Day Four

T.G.I.F.
(Thank God it's Friday!)

Not because the week was getting long or anything. On the contrary! I have been so busy I haven't seen myself! I have had such eventful weekdays with about 20ish International students all crammed up in my house on Wednesday to share Malaysian and Korean food! And five of them came the following night to our campus ministry session last night. Tonight I get to go to Brainerd to spend time with a life-long hero, among other students from 15 or so campuses around Minnesota! Absolutely wonderful.

But back to work.

Today, Myra was with us, so Mary and herself had the kids present their interviews of each other in front of class. And they began to share about their disabilities one by one. A very moving moment.

They KNOW.

They know what they are lacking to fit in our "standard universe", they know they need to make extra effort to work with people of our "standard universe" and help them understand their disabilities. They know what to do when their behavioral patterns start to give warning signs.

"Just tell me to go sit down for five minutes, and I'll be good," Shana said, when it was her turn to explain her disability. "And you won't be offended if we did that right, Shana?" Myra asked her. "Nope, I won't," she replied, smiling.

Britney smiled as she said this. "People tell me to keep quiet all the time! I really talk a lot."

What a great session of getting to know these kids! I've only seen them for approximately 7 hours, throughout the span of four weekdays, and already they trust us as their instructors enough to be open with us. If only, my standard universe functioned that simply. The world would be a better place.

"Where is the love?" - Black Eyed Peas

After class, the instructors had a meeting with me and we talked about separate profiles, individually. We didn't get through everyone (there are only 6 profiles below, 3 more to go) - but we will adjourn that to a later date. Meanwhile, this is what I have.

Rob
Disability: SLD
- shorten assignments/test to help with timely completion
- provide extra time for thought processes and understanding of materials
- provide notes or assign peer partner
- check for understanding once in awhile throughout class

Cheyenne
Disability: SLD
- extended time to complete assignments/tests.
- shortened projects to help completion
- provide notes to aid with studying
- some things would need to be read out
- check for understanding once in awhile throughout class

Britney
Disability: LD
- verbal prompts, state positively, including behavior expected in response
- preferential seating to avoid distractions
- some things would need to be read out

Tom
Disability: SLD/EBD
- additional instruction and time to understand it
- need examples to help with understanding
- some things would need to be read out
- need to have him complete or make his own notes but may get a copy of mine if he asked.

Luke
Disability: SLD (Written Expression)
- extra times for assignments
- preferential seating to avoid distraction
- take tests in small settings
- restate instructions for better understanding

Shana
Disability: OHD(ADHD)
-  needs support in functional skills (reminders, cues, etc.)
- shortened assignments/tests
- needs extra time to process thoughts/instructions

Sorry about all the acronyms. Google 'em.

That's all we've talked about so far. This is all confidential. I would ask you to keep this information within this space and not divulge things unnecessarily, but I won't. This is because all their names have been changed already anyway and so you can talk all you want. If you find the urge to say something, say the kids that Phoebe gets to work with are amazing. And that they are trying so hard to operate in what we know and understand as our "standard universe". Their parallel world.