Cheng Who’s Learning to Control His Impulses

The techniques of behavior modification, positive reinforcement, and using the rewards system, it’d worked, in helping this young man to get rid of the unacceptable behaviors, translated…

Through Observations & Beating Around the Bushes, Xiang-Yun Chien Realized, that Reason Why Cheng Did What He Was Doing May Have to Do with His Mother’s Passing, and How He Lacked that Sense of, Security; Cheng was Very Anxious, Bitten All Ten of His Finger Nails to Out-of-Shape……………

Switching Tracks, All Because She Enjoyed Teaching

Everybody who knew the Bo-Ai Development Center of the First Social Welfare Foundation knew that the handmade soaps are a popular item, for the household chores, the essential oil soaps, the transparent soaps, are all good for gift-giving and self-use.  While, the woman who’d led these developmentally delayed youths to make the soaps, is the special eds instructor who’d worked for more than two decades at the Bo-Ai Foundation, Ms. Chien.

Chien majored in visual broadcasting, after she graduated, she’d worked in the related industries, but slowly, found that she was really interested in a career in teaching, so she’d, switched tracks, and started working as an afterschool program instructor.  Later, she’d gone up north to a church sponsored mix-aged development center to work as an early childhood educator, this was the very first encounter she’d ever had with children with Downs’s Syndrome, and she took to them very quickly.  With her getting more and more involved in early childhood education, she’d started wanted to improve her own skillsets, to provide more assistance to the parents and the children.

After hearing of the First Social Welfare’s Special Eds Specialists, Chien in an introduction of a friend, started at the Bo-Ai Development Center, at first, she worked as an educator of an early intervention program, later, she’d started coaching the students who are working with a skillset; as she got the tasks of making the handmade soaps, Chien went around, to learn the skills to make the handmade soaps, and used her visual broadcasting major knowledge on the handmade soaps, with her design, the handmade soaps made by Bo-Ai all had the visually appeasing looks.

But, for Chien, other than taking the students to make the handmade soaps, she’d wanted more to help them live on happy and healthy.  She’d used her heart of caring, concern, tolerance, and warmth to treat all of her pupils, hoping, that with her help, they will, improve their qualities of living standards.

Take Cheng in her class for instance, as he’d started at the center, he was easily worked up, whenever things didn’t go his ways, he’d started, screaming, to express his upset, and he’d also, done things that aren’t, allowed for the classes: taking the fees the class collected for the cleaning up, stashing the money inside the spaces between the trash can and the trash bags in the restrooms, or inside his own shoes, so nobody can find them.

early intervention programs like this is, absolutely, needed! Photo from online

Through observing him, and beating around the bushes with him, Chien found, that reason why Cheng was misbehaving, may have to do with how his mother died, and how he’d lacked that sense of secure attachment; Cheng was too anxious, bitten down all ten of his fingernails, and, as Chien got closer to him, he’d hug his head tight, and dodged her, like he was, a fearful animal.

To lower Cheng’s sense of alarm, she’d first, accepted, and accompanied him, slowly, build up their, relationship.  Later, Chien started using the “positive reinforcement” techniques with Cheng, every time he’d done something well, she’d immediately, praised him, “Wow, you’re so amazing!  You helped me so much!”, and, as she left the class to go to a meeting, she’d asked Cheng to take care of her belongings, to help him establish that sense of responsibilities that he needed to have, and built up his confidence level, as well as help him feel more secure.  And because of all of her praises, and affirmations of a job well done by her, Cheng became more, and more, stabilized.

Using the Right Means, to Help the Individuals Have a Good Life on Their Own

And yet, Cheng still had a behavior that gives everybody a huge, headache—taking without asking.  Normally, we all know, not to take things that don’t belong to us, even if we want to use the items, we must get consent from the owners of the objects, but, for some of the mentally decapacitated individuals, differentiating between what’s yours and what’s mine, is next to impossible, and, wanting it, so I go and take it is, matter-of-fact to them, even as they’d learned, that this behavior is improper, when they see things that they wanted, it would still be hard, for them to control their, impulses.

In the behavior modifications, there’s an important technique called “environmental control”.  Toward the impulses that Cheng has of taking things without asking permissions, Chien would do her best, to put away everything that may tempt him to take away, to reduce the chances of him taking things without asking, and surely, it’d, made his behaviors improved.  But, every now and then, Chien would left the items out on the tables, to test Cheng, and most of times, he would pass, but, there were, a couple of times he still,, couldn’t, control himself, and so, the scissors would be gone.  And, although she knew, that it was Cheng who took the scissors, but knowing, that it would anger him if she confronted him for it, so, Chien would ask all the students, “what do we do, when the scissors have, disappeared?  We can’t do what we need to do”.  After Cheng heard, he’d told her, “I have some, I’ll bring them tomorrow.”  And the following day, he brought back the scissors, with Chien’s name on it back.  Through small tiny inquiry, Chien knew, that she’d, gotten through to Cheng a little more then!

