The children I work with all have special needs, and they are all very precious to me. The many facets of their personalities make this true for a variety of reasons. Although the students in the classroom are all within the same I.Q. range, their disabilities vary.
The most fascinating of the disabilities for me is that of the autism spectrum disorder. It is a challenge to form a two-way bond with these students because of the emotional disconnect that comes with being autistic.
I want the students who have this disorder to understand that I care about them. I want them to experience the feel of that emotion. I want them to feel more connected with the world and not so isolated. It causes me great sadness to think of anyone going through life without experiencing love and that is exactly what some of them have to do.
I know that I am not going to accomplish this with all of them, but I am going to try as hard as I can. I am pretty stubborn when I feel it's worth it, and I can't think of a better cause.
I have worked with autistic students that have fallen anywhere from the lowest functioning end of the spectrum to the highest functioning end of the spectrum.
One of the savant students that I worked with in the past was so amazing. He would hold your face between his hands when he first met you and say "what's your first name?" then he would inquire about the rest of your name then ask "where are you from?" This question would be followed by him asking for your date of birth.
He could calculate how old you were in days and tell you what day of the week you were born on in a fraction of a second. I know this because once after he had transferred to another area high school, I walked into a room at a county event, and he shouted out for all to hear "Mrs. Arlene Lynn Foster, from Atlanta, Georgia, 43 years old in 39 days!".
In case I forgot to mention it disabilities don't come with filters on what should and should not be said aloud.
I now work very closely with a couple of female students that are autistic. My co-workers call one of them my shadow. Her desk is located right beside mine and she wouldn't have it any other way. To tell you the truth neither would I.
She is very sweet most of the time and has a beautiful smile. Once in a while however, she will have a bad day, and she becomes aggressive. She has thrown things at me, turned her desk over, cursed, slapped me and kicked me, and I have gone home with bruises the size of softballs.
Some of these episodes have occurred in the community in front of a large number of people. The episodes are not necessarily prompted by something that is happening right at the moment . Although, the cause could be something happening at the time the aggressive behavior occurs, it could very well be due to something that has happened days or even weeks before.
My shadow for instance, believes, with a conviction that I have been unable to overturn, that I make the rain. As luck would have it ...she hates the rain...rain causes an immediate bad day. I have tried to convince her that God or whatever name she might recognize as her higher power makes the rain, but in her mind I'm the rainmaker and so the ramifications are mine.
I am sure that some people would say that I am crazy for doing what I do. I on the other hand, don't believe that I am. I care a great deal about these students and regardless of how their disability affects their behavior, as long as I can say that any negative behavior they exhibit is a manifestation of their disability then I'm okay with it.
I know that it is much more frustrating for them than I could even begin to imagine. As I said earlier the one thing that is really painful for me and makes my heart ache for the students with an autistic disability is the lack of emotional connection with other people that some of them have.
I have worked with one particular female for about 4 years now and just this year she began to say I love you in response to my saying it to her first.
Finally, about a month ago, she said it to me without any prompting. I have to tell you that I cried. It meant more to me than you could begin to imagine. This same student also stares at me all day long. Needless to say my ability to recognize the fact that I am being stared at is virtually non-existent due to this behavior of hers.
One day last week, I ask her why she was staring at me, and she said "because I want to". I responded with the question "why do you want to?" She said "because I love you" with this huge grin on her face. I melted. It was a wonderful moment for me.
I have always believed that Obsessive Compulsive Disorder is correlated with Autism and I'm not sure what the most recent research shows about that. I am also convinced that immunizations play a part in its cause.
In the 1980s a child received 10 immunizations before the age of 6, now they receive 36 before they are that age.
In the 1970s and 1980s 1 in every 2000 children was diagnosed with autism. The Centers For Disease Control and prevention said in their February prevalence report that now 1 in every 150 children are diagnosed with autism. Studies have also shown that a male child is 4 times more likely to be diagnosed with autism than a female child so this statistic becomes 1 in 94 for male children.
I have a personal belief that the children could also possibly be genetically predisposed and that potentially something in the immunizations triggers the autism.
A story was released by the Huffington Post that said three weeks after a Vaccine Court ruled against three families that claimed that vaccines caused autism in their children, Special Master Abell of the Vaccine Court awarded $810,000, and medical compensation to parents of a young boy named Bailey Banks.
This came after Special Master Abell ruled that the petitioners had proven that an inflammation illness called acute disseminated encephalomyetis (ADEM) was the result of his MMR vacine which triggered his autism.
I hope that this is a step forward in making scientists take a look at doing more research on the cumulative effects of vaccines, and not only the effects of each individual vaccine if it were to be given alone.
