Alejandra keeps a photo on her refrigerator – her favorite from the Jordan Center:
Her 5-year-old daughter is on the playground. She’s leaning against a wall with her classmates, and they’re all striking a “cool kid” pose.

It’s a moment of preschool grit – one of many in the life of Natalia. A moment to celebrate.

Natalia was born with a chromosomal abnormality that affects her ability to chew, speak, and walk. It’s so rare that doctors couldn’t tell her parents what to expect as she aged. So they brought
her home – on a feeding tube – with no good prognosis, and Alejandra wondered how she’d ever get back to her job as a social worker.

She feared no childcare center would take Natalia. Worse, she feared a center would agree to take Natalia, then park her in a corner and ignore her.

Then she found the Jordan Center – and, finally, reasons for hope.

Teachers learned to manage Natalia’s feeding tube. And when she was able, they helped her eat solid food – the same food, mashed a bit, her friends ate. They ordered a chair that scooted her under the group tables like everyone else. They included her in every activity – and made sure story time (her favorite) didn’t happen when therapists took her out for speech or walking.

To classmates, she was just Natalia – the friend who likes books and wagon rides and all the other activities of preschool, even if she participated differently.

“I love that,” Alejandra says. “I love that they were able to see her, someone who is different, and include her.”

And this explains the photo on the fridge.

“I teared up when I saw it,” Alejandra says. “Natalia is with her friends. She’s not sitting, she’s standing with them.”

The photo stays up even after Natalia moved on to public schools. She’s got a new set of friends in a special-needs classroom – but she’s still the same Natalia, happy to be with people.

And her family celebrates.

“Natalia has taught us to appreciate the little things and applaud her successes,” Alejandra says.

“No matter how small – a success is always a win.”
friends make all the difference