Children Who Are, Intelligent in, Different, Ways

The school systems, that still zoomed in on the grades, and neglected how there are, the various kinds of talents, like the artistic, musical sides, of the students, and these students who don’t excel in the academia, gets, shunned, it’s the system that needs to shift its focus toward the fact that children are, intelligent in their own different, ways, that NOT every child learns the same way…translated…

The First Time I’d Made a Perfect Score, Ranked Top of My Class, I Was, Overjoyed, Let it Gotten to My Head, with No Sense of Awareness that Underneath the Glasses, There Was the Disappointments & Doubt…………

At the afternoon nap hours, I’d put my head on the desk, turned to my side.  The boy sitting next to me started carrying a conversation with me in a hushed, voice, suddenly, I saw his eyes, shut in a panic, and, without any time to react, that burning feeling, the four fingers of my instructor’s palm, imprinted onto my, right, cheek.

The male classmate wasn’t caught, he was the head of class, intelligent, well-behaved, excellent in the academia, no matter what he did, he will be all right.  In the elementary years, I’d often talked out of turn, wasn’t good in school, didn’t look at all or behaved as a girl would.  I’d asked the head of class, why he got to visit our homeroom instructor’s home?  He’d chuckled, “You can too, uh-huh……just keep on, dreaming and, waiting.”

My homeroom instructor’s handwriting was very beautiful, she’d stood very tall, with a slender, pointy face, her hair trimmed to short.  Every time she’d appeared outside of the classroom door, the air would freeze, and the naughtiest boys in class, didn’t dare to move a single, muscle.  I’d, wanted to, copy her handwriting, but, no matter how I’d tried, I couldn’t, duplicate her handwriting.

At nap, there were the teachers from the other classes, coming to visit with her.  The group of female instructors, tiptoed into the class, admired her newly purchased scarves, the accessories, and her silky dress.  They’d first, patted the turquoise colored, silk scarf, then tried on the agate, emerald necklace, and I’d, always, daydreamed and watched them in secret, in the glowing light reflected in from the glass windows, there’s that, simple wonder that transpired in the, classroom.

theory of M.I. by Howard Gardner…from online

The homeroom instructor had the head of class to enter into the recitation competition, he’d worn that ironed-to-perfect white uniform, with the curves of his chin, turned, the way our homeroom instructor looked upon him, I thought her eyes were, glowing.  She’d never used that sort of a gaze on any one of us.  There came, that strong feeling, and I couldn’t tell if it was envy, or admiration.  That made me longed to be looked upon like that too.

At the beginning of a new semester, our homeroom instructor encouraged us to improve our grades, and set the rules, of however made six one hundreds, then, the student will receive a huge present from her.

On the day the grades were, revealed, I’d recalled it lucidly, the miracle came to me, I stood by her desk, as she was, about to, hand me my graded, exam, from the gold rim of her glasses, she’d, glanced over at me.  That was, the very first perfect score, the first time I was, the head of the class, I allowed the joy to go over my head, without realizing, that there were, the doubts, the disappointment, that was there, in my instructor’s, eyes underneath her, glasses.  After that, I’d, started, hoping for the perfect scores, and her looks upon me, and day after day after day, I’d, gone from hopeful, to, disappointment.

On the final day of school, as I was picking up my things, readied myself to head home, my homeroom instructor called me, had me follow her into the office.  She’d, pulled out a trophy, that tiny gold person, was glowing, with the red and blue ribbons, tied into a, bow, with the word, “excellent performance” printed in bright red and bold.  My very first, insignia of, glory, she’d never, forgotten.

illustration from UDN.com

And, many years later, I’d seen the movie, “Happiness on the Way”, the female protagonist, Shu-Chih was punished to stand in the back of class because she didn’t enroll into the afterschool study program of her instructor’s, later her mother gave the high end fabric to the instructor, hoping to cover for the girl’s lacking.  And, suddenly, it’d, dawned on me, that in my homeroom instructor’s mind, we were, children raised in, different, means.

After the realization I had, that stubbornness that’s set in too long ago, started, diminishing.  And recently, I’d begun, part-timing as an instructor, and gotten an alternative perspective, understood firsthand the hardships, the trials, the joys of being a school instructor.  As I’d watched every one of my students, working hard, to achieve, maybe, they all are making, different grades high and low, due to their varied level of abilities, I’d hoped, that I can be that light to them, when they needed.

On them, I couldn’t tell the differences between one student to the next, only seen, those pairs of eyes, that are, shining, with the varied, light.

