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[abdspouse]

Anyone else out there trying to do grad school with a special needs child?

Anyone else feeling like dropping out every time you miss a deadline?

This isn't really a question, I'm just looking for kindred spirits with whom to vent.

I was just starting to feel like I had everything together when my daughter had to spend 6 days in the hospital right at the end of summer semester.  Now I'm trying to get back on my feet and FINISH MY &#$#^*& papers.

[abdspouse]

Ok, replying to my own thread here.

I just sent off my paper.  Yeah!  Exactly 1 month overdue.

When my daughter was born she was hospitalized for a month.  I was in the middle of my first semester and took incompletes.  I was able to keep up with my second semester by being flexible with my deadlines and finished my first semester work during my third.  Third semester I met every deadline and I was feeling good about it.  Now I'm in my forth and I feel like I'm back at the beginning again.  One class is now done, but I still have work for my second class.

Sometimes I'm not sure why I'm doing this.

[new_bus_prof]

Grad school is extremely difficult with kids, SO, family, and all the deadlines in general.

Sick kids, hospitalizations, school schedules, unemployed spouses, employed spouses, family member celebrations, events, conference travel, class deadlines, projects and papers...

Yes its a hard thing to learn to balance.

[dr_seuss]

Hi there, abdspouse--
I have a special needs kid, though he wasn't born until shortly after I started on the TT.  I do know the feeling about missing deadlines.  My son was born nearly three months early, and during a period of time when I'd planned to do a whole lot of work.  Two weeks after he was born (he stayed in the hospital for months and during that first week we didn't know if he'd live or not), my book manuscript was due to the publisher, and a month after that I had a submission deadline for an essay in a collected volume.  I managed to get the book in on time, but that article sat unfinished for a while.  Thank goodness for understanding colleagues and friends. 

It can be hard to care about deadlines and academic stuff when there's so much else going on.  It's been over two years since I was introduced into the whole special needs world, and I'm just now getting to the point where work sounds interesting again.  Feel free to PM me if you want, and best of luck in your program...

[quietncali]

Yes, I did a grad program with a special needs child. Before the hospital incident, I was hampered early in the program with little sicknesses (you know, a cold, a fever) here and there; but nothing traumatic. 
I was almost done with courses and needed 3 more hours-- I wanted to finish in summer I and vacation in late July rather than enroll during the fall.  That was probably a mistake.  I missed a couple of summer classes because of being in the hospital.  After the hospital stay I could not concentrate.  In class, I only thought about my child, and I held my cell phone in my palm because it was literally my life line.  It was misery (both the class and the hospital stay) but I made it through.   

it's a tough route, congrats on getting through it.