And, even though all the techniques employed with Cheng all worked so far, Chien still wanted to help him better his life more, by helping him to become more connected to and with, others.  She’d used the positive reinforcement techniques of the “Stickers system”, for instance, if Cheng was able to not get mad, not hit, not take without asking, he could get the points for good behavior for that day, and, as he’d accumulated enough points, he get to trade the points in, for some prizes he wanted from Chien.  All these rewards became Cheng’s goals, and naturally, it’d become, a huge motivation for him to control all his, bad behaviors.

Even though, there are still more problems that he needed to tackle, but Cheng is well on that path to being able to have more impulse control now, and, it’d made us all, who work in the Bo-Ai Center, to see that he will be able to, live on his own, one day in the future.

And so, this place not only gave these special needs students the life skills training, it also teaches them how to adapt to the outside world, so that one day, they may be able to, live in the world outside, and, what this woman did for this young man is, helping him get rid of his unacceptable behaviors using the techniques of positive reinforcement, and the young man trusts his instructor enough, to follow her words too.

The Children in Protective Custody Increased by the Hundreds Annually, Couldn’t Go Home, the Government Adopts Them Out

The Social Services of Hsinbei City estimates, that there is an increase of about a hundred young children placed by the social services annually, about eight hundred young children placed by the government, and cared for, by the government.  The manager of the Hsinbei Domestic Violence Prevention Center, Hsu stated, after the placements, the system will help the families of origin to readjust to be a good enough environment for the children to be returned back; and if it’s confirmed that the families can’t work, then, the children are, adopted out, the adolescents are trained to have a viable life skill that can help them live on their own.

Hsu told, that younger children who are placed out of their families of origin, means that the families aren’t safe, without the provisions of proper care for them, after placing the children out, “restructuring of the families” is an important task, so the help in finding work, parenting lessons, and setting up a resource provision system, like patching up the relationship among the members of the families, to provide more resources needed to care for the children.

Hsu pointed out, that the children in foster care right now, a lot have physical or psychological problems, like the drug-addicted babies, with the symptoms of withdrawal, developmentally delayed, A.D.H.D., then they would need steady medical treatment interventions, and the early intervention measures; if the child in at school age, then, the system also helps them in adapting to their new schools.

social services with young children they need to place…

photo from online

This is, quite, contradictory, to the government’s “complaints” of how there’s a sharp drop in birthrate isn’t it???  Children in foster care, in social services, trending now, off of the Newspapers, translated…

Hsu said, other than the children growing up, the parents also need to have added abilities to them, to find other families as resources for help in caretaking, as all the requirements are matched, then, the children will get, returned back to the families of origins.  But the return to the families of origin is by progression, from supervised visits, waiting until both parents and children are stabilized, then, the return home steps are taken, slowly, increase the time spend at one’s own, families of origins.

Shortest, it’s a few months, longest, the children may NEVER be returned to their families of origin, Hsu stated, that there were the families with children placed out, in a short time, found a strong enough set of resources, for instance, other family members with the money chipping in, in two short months, the young children were, returned; but there are also the cases of after four, five years, the children still didn’t get returned back to their, families of origins too.

Hsu said, that if the families of origin are drug-addicts, with multiple times on record of prison sentences, then, these parents will get their parental rights, terminated, and the young children will get adopted out, from within the country, then, matching the children up with foreign families.  And, for children older than fifteen, and still couldn’t go home yet, there are the plans to help the kids to pay for their own education, to find work too.

And so, this system is, set up, quite well, and, this is also, very awful, because these children in foster program are on the rise by the years, and most of whom came out of families with teenage mothers, who couldn’t care for them.  This is the problem, that came out of teenage pregnancies, and there’s a need, to get these younger generations more educated on the matter, so they don’t keep on, cranking them babes out.

A World Without, A.D.H.D.

How am I, gonna, rip, that BAND-AID off???  Hmmmmm, let’s think………(this is me, thinking!), OUCH!  It went, off!

A world without A.D.H.D, no more children, “hooked up” to them, Ritalin meds, to help them sit still, to keep their, concentration, no more disrupting the class, speaking out of turn, yo, put a MUZZLE on it already, huh???