Although I know for many, discovering the cause for autism is not a priority at this time, It desperately needs to be. We need to be concerned about this as a society. No one is safe from this becoming a personal issue. With the statistics showing autism on the rise at such a rapid rate, it is no longer only the problem of the people who have been diagnosed and their families....
This is most definitely everyone's problem.....
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
"It's A Boy! Activate The Tracking Device"
Last Thursday I was at a metro Atlanta hospital, for the birth of my grandson. This event was very exciting for my entire family, and I have to add that the baby is beautiful!
A few things happened over the course of the two days, however, that weren't as nice as his arrival. One of them was that my daughter spent an entire day and most of an evening, under the care of nurse Ratched.
This wasn't the most alarming thing that happened, and we weren't surprised considering all hospitals seem to have one or more of these type nurses on their payroll. Maybe it's some sort of an attitude diversity requirement.
Anyway, the other thing was a little more alarming to me than the demeanor of my daughter's nurse.
We were decorating the door of her room with the usual bows, ribbons and signs declaring the arrival and sex of the baby. As we were doing this, one of the nurses came up and said "We no longer allow the doors of our new mothers to be decorated."
Someone in the family said "Excuse me?" The nurse then said "these days it is entirely to dangerous to advertise not only that you have a newborn, but also the sex of the baby".
It seems that not only are there baby thieves striking at area hospitals, but the children are being snatched according to the perpetrator's boy or girl preference.
I was beyond shocked when I learned all of this, although considering what I already knew about the state of the world, I'm not sure I should have been.
We had seen the security guard walking, at a somewhat alarming rate, earlier that day with his hand on his gun, mace, or whatever, and talking on his radio. Still, the fact that a child could be in danger of being stolen never occurred to me.
Right after the nurse completed her no decoration rule explanation, the baby arrived in the room. I immediately unwrapped him, to get a better look, like grandmothers do, and that's when I spotted it.
He was wearing a small ankle bracelet that made him appear as if he were on house arrest. It was a small white hard plastic square box type apparatus with a ribbon type material running through it.
I asked the next nurse that entered the room what it was. She looked at me, and without batting an eye, said "it's a tracking device".
Well, after a hard pause, I looked at her and responded with "are you serious?" She assured me that she was.
Upon hearing this, needless to say, my daughter and son-in-law never let my grandson out of their sight again.
I left the hospital thinking even the most precious moments in our lives cannot remain untouched by crime.
The only thought that followed that one for me was...Let us pray...
A few things happened over the course of the two days, however, that weren't as nice as his arrival. One of them was that my daughter spent an entire day and most of an evening, under the care of nurse Ratched.
This wasn't the most alarming thing that happened, and we weren't surprised considering all hospitals seem to have one or more of these type nurses on their payroll. Maybe it's some sort of an attitude diversity requirement.
Anyway, the other thing was a little more alarming to me than the demeanor of my daughter's nurse.
We were decorating the door of her room with the usual bows, ribbons and signs declaring the arrival and sex of the baby. As we were doing this, one of the nurses came up and said "We no longer allow the doors of our new mothers to be decorated."
Someone in the family said "Excuse me?" The nurse then said "these days it is entirely to dangerous to advertise not only that you have a newborn, but also the sex of the baby".
It seems that not only are there baby thieves striking at area hospitals, but the children are being snatched according to the perpetrator's boy or girl preference.
I was beyond shocked when I learned all of this, although considering what I already knew about the state of the world, I'm not sure I should have been.
We had seen the security guard walking, at a somewhat alarming rate, earlier that day with his hand on his gun, mace, or whatever, and talking on his radio. Still, the fact that a child could be in danger of being stolen never occurred to me.
Right after the nurse completed her no decoration rule explanation, the baby arrived in the room. I immediately unwrapped him, to get a better look, like grandmothers do, and that's when I spotted it.
He was wearing a small ankle bracelet that made him appear as if he were on house arrest. It was a small white hard plastic square box type apparatus with a ribbon type material running through it.
I asked the next nurse that entered the room what it was. She looked at me, and without batting an eye, said "it's a tracking device".
Well, after a hard pause, I looked at her and responded with "are you serious?" She assured me that she was.
Upon hearing this, needless to say, my daughter and son-in-law never let my grandson out of their sight again.
I left the hospital thinking even the most precious moments in our lives cannot remain untouched by crime.
The only thought that followed that one for me was...Let us pray...
Saturday, April 4, 2009
"The Written Word"
I am a bit old fashioned in more than a few of my ways and beliefs. I have perfumed handkerchiefs and Victorian calling cards in my purse. I say ma'am and sir when addressing my elders and I believe in the written word.
