like would thisbe good for me?
Well, can your child engage inconversation like a typical same
age peer?
(39:52):
You know, if the answer is no,then why wouldn't you try it?
Like no side effects, guys, youknow, only hope, I mean.
And yet we've yet to findanyone who can't do it.
Sandy Deppisch (40:04):
That's just incredible to me.
So I mean, it's not like amoney back guarantee, but it is
you know like.
I'm just like saying I'll giveyou free sessions.
I love a lot of friends overthis, I mean.
Darcy Day (40:16):
I literally lost friends because I don't know.
Sandy Deppisch (40:18):
you know, there's a whole camp that, like
what I'm saying is like wait,wait, wait, no, no, no, no, no,
no, so it's mind blowing and,like we said earlier, you get to
a point of acceptance and Iimagine if you have a child
that's verbal or, you know, hasminimal speech, even that you're
just like, ok, we've had thisdance through our life and we
(40:40):
know it's working.
It's not a well oiled machine,a well oiled machine, but it's
working.
And so why upset the apple cart?
You're asking people to liketotally change, like you said,
their whole mindset and believeme it's been hard, yeah, hasn't
it?
Darcy Day (40:56):
Yeah, like it's been hard.
But I want to talk about.
You said something abouttesting and we got that IQ test
for Brady to get guardianshipand guess what his score was?
I'll never reveal what it was,but immeasurable because it was
so low they could not measure it.
So he is in the most severecategory of severe.
Sandy Deppisch (41:17):
Yeah, that's where we would be.
I know if we had to go throughthat, we would be there.
Yeah, but on paper that's notreality.
Darcy Day (41:24):
Yeah, that's because, oh yeah, it requires motor, and
fine motor at that, not whatwe'll do on verbal test.
But what is that?
Oh, you have to point.
No, he fails that too.
But if he uses the gross motorNow, by the way, when we do
spellers methods, so you startwith that gross motor, right?
But now Brady is all in definedmotor because all those
(41:44):
pathways have been myelinated.
He knows where all the lettersare.
So this is and I'm showingSandy how he spells, but he's
like fluid going from letter toletter.
It's like a dance, it's reallybeautiful how he's spelled.
Sandy Deppisch (41:59):
How long has he been spelling?
Two years.
Darcy Day (42:02):
Okay.
So we stopped for about fivemonths, four to five months,
because he had an injury to hisneck and he literally couldn't
see.
So that's why we got into DrDaniels, the neurologic
developmental optometrist, so westopped and that was scary
because really the eyes are thevoice, right, right.
Sandy Deppisch (42:20):
So we stopped and then, but I always say two
years minus some months, I thinkfor Josiah, well, that will
have to be multiplied by likefive, you know.
But but that's okay, it'sbetter for, it's better for.
Well, you know what I say that?
But then, when you were talkingearlier, I was thinking about
when we first started.
We couldn't get him off.
Yes, remember, he cannot gethim off the floor or out of the
(42:43):
room into a chair.
Yes, and now he willingly walksto the chair.
He sits and looks at a.
Good, Sandy, say how youstarted.
We started with Josiah laying onthe floor, refusing to get up
to sit in a chair.
Yeah, just to sit in a chair.
We were, we were going to becontent with him sitting in the
recliner, which he enjoys in hisbedroom.
Just sit there, buddy, we'regood.
(43:04):
And he refused to do that.
Now it's like the timer willring hey, buddy, it's time for
spelling and boom up.
He goes and goes and says no.
When we went to a house, becausethere was a woman here that
worked with him for about acouple of months, maybe six
weeks or so, and the first timehe wouldn't get in her front
door.
And then, when he got in herfront door, he just sat on the
(43:25):
carpet, because it's carpet, thefun texture, the sensory issues
going on.
Then by the third time hewalked in and went straight to
her dining room and sat downlike, okay, I know what I'm
supposed to do now.
I'm like, just like, so it'sbaby steps.
Like when I first heard thisfirst I'll be really honest, and
this was years ago, before Imet you my thought was this
(43:45):
would work for everybody but mychild Same, right, and I'm sure
every parent probably thinksthat.
And then I thought, well, whatdo we have to lose?
We're going to try it.
I've seen so many amazingsuccess stories Like this would
be something I would take to mygrave and feel horrible about if
I didn't try with my child.
I think every parent needs togive their child this
opportunity.
And then when he started makingbaby step progress, that was
(44:11):
the fire was ignited.
Like watch out, we're on it now.
Like I said, if it takes us 10years, we're in it.
He knows we're in it.
We're not going to give up.
So the day when he can likespell a full thing is, yeah,
going to be mind blowing.
The biggest change for us atthis point with his very complex
body is we are treating himlike a 21 year old.
We talk to him, we read himthings that are his favorite.
(44:33):
Things are quantum mechanicsand physics oh yeah, because
podcasts.
He watches YouTube, he lovesthem, and I don't even
understand.
Like literally.
He'll look at mathematicalequations to take up the whole
page.
I have no idea what you'retalking about and he is fixated.