This is on, how every child is different, every child is, intelligent in her/his own way.  Some are good in their studies, and not in the physical activities, some are artistic, but not doing excellent enough in the academia, and that’s just it, the current systems of education, they do NOT help these kids who aren’t academically excellent to shine through, and they still, get degraded by the adults, because the STUPID adults don’t realize, that every kid is intelligent in her/his own, way.

Where Did the Little Angel Fly to?

How do you, teach a young child about loss, about, death, to help them, grieve for the loss of a, best friend???  On the lessons of life and death, translated…

As We Were Feeling Sad that the Young Life is Lost, How Would My Six-Year-Old Young Grandson, Face with Losing His, Best Friend……………

After my eldest grandson came home from school, he kept stating, “after I tell grandpa a story, I will be, filling up the balloons”.  I’d agreed in no time, and waited until he’d finished reading to me, his dad said, it was getting late and they should head home, he’d become, angry, felt that the adults didn’t keep their promises, stressed that he will, fill up the balloons before he heads home.

I couldn’t understand why he was so stubborn about filling the ballons, I’d picked him up and asked, “it’s really late, mom’s waiting for you at home, can’t you fill up the balloons tomorrow?”, suddenly, he got teary eyed, “Yu is gone, I want to give him his, favorite, balloon………”, I’d originally thought he was joking, and I’d, confirmed it with him repeatedly, to see if he was telling me the truth, he’d cried and started, “I’m not lying, grandma…….he really, went to, heaven to be an, angel……….”, suddenly, I’d felt my heart wrenching, while I’d felt bad for the young life that’s, lost, but how will my six-year-old young grandson, cope with his best friend’s, death?  All I could do, is quietly, sat with him, to fill up the white, long, balloons, he said, “I didn’t get to write any words of blessing to Yu, I will have the teacher teach me to tomorrow then.”

illustration from UDN.com

As my eldest grandson left for home, my husband and I decided, to NEVER mention this again, hoping, that it’ll help him, slowly forget this, sad memory.  These two best friends were deeply connected, back when they were in the two-year-classes together, because Yu with the eye conditions couldn’t quite express himself in whole sentences, the teacher assigned my outgoing, active eldest grandson to be his buddy, they were seated next to each other in class, and slowly, they’d turned into, the best of friends.  When my eldest was at home, he’d told us about the progresses that Yu had made, for instance: he’s speaking now, in more complete sentences, he can count from one to ten now, the two built the castles out of blocks, drawn, and other leisure activities together.  In the three years of time shared, any project my eldest grandson had made in my home, he’d told, “I shall give this to Yu tomorrow”.  Yu was also, very popular in the class, this childish friendship, surely, was, precious, and yet, right after the New Year’s, it all came to, a dead, halt.

We’d originally thought, that not talking about death was the best way to help our eldest grandson, but as I saw on the assignment books, the teacher left a two-page note that moved me—the instructor specially selected an illustrated book about death, “The Dinosaur went to Heaven”, to teach the young children about death, and she’d described how on the day as the students went to the funeral, and placed the gifts for the child who was lost; as they went to see the child off, the instructor can no longer, hold back her tears, my eldest grandson was really gentle, consoled with her, and inquired, “Does cremation hurt?”, the teacher told, “Yu is no longer hurting, because he’d received all of your, blessings, he’d gone to heaven, to be, an angel now.”  In the classroom, the class set a special corner to commemorate Yu, with his favorite story, “The Cars Built a House”.

here’s one…image from online

We’re really grateful toward how the instructor had handled this matter so delicately, to educate the young children on the first lessons of death, to help them find an alternative way to grieve that’s different from the adults’ ways.  That day, Yu happily chimed to me on his life story, “long, long ago, I was, one of the happy angels in heaven too, I’d loved turning the clouds into cotton candy, and, eaten them slowly, they’re so very, sweet.  One day, I saw a really, tall building, and I was, so happy I’d spread my wings, soared to the tenth floor window, as the moonlight lit up the skies, I’d, opened the window gently, had, secretly, hidden myself inside mommy’s tummy, that’s how I became………”

On the day life ended, it’s a new beginning for a brand new, journey, I pray, that Yu, in a beautiful heaven, can soar happy and free, like a bird, to find a home that he loved living in.

And so, this is, a lesson, learned, much too early for this young child, he’d lost his, best friend, and, being too young, he’d not known how to express his sadness, his sorrows, his loss, but the school teacher’s reading the illustrated books about the meanings of death to the class, it’d helped this young boy understand, that his best friend isn’t gone, he just, exists in another form to him, as memories.

another book that teaches children about death…from online

Accompanying the Children into the World of, Reading

Getting them into the habit of, growing up around the books, starting these children very young, and you can be sure, that they come to, love reading…translated…

Do your children love reading?  How do we, get them to, enjoy, reading?  I’d recalled when my firstborn was born, I’d started talking to him, whether or not he’d understood me, that doesn’t matter, I’d, still, orally, communicated with him, to give him the stimulation of the auditory, kind.

