Of all the lessons I have learned since becoming the parent of children with special needs, Time, Planning and Priorities have been the most valuable. When my sons entered the world my wife and I were fortunate enough to be introduced to a woman that brought us a book titled Babies with Down Syndrome, A New Parents Guide edited by Karen Stray-Gundersen. The book offered information about Down syndrome (DS), its characteristics and what we might experience or encounter in the next few years of our son’s life.We were also fortunate enough to have a doctor that knew of a pediatrician that had vast experience with infants born with DS; and so I read the book from cover to cover and had a page full of questions and instructions for our new doctor about our new children and upon going over each and every item on my list, our doctor took a deep breath and asked my wife and I to relax and take time to enjoy our babies. He explained that he was familiar and very aware of what steps needed to be taken and when; his main concern at that point was us. This doctor had the nerve to care not only for our babies, but my wife and I as well; his concern was that in our haste to become experts on DS and prepare our sons for everything they could ever possibly face, that we might miss out on them being what they were right then, our babies.That day was March 11, 1995 and now its February 4, 2011, my how ‘time’ flies.Planning for children with special needs is an evolution; it is constantly changing as the needs of our children change and as they develop and grow; but of the most importance is to have a plan. Our plan included ‘early intervention’ which means that we sought out advice on what we could do as quickly as possible to give our sons the most opportunity to have the best possible life. This led us to Bal Swan Learning Center in Broomfield, CO and to Adams Camp where our sons received care and therapies and a foundation that we continue to nurture today.Roughly 10 years ago I attended a meeting held at our local Community Center Board (CCB); the topic was ‘Transition and Guardianship’ and I’ll never forget how many parents came to find out how the state of Colorado was going to care for their children when they turned 18. I was completely shocked that so many would allow their children to become a Ward of the state as their ‘plan’ for a better life.  I would also find out that the state of Colorado is one of the worst in our country for available services for the developmentally disabled and that there is a wait list in most if not all counties in Colorado for ‘consumers’ to get services when they become eligible. The wait list in Colorado is still as bad or worse today as it was 10 years ago; my point is that my wife and I have made several plans; plan A, B and C and we continue to modify all our plans as our son’s age. The worst thing that can happen is not having a plan when your child needs it most, and you are not there to see it through . . . if you need help in developing a plan and you don’t know who to contact or where to start, contact me.Priorities are next; each step must occur in the proper order, you know the saying, ‘do get put the cart in front of the horse’ and if you take ‘time’ to put together a ‘plan’ and base your plan on every scenario you think applies, then you can ‘prioritize’ accordingly. For example, our sons are currently half way through their sophomore year in high school; so we are currently planning for post high school education and services. Fortunately for us and our sons, we live in Adams 12 School District and our school district has the necessary program in place to support the needs of our children and those like them until age 21. This was part of our plan after our sons were born, you see we lived in Broomfield when our sons were born, but upon doing some research we felt most confident in Adams 12 to provide the appropriate educational environment for our children so we moved to Thornton to ensure our sons could attend Adams 12 schools; this is both planning and prioritizing.If you find this helpful, please share it with those that may need it; please feel free to comment or contact me at [1] Kelly@kreilife.com