I'm like you're on your own,but I basic math has me.
Darcy Day (44:51):
I didn't think Brady knew numbers past eight.
Oh no, no, no, he does.
It's all mental math.
He's brilliant in math as well.
Yeah, I really, because it waspointing and so I gave up on
math.
I'm like nothing makes senseand they all say, oh, kids with
Down syndrome, they get you knowmath and all this.
Oh, yeah, whatever, I don'tbelieve any of it anymore.
(45:12):
Wow, yeah, you know.
The one thing is oh gosh, Ilost it.
But the whole that, these kids,I wanted to ask you, don't you
feel a difference just in hispresence?
Sandy Deppisch (45:30):
Yes, that's right, because you're presuming
competence and I think part ofthat is that we look at him
differently.
Yeah, we look at him assomebody who completely knows
everything that's going on andwe're so respectful of that and,
like you said earlier before,he was just there.
He was always just there and itwas.
(45:51):
Like you know, we I even tellcaregivers like I feel like our
days are spent with filling itup to keep him busy.
Right Now it's like we'retrying to do things that are
intellectually stimulating forhim to feed that brain that we
know is fully intact, right.
So, so exciting.
Darcy Day (46:10):
I just want to say something.
Yes, so Brady still listens tothe Wiggles.
Okay, good, this is a quickMinnie Mouse.
I hope, brady, you're okay thatI'm sharing this.
He sleeps with Minnie Mouseevery night.
He likes little kind of kidstuff.
So he I'm like why is he doingthat and why is he listening to
(46:31):
the Wiggles and Blippi?
I love Blippi, but anyway, Iused to talk about Blippi when
we'd go to the playground beforeBlippi was around.
This is a slide, let's go down.
Brady's like I already know,but he says it gives him comfort
.
All those childlike things givehim comfort.
(46:53):
There's a kid in the movie,right, speller's documentary,
and I can give you the link.
Yes, anybody can get the linkfor the movie.
And the kid always carriesaround flour from Bambi, right,
and he is brilliant and you cansee that in the film because
he's spelt in the film.
But his brother, excuse me,always has his flour.
(47:15):
And so many of these kids havethese childlike tendencies and
that's what's masking to theirintelligence.
But why does my kid like SesameStreet?
Many kids with autism stilllisten to Elmo.
It brings them that joy andthat comfort.
Yes, and Brady still willlisten to other types of things,
(47:40):
but he does say listening topodcasts and other things is
hard for him because of hiswords, novel voices, so he's got
severe sensory issues with hisears.
Sandy Deppisch (47:52):
Wow, that's so interesting.
Darcy Day (47:53):
Yeah, he can't listen to.
Even movies are difficult forhim, just because of the
frequencies he talks about, thefrequencies of hearing.
I learned so much from you.
Sandy Deppisch (48:05):
I just need to commission Brady to answer
questions for me about Josiah.
Yeah, like literally, I justsaid the other day that's it.
No more movies for Josiah.
I love movies and so I keeptaking the sensory friendly
movies, sensory friendlyactivities, that that you know
like a play and stuff like that.
Yeah, and he does not enjoy it.
And so I finally put up thewhite flag, like why am I making
(48:27):
this kid do something?
And I never thought about thedifferent voices that might be
difficult to process.
Yeah, wow.
Darcy Day (48:34):
Also remember apraxia is makes your body unreliable.
So what looks like?
They may not like it.
Actually, they may like it, butdo you put headphones on him?
Sandy Deppisch (48:49):
He won't wear them.
We've tried, we don't wear themyeah we've tried.
Yeah, we have the kind that youknow will play music and the
kind that are noise cancelingand yeah.
So, to wrap this up, I want youto tell parents listening today
that have a child with Downsyndrome, who they feel like.
We're good, my kid's reading,my kid speaks, I understand them
(49:09):
.
Maybe some other people don't,but I, you know, interpret for
them what.
What should they do?
Darcy Day (49:16):
Ask yourself what?
What's that future going tolook like?
Right, and do they have accessto their world?
Like that's what Speller'sMethod is Brady's future?
His future is totally different.
Now he can do whatever he wants.
If he wants to go to college, Ithink he's going to be going
(49:36):
into advocacy.
He wants to change.
He's very upset about this I'mgoing to call it narrative about
Down syndrome and, and you know, intellectual delay.
So he's very upset about thescience part and what they say
about people like him.
His future is, I mean, okay, sothat sounds like well, my kid
(49:58):
couldn't do that Well, becausethey don't have access to full,
reliable, robust communication.
So I would say, ask yourself,what kind of future do you want
for your child?
Like, if what I'm saying istrue and it is, if what I'm
saying is true, what could thatdo for your child?
To have it complete, fullaccess to all their thoughts,
(50:20):
ideas, hopes and dreams.
You know one they can actuallyeat what they like to eat and
they can actually do what theyreally want to do and not be in
these places that treat themlike a child.
I mean the future, oh my gosh,like it's completely different,
right, isn't it?