I’d followed the work of Dr. Dana Suskin, “Parent Nation”, the three principles of interactions (the Three Ts).

when they were infantile…expose them to, books…photo from online

The First T: Tune in.  The parents learn to focus in on what the children are tuned into, then, participate in it, to add to the connections between parents and children, through the verbal interactions, the exchanges, to stimulate the child’s brain.

The Second T: Talk More.  Not on the number of words of exchange, more importantly, the kinds of words, the way of expression, there is the need to get a variety of expression in a child’s daily life, to help the children understand the connection between the words and the, actions.

The Third T: Take Turns.  Encourage children to participate in conversation, whether if it’s started by the parents, or in response to the children’s, questions, always remember, to wait for and hear the responses of your, young.

In the infancy stage, the parents will do more of the first two T’s, with the children growing older, the third T became, ever the more, important.  The habit of reading, is closely related to the three principles mentioned, above, because in infancy, the children receive the stimuli through the parents talking to the children, including the frequency of the words to the children, the varieties of terms used in communication, the children came to, understand the, world, so, the parents can use the children’s toys and books, to have the children experience their “first encounters of, reading”.

when they’re a bit, older, read along…photo from online

When the child is walking, then, you can take them to the libraries to the children’s sections, to let them explore the books, even if it’s just, taking one off the shelves, flipping through it randomly, to patting the books, smelling the books; at the same time, used the reading times together, to get the kids to get acquainted with, books.

I strongly recommend this means of, parenting method, because the books not only take the children to discover a world, it can, help the children resolve the questions they may have, once this habit of reading began, it will be their assets, for life.

to help them become…book lovers! Photo from online

So, the love of reading, should start, very young, back when the children are still, in their, “I bite everything” stage of life, let them pat things around the house, put things into their mouths, to explore their world, because that, is how the kids learn, through the external stimuli around them, and, putting books in their way, is a great way, to introduce them to reading (well, TASTING and BITING first!), but, get them into the habit of, touching the books more, and, when they’re older, you can, read to them, tell them stories, this will to your closeness with your young, and it also will, help their brains, develop, in the language acquisition, language cortex.

Bull’s Allowance

Lessons that kids learn, from watching how the world around them works, and from interacting with their, external, environment, that they’d, acquired these, important values that they will keep on, carrying for the rest of their, lives…translated…

Bull’s in the fifth grade now, he’d known to save up his allowance from when he was younger, and knew how to share the cash.

Recently, my husband’s feet problem resurfaced, couldn’t walk like he used to, Bull felt bad, seeing his grandfather limping, generously told my husband, “I’ll give you an electric wheelchair then!”, this kid’s plan was to use the his own savings—from the $6,000N.T. tax refund from the government from before, and the insurance pay-off from his contracting MERS-CoV from before.

feeding the piggy, fattening him up! Photo from online

Knowing I loved to plant the flowers, awhile ago, he’d begged his parents to take him to the floral market, to get a couple of cacti, and when the total sum exceeded his budget, he’d burst into tears, “I only have a hundred left of my allowance, I’m dirt poor!”

That day, he and I rode our bicycles in the fields, he’d found that my sneakers were a bit, worn, said, “grandma, I’d decided, I’ll give you a pair of sneakers for your, birthday.” He’d worked hard, saving the money up, waited until my birthday, not only had he insisted that his mom accompany to get my shoes, he’d reiterated, “Grandma, you must, put on your, new shoes!”, I’d felt bad for him spending his money on me, and, decided that I shall, buy him the running shoes too on his, birthday, Bull immediately told me, “dad will buy my shoes for me, no worries, grandma!”

The class was making a uniform, the students were asked to design the shirts themselves, then, vote on them.  Bull’s class were all dragons for the zodiac signs, Bull’s dad’s helping him making a pattern of the dragons, the dragons got voted, and, Bull’s dad made fun, “Bull, I drew everything, you didn’t do anything in this drawing!”, he’d responded, “Surely I had, there’s the need of an extra color printed as the dragon got printed out, thirty dollars per extra color, and, the $780 that’s needed for the entire class, that came out of my, allowances.”

Such a good, “element”!  I truly hope, that he carries this heart of giving to others as he grows, older, and have a, happy, life.

