Angelman Syndrome: Collin Farrell

As being a special education teacher you run across different types of disabilities and illnesses and you are always unsure on how to approach it at first.  Until, you stop and think about how would you work with any other type of child.  That child is the same except a few challenges that need to be over come.  As a student when I was in college I thought that I would be taught about all different types of disabilities, but I was wrong.  A few years ago, I was lucky enough to have the sweetest boy move into our district with a disability that I had never heard of.  The first thing I did was contact our coordinator who hadn't heard of it either.  That is where I begin doing research and finding different blogs to look at and the foundation website to learn more.  Since he has been in our district he has made leaps and bounds.  He is very special to me and I'm always wanting to learn more about him and his disability.  You don't hear about this disability very often and maybe that's why I had never heard of it, but I came across an actor who had a son with Angelman's Syndrome. His name is Colin Farrell.  He did a clip on Ellen's show and talked about his upcoming movie, but also his son.  I thought it was interesting, so I'm sharing it with you.  I also found an article he did.  I'm posting a piece of it, but also sharing the link for you to read the entire article.   

"Colin Farrell says he 'almost broke in half' when his son took his first steps. The Total Recall actor's eldest child James, nine, suffers from Angelman Syndrome - a neuro-genetic disorder with symptoms including intellectual and developmental disability, seizures, jerky movements and sleep disturbances - and he and the little boy's mother Kim Bordenave delight in his small milestones. He said: 'We share in the smallest victories; the first words at age six or seven, being able to feed oneself at 19 and getting the seizures under control. When James took his first steps at age four, I nearly broke in half!'"

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Colin Farrell talks about his son, James