There is a young woman in my church who is about 19 years old. Very gentle. She has had a number of difficult to diagnose health issues and an unusual pattern of learning disabilities...so I of course immediately warmed to her.
She is coming to my house two afternoons a week now to help me with the boys. She can sit for them if I need to run out or can listen to one read while I spend some individual time with the other.
I figure this gives me a 1:1 student to adult ratio those afternoons...combine that with the fact that we also offer a 1:1 student to computer ratio and I'm thinking my little school sounds all manner of elite and marketable...
Yesterday the four of us went for a hike at Connetquot State Park. During one of our breaks, we discovered that Claire is particularly interested in Egyptian history and artifacts. She offered to bring over some of her favorite books and show them to the boys.
"What are some of the things you find most interesting about Egyptian history?" Ben asked.
"Well, they worshipped cats. They had all sorts of gods and goddesses that are different from our God. And when you died? You got buried with the things you loved most so that you would have them in the afterlife."
This led to one of my all-time favorite types of conversations: what would get buried with you?
"Mom would get buried with her laptop," Ben said immediately.
"There are no pop-ups and free wi-fi in the afterlife," I agreed.
"Well, if you're good," James chimed in.
"I'd get buried with my Wii and with my shark collection," Ben offered.
Claire would get buried with her favorite CD's: John Lennon, The Donnas, Mariah Carey. James would get buried with his Lego Aqua Raiders. And some chocolate. And a fuzzy blanket for if it got chilly. And the PlayStation II--since he planned on dying after Ben, so the Wii would already be gone.
2 comments:
Just thought I'd share with you that my 6 year old nephew who had been diagnosed as "bipolar" (which I knew months ago is a no-no at that age)and medicated to the point of being zombie like, is now being re-evaluated for possible Asperger's. First time I think anyone has ever gone "Oh! Its just Asperger's?? WHEW!"
I hear you! And I love it!
But I think the more people know about Asperger's...the more we learn about how to educate atypical kids...the more people will have that "Whew!" moment.
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