So, this is how generous this young kid is, he’d, saved all of his allowances, and wasn’t, stingy when it came time to, share his money, when his adult counterparts needed something, and, this is a value, that’s not taught by words, but, by this kid’s watching his adult counterparts, interact, that he’d, picked up on this generosity toward, others.

Learning & Waiting

On how the time it takes to learn, may be longer than we expected, and we should NOT lose our patience, but we do, because we’d felt, that we’d taught the child too many times already, and s/he still can’t do it, therefore, we as parents, get upset, and the child is still doing, NOTHING wrong but gets, FIRED AT!  Translated…

On this very day, waiting for the restrooms inside the elementary school, I’d heard the conversations of a mother and a daughter that made me feel.

“This is the squatting kind, do you know how to use it?” “Yes!”, “okay then, do be careful, take it slow.”  “Okay!”  “Ahhh, why are you so careless?  You’d wet yourself, let’s go home!”  “No!”, “You’re way past the age of wetting yourself, go HOME!”  “No, I’m not done with the slides yet………”  “Stop crying!  You can’t go to the squatting toilets yet, and you say you could!  You’d wet your own pants, and still want to play?  Go HOME!”  “No~~~!”, exiting out of the public restrooms, I saw a mother, pulling a young girl away, with the girl, turning around looking over at the slides, teary eyed.

I’d recalled how when I was learning to become independent, acquiring the skills I’d needed to live on my own, the panic I’d felt when I’d made an, error, and, how I was very flustered, when I’d taught my own young a new skill of life; and even as I’d switched from a learner to a teacher, I’d neglected to note, that dealing with the inabilities of completely a task is an important part of learning, if we get scolded a lot, then, it would get us into the mode of “no expectations, no hurt or disappointment”, the avoidant means of interaction.

this is the type of toilet the mother got mad with the child not knowing how to use…photo from online

requiring enough muscle strengths in the legs, which the child hadn’t gained yet…

The growth of life is from the continual learning process, the accumulation of our knowledge, and gaining the motivations in how we’d changed our behaviors, and defeats are merely, the bumps in the road we must walk through, in order to get to success, or maybe, after many tries, we still can’t quite get it yet, and, that fluster of dealing with the one leading the group on, hurrying us along, made us even more, flustered, and, it’d caught both inside this, vicious cycle, running around, and around, and around, and around.

On the path to learn, for oneself as well as for others, we must, have that needed patience, tolerance and using more encouragements to each other, so the learner and the leader can both, have enough time and space to digest what’s being taught and learned, to adjust, to find a way that works well with interacting with one another, then, we can, take the next steps forward with confidence and ease, toward that unknown in the futures, and we still feel, safe and secure to, keep on going, in our, lives.

So, this is on how the adult hurried the child too much, and, the mother may be hurrying, because she’d trained her own daughter to use the squatting kind of toilet, and she still can’t get it, and, because this mother believed, that she’d taught her young child to use the squatting toilets, and she still couldn’t, live up to her expectations of how she should know how to use it, that’s why the mother got angered, and this is still all the mother’s own emotions, getting passed down to this child.

The Holes in the Childcare Laws, Only Set the Teacher-Student Ratios Not Mandated that There Should be Two Early Childhood Certified Caretakers Per Classroom

The teacher to student ratio had been set, but, there’s no written rule of at least two early childhood professional caretakers per preschool classroom setting, off of the Front Page Sections, translated…

The Preschool All Over the Island Has the “Half-a-Classroom Functional” Problems

Currently in the preschool classes here, there are usually two early childhood educators, to allow the instructors of the classroom to have the needed support from the early childhood educators, and vice versa, but recently, the N.F.T.U. received the complaints, that a lot of the cities and counties, when adding more preschools to the districts, would use the “half-a-class” human resources means, causing some of the classes with only one early childhood assistant, who can only keep the eyes on half the class, calling out to the Department of Education to amend the “early childhood education and care laws” to resolve the wayward situation of “half-a-class being taken care of” in preschools.

Based off of the current regulations, the student to teacher ratio for three-to-five-year-old preschool classes is one adult to fifteen children, with the maximum number of students being thirty, meaning, that two nursery workers per thirty children; the two-year-old classes, with a student limit of sixteen children, the teacher to student ratio being one to eight.

this is how foreign countries do it…but apparently, this “country” can’t catch up to the “games”…from onine

But the N.F.T.U. stated, that the early childcare laws only followed the teacher to student ration, without making sure of the two early childhood caretakers per class, causing there to be “half-a-class” in a lot of the counties and cities when they added more preschools to the districts, meaning, that they’re only taking in half of what’s required as the total of students, and only had one early childhood classroom help.

