cchavez
10-03-2003, 09:16 AM
I woke up this morning thinking that my family and I are so lucky. DS is very fortunate and I am sure will get more than enough gifts this Christmas. And I got to thinking of my former students. I was a bilingual speech therapist in a preschool setting for 5 years. My students were all lower income but in general they didn't lack for too much in the material sense....granted some of them lived in homes w/ their family and then maybe some other relatives to make ends meet but I did not see much poverty. And I know their parents worked very hard to provide for them but in general they all had food, clothes and toys to play with.
But one student I had a few years ago does stand out in my mind.....her name was Maria. She came to our classroom when she was 3 years old. She had a very significant hearing loss and speech/language and cognition were all very delayed. This little girl was absolutely beautiful but we had so much work to do with her. I remember the first day she literally clawed at me b/c she did not want to be at school but each day we saw progress. WE got her new hearing aids which helped. When she came to us she may have had a vocabulary of 10 words by the end of the semester she had close to 100 and was beginning to sign!!! I loved this little girl and would have seriously considered adopting her. But she did come for a very loving home......
Well, during Summer break I received a phone call from Maria's mother b/c they were going to be evicted from their apartment. Her mother was distraught. I went over to talk to her and to see if their was anything I could do. I had been to their home before but this time it really stuck me how bare bones everything was. Maria and her little brother had maybe 5 toys and they were not in such great condition. My Mom had bought be an inch worm toy at a garage sale and I remember giving that to them and they were so happy! I also went out the next day and bought them a few more toys. It turns out Maria and her family had to move to another town and her new school did not have a bilingual special education program so she was placed in class where she would learn English and sign, which was not an appropriate placement for her and she really regressed....but that is another story.
Anyway, I haven't heard from her family in about a year but the last time last time I talked to her Mom, they were doing better financially.
Anyway, this little girl will always remind me of how fortunate we are...in so many different ways. Every year the staff at my school would adopt a family and I would always get together with the teacher that I worked with to buy my students Christmas gifts....usually books b/c we did find that was the one thing they really did lack. But there was always some way to give back to the community through work especially during the holidays.
But since I no longer work, I need to find another way to give back to those that may have less. However, I am committed to doing this and hopefully my son will learn to do so when he is older.
Just my thoughts........
But one student I had a few years ago does stand out in my mind.....her name was Maria. She came to our classroom when she was 3 years old. She had a very significant hearing loss and speech/language and cognition were all very delayed. This little girl was absolutely beautiful but we had so much work to do with her. I remember the first day she literally clawed at me b/c she did not want to be at school but each day we saw progress. WE got her new hearing aids which helped. When she came to us she may have had a vocabulary of 10 words by the end of the semester she had close to 100 and was beginning to sign!!! I loved this little girl and would have seriously considered adopting her. But she did come for a very loving home......
Well, during Summer break I received a phone call from Maria's mother b/c they were going to be evicted from their apartment. Her mother was distraught. I went over to talk to her and to see if their was anything I could do. I had been to their home before but this time it really stuck me how bare bones everything was. Maria and her little brother had maybe 5 toys and they were not in such great condition. My Mom had bought be an inch worm toy at a garage sale and I remember giving that to them and they were so happy! I also went out the next day and bought them a few more toys. It turns out Maria and her family had to move to another town and her new school did not have a bilingual special education program so she was placed in class where she would learn English and sign, which was not an appropriate placement for her and she really regressed....but that is another story.
Anyway, I haven't heard from her family in about a year but the last time last time I talked to her Mom, they were doing better financially.
Anyway, this little girl will always remind me of how fortunate we are...in so many different ways. Every year the staff at my school would adopt a family and I would always get together with the teacher that I worked with to buy my students Christmas gifts....usually books b/c we did find that was the one thing they really did lack. But there was always some way to give back to the community through work especially during the holidays.
But since I no longer work, I need to find another way to give back to those that may have less. However, I am committed to doing this and hopefully my son will learn to do so when he is older.
Just my thoughts........