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The Change in a Fifth-Grade Boy |
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The fifth grade children began filing into the multipurpose room one early fall morning. They took their seat on the floor, with the exception of one boy, Mark (name changed), who used a motorized wheelchair. |
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From a Teacher's Perspective |
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When we received a questionnaire with responses indicating a definite improvement in interactions between students including those with disabilities, we requested a description about the benefit of A Touch of Understanding from a teacher's perspective. This was the response. |
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A group of children of mixed ages came into the gymnasium for A Touch of Understanding. One boy, who was bigger than the others, sat off to the side. The other children seemed to leave a space between themselves and Daniel (name changed).
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We had just finished our last presentation to fourth grade students at Penryn Elementary School. The ATOU team was beginning to pack up and load the van. Steven (named changed), a fourth grade boy, came up to me to talk to me privately. He said, "You know how you talked about your aunt? (referring to my family member with developmental disabilities). Well, I have a cousin like that. She's seven, but she can't talk yet. I don't usually like to hang around my younger cousins, but she's different." |
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A nine-year old boy with cerebral palsy sat in his wheelchair alone outside a classroom door. Unable to speak, unable to move, he waited. He waited for minutes, for hours. He had been removed from his classroom by his teacher. His infraction? Disrupting the class with his drooling. His fellow classmates helped him by wiping his chin. His teacher found this distracting. She removed him. This boy is now a sophomore in a Placer County high school. |
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From our Volunteer, JDD's, Perspective |
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Ruby and I were working together helping children learn how to use the white mobility canes. This activity gives the students a little bit of an idea of how I navigate as a blind person.
When Stephanie, a fourth grader, was introduced to me, I could barely hear her little voice and could make out almost none of the few words she spoke. I was told that she normally is in a wheelchair but that her aide was going to hold her up while she tried to walk with her eyes closed, swinging the white cane in front of her. She tried for a few moments and found it was too difficult. Another aid came to help, so Stephanie was able to walk with her eyes closed using the white cane. At the end of the exercise, I asked the group how the experience felt. Stephanie's voice was just as loud and clear as everyone else's. She agreed, "It felt weird!" |
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Beth, a Second-Grade Girl |
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As the ATOU Team arrived at an elementary school in Placer County, we were told there was a girl who was blind, Beth (name changed), in one of the classes. We were also told this child was deathly afraid of dogs. |
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This success story is written by one of our volunteers, Mike Penketh, who lost both hands in an attempt to break the land speed record at the Bonneville Salt Flats. When his race car rolled, one hand was sheared off and the other so badly damaged that it needed to be removed. He now uses two myoelectric hands and still flies aerobatic airplanes from the Nut Tree Airport. His story tells of one of our unanticipated benefits of A Touch of Understanding which took place this summer at our Volunteer Appreciation Picnic. |
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A Little Girl joins the ATOU Team |
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Occasionally we have the privilege of meeting a child who so clearly and obviously takes hold of the opportunity A Touch of Understanding offers and "runs with it." This time it was Emily (name changed), a little eight year old girl in a second grade classroom in Placer County.
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