Based off of the survey conducted by N.F.T.U., it’d been found, that this is happening across the whole island, the C.E.O. Hou suspected, that this may be caused by how the local government saves up on the cost of hiring the early childhood educators, he can’t come up with other possible reasons for this.

The N.F.T.U. said, that children under age six needs the nursery care workers around them at all times, if there’s only one adult in a classroom, there’s no way of ensuring every child’s safety.  There are teachers who’d stated, that in the “half-a-class” systems, there are the sudden onsets of emergencies, for instance, a child vomited and needed to have the place sanitized completely, or a child has diarrhea, or arguments between children, with only one certified caretaker, there’s no way that the adult can manage an entire class full of children.  And this will get worse in the classes of two-year-olds.

On this, the Department of Education stated, that it will supervise the local governments, to have the preschools hire by the regulations of the law, and consider the actual needs of the schools individually, to adjust the number of teacher per classroom.

And so, this is still how SLOW the Department of Education is to response to this teacher-to-student ratio “thing”.  And, it seemed that the Department of Education, just like all the government agencies under the D.D.P., keep missing out on the “memos”, I mean, it IS, common sense that the younger the age group is, there’s the lower teacher to student ratio, and as the kids grow older, then, there would be more number of students getting supervised by a school instructor, and yet, this god damn government is slow to respond to this problem that is coming up to the surface in early childhood education here.

Lesson I’m Learning at the Moment, on Parenting

Allowances, to give or not to give, and, do we, allow our young to spend whatever it is we “paid” them regularly on what THEY wanted to own or not, that is, the QUESTION here!  How this parents, let go, and allowed her own son, to learn to manage his own, finances, of course, it’s only, in the smaller amounts of, allowances, acceptable to children…translated…

It’s Truly, Quite Difficult, to Pass the Knowledge of Financial Planning to the Children, Using the Reasoning to Convince Them that They Can Take in……….

Last year on Father’s Day, the kids received a frog piggy bank from the church.  We’d started handing them the coins to feed to their, froggy banks.  After several months, the kids loved hearing the coins, clinking against each other inside their froggy banks, and yet, I’d found, with displease, that from time to time, the kids would have less money than before in the froggy banks—as the kids took the money out to get them the snacks or the toys.
“How come your froggy banks are getting lighter and lighter?”

illustration from UDN.com

“Why did you guys take the money out again?”  “Don’t buy the candies, the toys, it’s too wasteful, do you not know that!”

Once the above emotion and order took me over, I’d found, that I’d become, more and more unwilling to give them their, allowances.  And yet, as I’d thumbed across the financial advice that parents can instill in children, and how the allowances can be used as a form of show of trust in our young, I’d become, willing again, to give them their, weekly allowances, I got reminded of my original belief of why I’d started, giving them the allowances—I wanted the kids to learn to manage their own money, and how to use their own allowances, that was why I’d, started, giving them the allowances.  Turns out, the key here is NOT in directing them on how they’re to use what we give to them, but how to train the kids to take responsibilities for their own actions, including teaching them which items they’re spending on, are good for them to have, which ones, aren’t, along with having the self-controls, to resist the temptations of snacks, and of the sweet drinks too.

As parents, trusting our young is something that doesn’t come easily, but we need to master this.  Especially when they entered school, what did they purchase?  What did they buy for foods?  The parents can’t have any control over, we need to clearly, pass the values of financial intelligence to our young, and we must use the reasonings that the kids can’t find the objections to, this is, truly, quite, difficult.  While I, am still, currently, on this, path to learn the ways.

One day, my eldest told me that he’d hoped he could carry some of his allowances on him, so he could have it to use as he wanted to.  Although I’d worried he might spend it all, but I’d, kept my lips shut.  Another time, he saw an item at the super convenience store with his favorite Pikachu on it, a coin wallet that’s close to a hundred and fifty dollars, without a second thought, he’d taken one up, stood in line; although I’d wanted to stop him, but I’d still, selected to, keep my, silence in the time, being.

PIGGY for the SLAUGHTER! Photo from online

A month later, I’d found, that every day my eldest would carry his coin purse.  He’d placed some money into his banks, and place some in his wallet; he’d not worked as I suspected that he would, spent up all his allowances, nor did he blow all his allowances away on the drinks, the snacks either, instead, when he’d wanted to spend his money, he’d, let me know first.

