Chapter One- Introducing Keaton

         I would like to introduce you to my son Keaton.  He was born March 10th 2005. He had black hair, which later fell out and turned almost white.  He had huge blue eyes we could already tell would never change color.   He was 5 pounds exactly.  He was 5 weeks premature.  He spent 17 days in the NICU.  He had to be breath with the help of a ventilator for more than two weeks.  He was fed through a tube.   He could only be reached through the doors of his incubator.  I thought that was the hardest thing I would ever have to watch him go through . . . and then he started school. 

          I don't share the story of Keaton's birth to elicit sympathy or to invoke sadness.  I am sharing it with you to put into perspective the gravity of watching my child struggle with every letter, every word a mountain the summit of which he can't quite reach.
    
       Keaton was always our 'little sweet pea' .  Just a genuinely good natured and friendly little boy.  He was our little surfer baby, laid back and often lost in what we jokingly referred to as Keaton-land.  There are so many little things that I reflect on now that we just attributed to his personality.  Forgetting what he was doing mid-task, not being able to remember my brother-in-law's name,  his most often used phrase 'was oops I forgot'.  Now these cute little quirks shoot red flags and alarm bells coursing through my brain. 

      The first day of preschool he was so excited, I was sure his little 4 year old heart was going to pound right through his chest.  It quickly became apparent that his quirky forgetfulness was more than that.  The letters of the alphabet might as well have been hieroglyphs.   His preschool teachers recommended the pre-k summer program.  Keaton was thrilled- he finally got to ride the bus like the big kids.  It was during this program that we could no longer question it- there was something wrong. 

      Kindergarten should be one of the most exciting times for a child.  Going to school for the first time, making friends, learning, starting to accumulate the memories that they will carry with them for a lifetime.  Keaton was not so lucky.  Did he have fun and make friends?  He did- a few I suspect will be of the lifelong variety.  A dark cloud hung over the year however.  He was retaining almost nothing.  I  immediately started searching and reading and trying to find the answer to why my amazing little boy couldn't remember what he was learning. 

      First we started with the Dr's appointments, we'll go into those later, I was determined to walk into school armed and prepared and ready to put a plan into place to get Keaton learning, remembering, READING.  Boy was I in for a surprise. 

      That brings us where we are today, in a nutshell.  Keaton is in first grade and we are still fighting to find a way to unlock the door for Keaton to read.  That is what I want to share.  Our ups, our downs, hopefully our break throughs. I will not stop fighting for my enthusiastic, loving, sweet little Keaton and I hope our journey will encourage others not to get discouraged when what comes easy to others is harder for them.