inarticulate state-of-the-world rant ensues

[ulysses]

I'm student-teaching summer school in special education around good teachers who've been working with this population for too long with too little support. I'm working with a severely autistic, nonverbal kid who was beaten so badly by someone in his home not that long ago that he will no longer willingly sit facing the table in the cafeteria - and imagining the scenario that produced that response in him makes me want to do great violence to his attacker.

I'm working with a very bright young man with cerebral palsy who loves school and with whom I've formed a strong bond - and who probably won't be able to come back to summer school after tomorrow because his mother works, his sister is even worse off than he is, and mom can only get one of them ready for school on any given morning. This is a 12-year-old child in diapers who wanted so badly yesterday to show us that he can be more independent that he held his urine for god only knows how long until we saw that he was dry at toiletting time and my teaching partner suggested that we give him the chance to use the commode.

I'm working with a 14-year-old girl who has Angelman Syndrome and who operates cognitively at a nine-month-old level - and whose mother dropped her off at school last week before any of her teachers were there because her mom's employer won't budge on the schedule, leaving the girl in the care of no one in particular until we found her wandering around in the media center.

Any progressive knows that kids in the city have it hard, that kids are left behind every moment of every day, that the fucking politicos are constantly playing political foosball with the lives of flesh and blood children, but that knowledge isn't the same as sitting next to a kid who uses his one good hand to bring his shirttail to his mouth so that he can rip holes in it with his teeth because he can't talk and that's the only manner he has of expressing his frustration. Or boredom. Or anger.

Damn. Just damn.

[Ouabache]

1. damn

keep on.

[KG]

2. this country does not love its children.

:(

[ulysses]

3. no, it doesn't.

They're good kids, too.

[greatauntoftriplets]

4. That is so bloody sad, Uly.

My family protects the triplets and holds them close. Fortunately, they are all smarter than hell. We are so damn fortunate that it is scary.

[dweller]

5. You've got spine Uly.

thanks for being on their, and our side.

peace,
dp