I’m glad, that I’d, bitten my tongue from before.  Had I begun in putting an end to his spending his allowances in time, not trusted him, or stopped giving him his allowances, I’m sure, I would’ve never seen the maturity he now showed, from his own, financial planning means, and I would’ve gotten stuck in that vicious cycle of that self-fulfilling prophecy of “I KNEW you would’ve blown al your cash away!”, and, I’m certain, that that would cause this huge tall wall, to get STUCK between us that can’t, get torn down again.

And so, this is on trusting ourselves, to KNOW, that we’d, raised our own young right, after all, if you’d, instilled these values of spending your money carefully every day or regularly in your actions (not just your words), your kids, I’m sure, would’ve had the financial senses, to KNOW how to save up the allowances you gave to them, besides, you’d given THEM their allowances, so it’s THEIRS to do whatever they will with it, and if you don’t let go, if you’d breathed down their necks, watched them underneath that MICROSCOPE, checked their backpacks for things that they purchased at school, etc., etc., etc., then, that would DEFEAT the WHOLE purposes of your handing them their, allowances in the first place, and so, this mother did right, by BITING her own TONGUE, when she saw her son first, squandered away the allowances, because he then, learned the values of the need to save up for what he wanted, by trial and error.

“If the Actions of Mistreatment of Young Children is Only by One Early Childhood Educator,”, then the ENTIRE Preschool will Get Listed as Unfitting, and, Put Out of Operations

This doesn’t work, because instead of going after the individuals who are not fitting enough as early childhood educators, the government zooms in on the schools, and, sure, the schools should have a stricter background checks, but, sometimes, the bad behaviors isn’t apparent on those, résumés, so, this is still, a HALF-ASSED bill!  Off of the Front Page Sections, translated…

The third stage draft of the regulation of public preschool mandated, that if the mistreatments of young children by the early childhood care employees had been proven factual, the termination of contract for hire for the early childhood educators are effective immediately, and these unfitting educators will never get hired again, and from the date of the contract, the actions can be reviewed to three years prior.  Toward this, the E.C.E.A. and other early childhood foundations believed, that it should be decided on the severity of the early childhood educators’ behaviors, and if the contract for hire is terminated, then, the added note of “regarding severe actions, and those who are responsible for the operations of the facilities”, and also suggested that the reviews of the past behaviors not get considered in, that the actions of the instructor is effective on the day that the contract for hire is signed.

Hsieh, stated, that the system of wages currently only considered the years of experiences, and not asked about the degrees in training, that this is also incomplete.  Using the monthly wages of $32,000N.T. to hire the teaching assistant for the daycare classes who only have a technical high school degree or certification is a bit high, but, if the same costs are paid to the certified preschool instructors and the directors of a preschool, that’s, extremely, low.  And, the drafts of the bill proposed the reduction of the number of students being enrolled, and, there’s a forty-percent total charge deducted from the cost of handling charges, that this would be huge losses for the preschools, and more problems are bound to surface because of this.

And so, this is, all because of the department of education’s wrongly written rules, and, it places emphasis on punishing the schools for hiring the unfitting educators, but not enough punishments or restrictions on the bad early childhood educators, and, the wages are way too low too, and so, how the HELL can you expect that these early childhood educators will stay enthusiastic (if that was how they’d begun) through the years of work, if the benefits are not high enough, and if they get blamed for everything that happens in the school, that’s not even, their faults?  So, this is still, a HALF-ASSED proposal by the DDP government, in ITS, FAILED attempt to make we the people believe, that they are, taking the matters of abuse and mistreatment of young children in the daycare programs, preschools, kindergartens, seriously.

The Farthest Distance to the Tub: Seven Centimeters

The problems of growing older, which we are all going to face one day in our, near or, far, future, and, there’s just, no way that we can, equip our homes with these needed things, off of the Front Page Sections, translated…

The years, turned the farthest to nearest, and the nearest to the, farthest.

A professor of mine who was in his nineties, had originally been very healthy, used his cane, gotten him all over the places.  But the cold fronts that came before the New Year’s, he’d had a minor, stroke.

His daughter rushed back from the U.S.  They’d been separated for long, and now, they live, next room to each other.

As the professor became immobile, the bathroom needs to allow for the convenience of a wheelchair.  There was, originally an elevated eleven-centimeter height, with the floor board of seven centimeters up.  The daughter found the handyman, and leveled the frame of the door to seven, which is the same as the height of the floor in the bathroom.

But how would the man, get over these, seven centimeters in his wheelchair?

