 You go on a journey of hope just getting pregnant then someone says whoa You're not on that journey. You're on a different journey and all you read is that it's sorrowful and burdensome and You don't work and someone will have to take care of them and I'm thinking I Help take care of my parents and now Maddie will have to take care of this baby We had gone away for the weekend and it was a glorious weekend and I remember thinking God I cannot believe That you were so good that I would have a precious husband an amazing little boy And I'm pregnant again, and I've made it this far But I had had a sinus infection. So I thought I would call and ask if I could take some sinus medicine Mrs. Littekin he's been waiting for you and on the phone. He said I'm really sorry The news came back and your baby has Down syndrome Don't worry. We can take care of this. I hung up and literally Fell to the ground with my big belly just to the ground just sobbing and sobbing and all I could say was My baby has Down syndrome my baby has Down syndrome. I Thought children with Down syndrome were kind of bumps on the log because that's what I experienced Seeing people with Down syndrome. I just felt like he wasn't gonna learn. He wasn't gonna achieve very much But I really struggled trying to think of what it would be for her sister And it made me so sad And I just started sobbing and my husband's like why are you crying? I said because I wanted to have a son for you to work on old cars with and do plumbing with He says to me who says he won't We just literally we were broken. We were on our knees. We just didn't know what we would do There was this little book that I found I read one sentence that I thought was our answer as a family And I handed him the book and I said See if this is an answer for us At the end of the time he read it and he said Is it that you can only drink the cup of sorrow? If you drink it in community, I said yes, that's the sentence. He said well We've formed a lot of community, but I don't know if we have this kind of community and I think the very next day I just said okay Let's do this We look on internet. I try and read books. I go to some groups I find a lot of information on the internet about inclusion and Down syndrome And then along the way I would meet these amazing women And when I called Nancy, I I remember it so vividly I Need to know how to get her everything she needs and I am under the impression That you know the words and the language to help me open those doors both my parents are deaf and It was in a time when there weren't phone calls or phones and things interpreters even to use and I'm an only child Sign language is my first language. They signed to me at home. They said good morning, and it's just like you learn any other language so my entire House of my life was that I was kind of the bridge builder between them and the hearing world Nancy Liddiken telling us that sign language is a good thing With sign language, and I'm talking early on these kids can be months old giving you a sign that Is bigger than just a sign it means all things are possible to me. You're connecting. It's like the Helen Keller Moment, right? It's like I've got you. You've got me all of us had struggles with our kids health or different kinds of things The word suffering Burden was never in our conversation We're parents of kids that have some extra needs. I Was so moved in touch by the deep love and the belief and possibilities and So saddened that all of us experienced Such low expectations of our kids So we said let's meet let's meet every week So every week for two years at my kitchen table We just pulled every resource we had and we began to fly around the United States and see What was out there? Whatever happens has to be For the greater good of all individuals with Down syndrome a lot of us said we wanted our children to read We had this bright idea that we would have a reading conference Maybe we should see if anybody else's would have any interest we throw this conference Hoping somebody would sign up And it was maxed out at 215 the evaluations and what people said was I need a place to go And I think it was time for action We were ready to do something besides just feel cozy with our team mugs in a room And we began to really get clear that we were just about education with the end goal of an independent life employment and choice and Then on March 21st of 2009 we opened our doors at club 21. We kind of put our dreams out there Oh, you just smile at your dad. Are you smiling at your daddy? Has she melted your heart? Like you're just you're a puddle She's gonna be great If you have education You don't have education Then you're kind of flabby So that's why we just I used to come Thank you guys for coming Well, thank you All will be well All will be well, really nice Take care And what do you say, Luca? Are you ready? Perfect Try this Yeah The world thinks oh, maybe if you have a high-functioning quote high-functioning kid with Down syndrome Maybe they'll read what's their learning profile? The research shows that they're visual learners So you put a picture sign language the word dog the impairment is on the short-term memory So it means to get something like the word dog into long-term memory You got to repeat it repeat it repeat it repeat it repeat it if you can read You have an open door which is like the keys to the kingdom Like if you're gonna cook I mean we don't always take the time to assemble But isn't that how it works best? So you assemble your stuff and then you go through the steps and for a lot of kids I mean this is great fine motor That's a fun idea, I can't I never thought this would be so basic Basic, right? That's what we forget about I think it's the basic stuff Overthink things He would just read something and just put words in there that would be the easiest for him to say And like but now I'm like like no like keep doing it And he's actually reading like everything perfectly And so and I'm like oh it's good to know that he can do that And at that point he'll correct himself too Which is really exciting But now I want him to read books because I know he can So it goes started in Broadway then went to Hollywood What's number two? What's number two? You can find the title of the book where Oh my lord What's the title? Look at this Encyclopedia Any Starting with A That's my favorite I saw it on YouTube I love it Wow I love it I love it Kathy Bates was mistaken Kathy Bates was mistaken I can't believe you know that I knew that breast milk was the best thing to build his brain Oh my gosh I remember one doctor's appointment The doctor asked what kind of formula we gave him And Fred says we don't use the effort in our house The kids just gravitated toward Tim He was in a tennis camp And everybody wanted to be his buddy at this tennis camp And so there he is holding court You know we went to amusement parks And he loved the girls as you can see He's gazing at her adorably That morning that Tim didn't wake up My mom had just died three weeks before And we had buried her on Monday And he didn't wake up on a Friday And Fridays was the day that I would go to club 21 And be a facilitator for the first steps group Birth to age three Those moms that usually went to club 21 Drove up here They sat on my sofa They cried with us And they just They were just present So that was a community That I couldn't lose I mean I'd already lost my mom I lost my son I couldn't lose this community That was so much a part of my life by now Yeah that's why I keep coming back So for me it gave me a lot of peace To know these are people living their life In a very similar fashion So whatever that initial shock And sadness It was quickly replaced by community Of people living it Doing it and thriving Thriving, not just surviving Like thriving This organization started as an idea And it started because there was nobody there Helping teachers teach our kids There was nobody that told the research On Down syndrome to families One night I just gathered people That I'd seen in therapy and I said I said I don't know what I'm doing But we've got to do so It wasn't doom and gloom Nancy gave me hope too She was forging a path for us And as so many other mothers Before us have done