For this episode, I connect with one of my longtime friends, Hannah Heck, who has a 12-year-old boy named Teddy who has Down syndrome.
Hannah Heck is a mother of 4 and a lawyer, who now does advocacy and public policy work in the areas of education and kids with special needs.
Hannah’s oldest child is a 12-year-old boy named Teddy who has Down syndrome. Hannah was so kind to share glimpses into her family’s life and talk about what it’s been like for them to navigate the challenges they’ve faced related to Teddy’s diagnosis.
In this episode, we discuss:
- How Hannah, her husband, and other family members processed the diagnosis differently
- The importance of allowing others to process in their own way and time
- How Hannah managed to attend law school while having a child with special needs and other young children to care for
- How Hannah and her husband find balance in their life all of the things they are told they “should” be doing (early intervention, therapies, classes, etc) with the other things their family values (bonding time, family outings, fun activities, etc)
- What it’s like for Hannah’s 3 younger children to have a sibling with Down Syndrome
- How she helps Teddy’s classmates and other children learn and talk about others with differences
Links: @haircutsandhandstands