I mean I just it's so excitingand and that's why we just want
(50:44):
he always says he wants to fleehis people from their nest.
He says he's flown out of hisnest but now he, his job, is to
flee all those brothers andsisters that's what he calls
them, his brothers and sistersin the nest.
So they're still there, righttrapped, and he really does call
it a prison of silence.
It's a prison.
It's probably worse than aprison, right, but that's what
(51:06):
he calls it, his prison ofsilence that he used to be in.
So I mean I just encourageeverybody to like look at your
child today and look for signsthat yes, they got that, or oh
my gosh, I know they're in there, and then try it like,
seriously, there's no, a kidvery quickly can show you
(51:27):
competency through this Processand that's what I've seen with
people coming in right and mycurrent clients are local too.
All of them.
Sandy Deppisch (51:37):
Yeah, definitely , and I, I think too and we're
gonna put this in the show notesthe book Underestimated by JB
and Jamie Hanley.
That book will open your eyes,you know, because he didn't
believe his son could do iteither and he was weeping when
he did right, like, oh my gosh,the same.
Everything you've talked abouthere's, here's.
My final thought is you owe itto your child To do this.
(52:00):
Every parent that has a childwith downs or demos it to their
child to seek this opportunity.
That's right.
Yeah, so you just have to comehere and visit all of us, or we
have to come.
Darcy Day (52:10):
You know what?
Sandy Deppisch (52:11):
I have somebody from Houston.
Darcy Day (52:12):
That is inquiring.
So now there's yeah, so there'swe get a group of us.
How many do you need?
I mean, if I had four, I wouldfly out to you guys, okay.
Yeah, I would do so if you canget four, which I think we could
probably do.
That, you know, preferably withDown syndrome, because that's
my yes.
Yes, but you know, I'll do cuzI.
Sandy Deppisch (52:33):
Octasom too, I was gonna say well, josiah fit
in, cuz he's got the dualdiagnosis.
Darcy Day (52:36):
Actually he's no but you know I like Expand the hard
tribe as I call it.
You know we call him thespelling homies with an extra
chromie.
Sandy Deppisch (52:48):
So yeah, so there's somebody in the Houston
area.
It's already interested.
Darcy Day (52:54):
Yeah and she, they may fly out here, but like, so
yes okay, that would.
Sandy Deppisch (53:01):
We'll have to talk after and connect, and then
we just need two more.
Darcy Day (53:06):
Well, no, we don't need one more.
Why you and I don't want to sayher name, but you know.
And then the one, the other one, and then we need one more.
So the okay, I didn't reallywish you and I think she'll do
it.
Sandy Deppisch (53:19):
Okay, oh, I know , I know who you mean Okay, yes,
yeah, I need to have her on theshow too.
She's awesome yeah.
Darcy Day (53:25):
Yeah, and and I do workshops, by the way, and I
show Brady's progression ofspelling, you can't dispute it.
So I just did a conference ohgosh, not too long ago, maybe
two weeks and so I put togethera clip of Brady starting on
flapped boards with the threeboards.
We had to flap them so you onlysaw four letters at a time
because his eyes, and then itshows them without the flaps,
(53:46):
and then on the 26th, and thenon the lamina and then typing,
so I have a whole progression ofwhat it looks like.
So you have a link to that.
I Don't know, I don't like justhand that out.
Yeah, okay, yeah.
Sandy Deppisch (53:59):
I was just gonna say that'd be just so
Incredible for people to seethat you know.
Darcy Day (54:03):
Wow, I know but in the area we could do a talk.
We'll talk later, but yeah, andI could show that to everybody.
Sandy Deppisch (54:09):
Oh, oh yeah, she H feds parents group, the Down
syndrome support group.
Darcy Day (54:13):
You could come be a speaker, I could do it.
Sandy Deppisch (54:16):
Oh, girl, we're gonna make it happen.
Okay, you're amazing.
Thank you so much.
What I hope I made sense foryour listeners you did.
I mean, I keep trying to thinkof it.
If this was the first time Iever heard this concept, what
would I want to know?
And so I was trying to askthose kind of questions.
But it's hard because I'malready vested in it, you know,
(54:38):
and I know about it.
But yeah, I mean, we coulddefinitely come back and and do
it again if we have to, toexplain it in more detail.
But there's so much to thisthat, like I wanted to bring up
the whole piece about thepurposeful motor, like going to
Strong classes, like just I wasdoing those kind of things are
so important because they buildthe synapses in the brain to
make this more.
(54:58):
Yeah, have it for me so awesome.
Thank you, darcy, it was greatAppreciate.
Love you too.
Darcy Day (55:06):
Thanks.
Sandy Deppisch (55:07):
All right, see ya, bye, bye, thank you.
Thanks for listening to theembrace the blessing podcast.
Visit embrace the blessing calmslash podcast for show notes
and links to any resourcesmentioned.
If this has been beneficial toyou, please share it with a
friend or post it on your socialmedia pages.
Join me next Wednesday for moreinspiring stories from people
(55:29):
just like you.
Popular Podcasts
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com