I’d helped my professor to search for a ramp on line, the height ranges from three to nineteen centimeters, and fitted for both indoors and out, with the words, “Safe Passage” on them.  It’s just, that the width of these boards are only, fifty centimeters, and the wheelchair’s, the bath chairs widths, both, sixty.  “Buy two of them, and, saw the extra off?”, the daughter suggested.  “but, you can’t tie the two together that they stay together, as the wheelchair goes across, the shorter one is bound to slide to the side,” I’d told.

And so, I’d found a carpenter to custom make one.  “It will take me three days”, the carpenter told me, “can you put a rush on it?”, I’d pleaded.  Seeing how his shop was stacked with other things he needed to get finished with, although I’d not felt right, rushing him, I’d still told him, “an elder couldn’t get bathed for too many days already, and it’s around the New Year’s, and the weather’s heated up.”

Within three day’s time, in the evenings, I’d made my way to the carpenter’s, surprised to see that the ramp was already finished and on the table!  “It was late, so I didn’t call you,” he’d told.  Of course I didn’t mind, I’d, picked it up gladly.

The size was just right, the work, perfectly done, but, I’d not predicted, that there was a wall that’s right in front of the bathroom that the wheelchair couldn’t go in in the front, that the chair had to slide sideways to enter.  And now, a ramp wouldn’t be enough.  “I’m so sorry”, the daughter was apologetic for not letting me know this, and I was beating myself, for missing the forest for the trees.  She’d told me, “let’s just use the washboard as a ramp for now.”

And, with the ramp, and the sliding plastic washboard, the wheelchair bumped into the bathroom.  And, my professor had gotten a good wash of his hair in the sink, for the very first time after his stroke.  The sink, was so close within reach before the New Year’s, but, after the New Year’s, it was, miles out.  And that sink, became a wishing fountain, and it’d, fulfilled the wish of a daughter.

I’d gone back to the carpenter, to find a piece of wood that can replace the washboard.  It was, next to impossible to perfectly match the board in size, width, with the original ramp, we only want the board to be sturdy enough, that it doesn’t move as the wheels of the wheelchair slide across it.

The road to rehabilitation is long and winding, and, there are, bound to be bumps on it.  And, how much can seven-centimeters make up for, so long as the wheelchair didn’t bump around too much, it’s, a win for us.

After the second board was received, my professor was finally able to get into his own bathroom for a bath.

The years, it’s a friend who can, get on bad terms with us.  It’d been friends with us for many a years, slowly, offering the intelligence, the connections, the money to us, so we can, solve the problems in our, lives, but, in an instant, it can, take all the capabilities away.  It’d allowed us to travel far and wide, to all the places, and in the end, it’d, prevent us from getting our most basic needs of going to the toilets, getting a bath or a shower.

I stood outside the carpenter’s shop, with a piece of board that’s not right in size, thought about my instructor when he was younger, when I was, a child.  Forty years, it was only, an, instant it seemed.  Although I’d not had a conversation with him since a long, long time, but it’d felt, that I’m, so very, close to him.  So close, that we’re only, seven centimeters, apart.

And so, this is the distance, of the handicapped person between where they need to, go, and even in their own homes, they can’t, get the needed amenities, because, of how everything is, custom made, and everything is needed right now, and, these things takes time to get made, and, there’s just, NO prediction of what will happen in our futures, and so, there’s, no complete ways of preparing for these inconveniences of our, elderly, years…and, we can only, live with this, difficulty in our lives, when we age.

The Violence in the Classrooms, Blamed on the Disabilities, Resolved with the Parents’ Picking the Students up and Taking Them Home for the Day?

This is, hindsight, had the school, been aware of the needs of this, special needs student, and take the precautions, then, this “beat down” may well have been, averted, but it wasn’t, because the school lacked the foresight in preparation for these sorts of things in the classroom setting, off of the Front Page Sections, translated…

A student in a high school in Taipei was suspected of feeling upset over how the instructor had, reprimanded him, he’d lost control, run up to the podium, spat in the instructor’s face, and started, beating on the instructor, the instructor sustained multiple swelling injuries, the school, afterwards, had the parents take the student, home.  The Department of Education of Taipei stated, that the student is a special needs student, and in the time being, the school already, counseled him, and the school is going to allot the funds for the instructor’s sustained injuries.  The experts pointed out, that when something like this happens, the instructor should try and sever the student away from the tension that s/he is feeling at the time, for example, lead the student out of the class to cool off.

Based off of understanding, the incident happened at the end of last month, as the disciplinary official, other instructors arrived in the classroom, they’d first, calmed the student down, and taken care of him emotionally, but the student was still emotional, started kicking at the door multiple times, and screamed out loud, to the point of retuning, to assault the instructor, again, and the other saw him, and rushed up, subdued him, the instructor’s clothes were torn, and sustained redness and swelling in injuries.

