Addressing a child’s special needs can be difficult overseas

[unhappycamper]

Wendy Funches plays with her youngest daughter, Eden, while discussing her development with Roy Fowler, an early childhood special needs educator with Education and Developmental Intervention Services. At 3 weeks old, Eden was diagnosed with coloboma, a rare eye disorder that left the child blind.


Addressing a child’s special needs can be difficult overseas
By Charlie Reed, Stars and Stripes
European edition, Sunday, February 8, 2009

Tech. Sgt. Ross Funches and his wife, Wendy, loved raising their family overseas from the day they arrived in England in 2005.

The couple enjoyed traveling with their children and considered the assignment at RAF Mildenhall a benefit to their family’s growth. They had planned to extend their tour until shortly after their daughter, Eden, was born in April.

But at only 3 weeks old, Eden was diagnosed with coloboma, a rare eye disorder. Their youngest child was blind.

"We were crushed at first," said Ross Funches, 35, a special operations noncommissioned officer with a tattooed wedding band on his ring finger. "But now we’re excited. God made Eden the way she is. … We kind of felt guilty about being upset."

Still coping with the shock of Eden’s disability, the couple, who have three other children, soon discovered there were limited services for the blind at Mildenhall and nearby RAF Lakenheath, home to the largest Air Force hospital in Europe.


Rest of article at: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=60556