April's Accessible Outdoor Play

Our youngest child, April, is a happy, active and determined five year old.  She has worked hard to meet and overcome her physical and developmental  challenges, the result of a serious non-accidental head injury, sustained when she was a toddler. April has been part of our family since those early and scary days and a year ago we were so overjoyed to adopt her and become her forever family.

April's unstable gait, a result of left side weakness, her low vision, seizure disorder and her safety issues that are a direct result of the injuries sustained that have brought her other intellectual challenges have made it hard for her to have a typical childhood. April has a 1:1 aide in school and continues to work hard with speech, vision, physical and visual therapists as well as many doctors .

I never expected to ask for assistance but we have so dearly wished to provide April with an accessible outdoor play structure as well as a fenced yard and if possible better steps or a ramp with railings for the front of our home.  After discussing this with various companies that provide structures and fencing I believe this will cost as much as 10-12,000 dollars to do everything and so I thought maybe it was time to ask for a little help from others while we also put money aside to save for these changes.

A safe yard with a play structure will provide April with the exercise and joy she gets playing outdoors while providing boundaries to keep her safe.  If we are able to adapt our front walkway and steps she will also be able to safely negotiate the entry to our home without falls. 

I thank you all for reading this.