On a personal level, I actually enjoy writing letters. James A. Michener, a novelist and short story writer, once said "I love writing, I love the swirl and swing of words as they tangle with human emotion". I love this quote because it describes the way I feel about writing perfectly.
I realize that people are busy these days and that our ability to email each other is both simple and convenient. Now, when people are in a rush, it isn't even required that they type out an entire word.
You can, evidently, just type a letter or two. Some examples of this that I have seen are; u for the word you, u r, for the words you are, or when place together, ur to represent the word you're. I suppose that's great sometimes, for certain things like short messages, or for things of a non-personal nature.
I do, however, feel that there are times when we should put forth the effort it takes to write someone a letter, and that saying thank you with a written note is mandatory. I believe that when someone takes the time to do something for us that deserves our thanks, the very least we can do is take the time to write them a thank you note.
Not so long ago my husband was shown great kindness and generosity by several of his co-workers. I hand wrote around forty thank you notes and was more than happy to do it, as well I should have been.
My husband in turn took the thank you notes, and gave them to an administrative officer, to be placed in the office mailboxes of his co-workers. Needless to say, his doing this caused me to suffer a complete and total hissy fit. After said fit, I informed him that I hoped he was satisfied to have single handedly caused Emily Post to be rolling over in her grave....Please mail your letters and thank you notes. Hand delivery is not an option.
As far as writing letters go, I have always done it. I enjoyed writing my grandparents and some of my other relatives when I was a little girl, and I am still a letter writer today. I write both good and bad letters. Good as in, You're doing a fantastic job, or I'm thinking of you...Bad as in I'm disgruntled, and I'm going to need your name.
I just think that writing letters is a much more personal way of communicating, and it upsets me to see this practice disappearing completely from our society. I would venture to guess that most people couldn't even begin to tell you when the last time was that they went to their mailbox and found a handwritten letter waiting there for them, and I think that's just a shame.
Emails are quick and convenient, as I said before, but the next time you find yourself thinking of someone you haven't seen or spoken to in awhile, take the time to write them a letter letting them know that you are thinking of them.
There is some really beautiful stationary still being sold, and wax stamps are still available to seal your envelopes. Ladies, use your favorite perfume and spray a mist of it over your letter, seal it, and stamp it. It really is very little effort that will most certainly go a long way.....
On a personal level, I actually enjoy writing letters. James A. Michener, a novelist and short story writer, once said "I love writing, I love the swirl and swing of words as they tangle with human emotion". I love this quote because it describes the way I feel about writing perfectly.
I realize that people are busy these days and that our ability to email each other is both simple and convenient. Now, when people are in a rush, it isn't even required that they type out an entire word.
You can, evidently, just type a letter or two. Some examples of this that I have seen are; u for the word you, u r, for the words you are, or when place together, ur to represent the word you're. I suppose that's great sometimes, for certain things like short messages, or for things of a non-personal nature.
I do, however, feel that there are times when we should put forth the effort it takes to write someone a letter, and that saying thank you with a written note is mandatory. I believe that when someone takes the time to do something for us that deserves our thanks, the very least we can do is take the time to write them a thank you note.
Not so long ago my husband was shown great kindness and generosity by several of his co-workers. I hand wrote around forty thank you notes and was more than happy to do it, as well I should have been.
My husband in turn took the thank you notes, and gave them to an administrative officer, to be placed in the office mailboxes of his co-workers. Needless to say, his doing this caused me to suffer a complete and total hissy fit. After said fit, I informed him that I hoped he was satisfied to have single handedly caused Emily Post to be rolling over in her grave....Please mail your letters and thank you notes. Hand delivery is not an option.
As far as writing letters go, I have always done it. I enjoyed writing my grandparents and some of my other relatives when I was a little girl, and I am still a letter writer today. I write both good and bad letters. Good as in, You're doing a fantastic job, or I'm thinking of you...Bad as in I'm disgruntled, and I'm going to need your name.
I just think that writing letters is a much more personal way of communicating, and it upsets me to see this practice disappearing completely from our society. I would venture to guess that most people couldn't even begin to tell you when the last time was that they went to their mailbox and found a handwritten letter waiting there for them, and I think that's just a shame.
Emails are quick and convenient, as I said before, but the next time you find yourself thinking of someone you haven't seen or spoken to in awhile, take the time to write them a letter letting them know that you are thinking of them.
There is some really beautiful stationary still being sold, and wax stamps are still available to seal your envelopes. Ladies, use your favorite perfume and spray a mist of it over your letter, seal it, and stamp it. It really is very little effort that will most certainly go a long way.....
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