Nia

Meet Nia & Parents

Brenda and Byron

My name is Byron, Nia is my daughter. Nia was born missing part of chromosome. This missing part of her chromosome caused some physical and mental developmental delays. Unfortunately some of her delays required surgery to correct, most noteworthy was her coanal atresia. Due to the missing chromosome complications (10p deletion) her nasal cavity did fully develop and she could not breathe through her nose. Less than a day old she was having emergency surgery! We spent several stressful days in the NICU while she recovered. A few weeks later my wife Brenda found her choking and having a seizure! In short, we were back at the PICU where we found out further about her 10p deletion over the next few weeks. The current diagnosis for her rare condition is called “DeGeorge Type 2” which unfortunately does not have a lot of literature on, and most typically each child (who has it) displays differing levels of how severely they are effected.  As parents of a special needs child, we have to face every day’s challenges as they come, and at the same time try to nurture her into the great child we know she can be. Its hard to encapsulate into a small paragraph because its a complex set variables, but suffice to say, she has had a great deal of challenge in her short life. Also, though she has had many challenges we are able to celebrate a lot of her successes on her path.

Linsey was Nia’s 2020 kindergarten teacher. Due to Covid our school district implemented ‘remote learning’ which was not ideal for us working parents to facilitate. The fact that Nia is special needs, high-energy and her previously mentioned delays complicated the remote learning equation. As such, we decided that it would be valuable for Nia to repeat kindergarten in order to really lock in some foundational learning.  It was a great decision. Her growth was exponential. Nia is still on her own path, but no doubt she grew great strides under Linsey’s instruction. Linsey has a way of bringing out some of Nia’s untapped knowledge. Linsey has two Bachelor’s: Gen- education and special-education ~ and a Masters in curriculum and instruction. I believe this knowledge has honed her instincts for educating and facilitating learning in young developing minds. This educational tool kit is in my opinion in addition to nearly two decades of in class education more than qualifies Linsey to facilitate her vision for Hope WINS. 

“Mac Camp” over the summer and from time to time on no-school days Linsey held a pretty advanced daycare of sorts. It was very inclusive diverse group of children, ethnicities and educational levels. They did various re-enforced learning projects and took field trips to the park, pool and museums. She also lead several craft projects and all kinds of fun educational filled days.  In addition to all that learning the kiddos burned off excess calories if the space and or weather provided the opportunity.  It is a great foundation for her Hope WINS vision.

In summary, due to our unique situation regarding our child’s condition, her special education needs and our relationship with Linsey both as kindergarten teacher and as Mac Camp parents: We have insight in a both school non-school settings, where we were able to see how much she cares for children; and how she crams so much learning and fun into education in and out of the school setting. Educating, it is in her blood and in her bones and it drives her ability to teach. My family appreciates the inclusive caring manner Linsey exemplifies and highly recommend her in this capacity.

Regards,

Byron and Brenda Bullock