The school stated, that the student is emotionally troubled, and physically violent, special needs student, at the time, he may have lacked the means to communicate with the instructor, but the instructor didn’t have any bad intentions, that in the future, the school will hire outside resources to intervene, to help the student improve on his behaviors in the classroom setting.

The Department of Education stated, the school, in the shortest time, offered counseling to the entire classroom, and the student who’d acted out is currently taken care of and school at home, waiting until he became more emotionally stable, then, he will return to class, and the school had filed for the special needs resources for the student.

The experts pointed out, the special needs students usually have a combination of disabilities and emotional troubles, and may become extremely sensitive to the situation that they are in, suggested to simplify the classroom, to reduce the noises; and, in similar situations, the school instructor should “interrupt” the students from the students’ tensing up feelings.

some guidelines, for managing a classroom with special needs students…found online

The assistant director, the psychiatrist in Taoyuan Home of the Department of Health Sanitations & Welfares, Lee said, the children with a combined diagnoses of autism, may be persistent with certain rituals of their daily routines, for instance, if they’d heard loud noises in class, they may be worked up, had the instructor noted the student’s feeling agitated, it’s suggested, that the instructor takes the special needs student out of the classroom setting, or get the student begin something s/he enjoys doing.  And, when group activities are assigned, the instructor should prepare the student ahead of times, as the group activities may disrupt the ordinary routines that the students are already, used, to.

And so, this is how it works, when we tried, normalizing the special needs students, into the regular classrooms, and, there’s NO T.A., assigned to stay with this student specifically, as there should have been, and the lacking of awareness of the student’s tendencies, the not noting how the student was, already, getting, upset little by little before he blew up, all added up to the student’s acting out, and beating the teacher up.

Everything Has its Time

No need to hurry up, child, just, develop according to your own, schedules…translated…

Opening my son’s lunch, other than the lunch box waiting to get rinsed off, there’s also, a perfectly folded up folding umbrella.  I can’t help, but take it out first, then, raised it up high, asked my son, “did you fold this umbrella by yourself?”, as he was changing out of his school uniform, he’d hollered back, with that scent of pride, “of course I had!”, I’d found, that he was, waiting for a job well done from me, I’d immediately continued, “this was the first time I saw that you’d, folded up your umbrella so neatly, you’d improved quite a bit, I’m so happy!”

I’d recalled how he’d always been, a bit slower than the rest of the children, or maybe, because we didn’t send him to preschool, he’d, lacked that first stages of adaptation period, the first day of his first grade, he’d cried as he’d gone into the class, and, cried as I’d, arrived to school to pick him up, and, there’s only him who was crying, out of the, entire, class.  And every time afterwards when I’d told him about it, he’d claimed, bashfully, “don’t bring the past back up again!”

Other than being too nervous, too shy, and thinking too much, he seemed to have lack the mind, for instance, in the first grade, the teachers had them learn to tie their shoes, and used a cardboard, with the strings that intertwined on the boards, it’d, made him not known how he was to, handle them; those routes, became completely, tangled, messed up in their, orders, causing his brains to get tied up too, he’d, stopped functioning in his mind then.

this is, absolutely, BULLSHIT! As every single child IS, different, and there should NOT be that “expected development” that’s MATCHED for every single kid at a certain age! Chart found online

A lot of things that were considered too easy for ordinary persons, they’d all, increased their difficulty levels by at least half for him, and, this kid, had been, the opposite of “killing one bird with two stones”. This time, he was able to, fold his umbrella up so perfectly, like how we’d bought it from the stores, it truly, surprised me, and it’d, made me recalled the times of him, “moving forward in super speed in an instant”; these moments always reminded me of the poet, Su’s “Ode to Pork”, “Wait for him to mature on his own, don’t hurry him along, when the fire is just right, he shall, be in the, form of, perfection that he is.”, and it’d, also reminded me, to NOT fit my son’s reaching his milestones, based off of my expectations of how he should be.

So, every child has her/his own time to develop, some just, are slow to start, but once these children get going, the speed to which they can learn, is quite, surprising to the adults, and, all the worries from before, of the kids may be developmentally delayed, all go, out the window, and this just showed, how we the adults, should NEVER lock our own young inside those boxes, of the age-appropriate milestones, because each kid has a different schedules, and, just because a kid can’t do something, that does NOT mean that s/he isn’t more intelligent in other forms, there are, the multiple intelligences, as ascribed by Gardner, you do realize that, don’t you, parents???