A world without, A.D.H.D., the world IS, without A.D.H.D., there are only, the VARIOUS kinds of learners, we have our, visual bunches, the auditory kids, oh, and the tiny “proportion” of that group of bodily-kinesthetics, who needed to, touch EVERYTHING, that can’t sit still (wow, that sounds a whole lot like, the checklist of symptoms of A.D.H.D, doesn’t it???  It sure D-O-E-S!

“EARTH calling space cadet!!!“

focus, child!!! Photo from online

A world without A.D.H.D. that reduced the problem down by half, and now, we can, focus on, tackling the other HALF of THAT equation, helping children with dyslexia (as ADHD “cohabits” with dyslexia, in a lot of the special needs children out there!), but, without cutting these individuals’ brains open, and DISSECTING the lobes of the brains, to see exactly, where that wrong WIRE is, how the HECK can we figure out, WHAT exactly, went “wrong” with the neuronal branching???  We can’t, so, we’re, DEADLOCKED, again!

Stop labeling the children as whatever it is, MR (oh wait, there are those, who are, M.R.’s!), ADHD (bodily-kinesthetic), autistic spectrum, etc., etc., etc., etc., and just TREAT those kiddies as people already…

Okey dokey, this session of SPECIAL EDS for ADULTS is over, now, pay your tuitions here, oh, and BTW (by-the-way!!!), it’s now, FOUR cents per article per reader here, just “deposit” your “cash” inside the “collection plate” on your ways in, ways out, either way, it works for the Q-U-E-E-N………

Just Want You to Be Happy

The plans that, fell out of hand, with the rare condition diagnosis of their, young infant, daughter, the causes of the condition, still, not yet, known, translated…

From When Our Daughter Was Born to When She Got Sick, the Trials My Wife and I Weathered, Simply Can’t Get Put into Words, the Original Growth Plans We’d Set Up, All of a Sudden, Fell Out………

At First, it was, Hard for Me to, Accept

When Xiang-Xiang was only six months old, my wife and I noted how she seemed to, be developing, at a slower rate than infants her age, and we’d, hurried up and took her to the pediatrician.  After a thorough check, the pediatrician told us she was, normal, we’d both felt, relieved, but, at the age of one, Xiang-Xiang still couldn’t, flip herself over, and it’d, caused my wife and I panic.

To know what had happened, we’d had the pediatricians to conduct a thorough assessment on her, and in the end, we’d received the diagnosis of “Dope-Reactive Dystonia, DRD); meaning, that the pediatrician can only deduct that something wasn’t quite right with Xiang-Xiang’s neuron signaling system, and couldn’t tell us exactly, what was, wrong with her

From the joys of my daughter’s birth, to being told she’d had a rare condition, the changes in my wife and my heart can’t be put into, words, the original plans of her growth, all of a sudden, fell, out of whack.  At first, it was, quite difficult for us to accept this, but, being Xiang-Xiang’s parents, if we can’t even, cope with it, who will, give her the help she needed, on this, long road, of her life?  Only facing this head on, working hard, to find the cause of her condition, working with the pediatricians to treat her, that’s the only way, we’ll find the right treatments for her, so she could, have a, better life.

illustration from UDN.com

But even so, as I looked at how the conditions of my daughter was very, unstable, I’d felt, helpless, upset, and, because she isn’t health, there are, many accidents, situations that’s, surfaced as she grew up, going to the hospitals became, something too regular, and we’d often, gone for “vacations” at the hospitals too.  On top of that, due to how “unique” our daughter’s condition, the doctors couldn’t set up a clear and precise treatment plan for her, and it’s up to us, her parents, to make the detailed, observations, to finding the assortments of information, data online, to help us communicate with the pediatricians; and because of this, we’d taken a lot of time daily, energies too, to stay close to Xiang-Xiang, and documented the changes in her, closely.

Making Her Happy, that’s, the Most Important Matter in Our Lives

Because Xiang-Xiang loved going out, to observe everything around her, we’d often, taken her out for strolls.  I would put her in my lap, talk to her, play with her, sometimes, we would watch my wife, busying about, wait until my wife’s done busying, and hugged her.  Although Xiang-Xiang couldn’t speak a word, but, from her eyes, we can see, that she was, happy.

Xiang-Xiang is a laughing girl, whenever her tiny needs were met, she’d, started, giggling loud.  Her needs may be a sound we made, or a movement, even, that tiny response we’d, given to her, and that giggle from inside of her, can last for a long, long time.  We’d also found, that Xiang-Xiang, loved holding conversations, because she couldn’t speak a word, she’d, used the various noises, movements, facial expressions, to express her self, and she’d demanded that we “hear” her from start to finish, and so, we played that game of, “Charades” a lot at home, we all worked together, to guess what Xiang-Xiang wants to, tell to us.

Actually, the needs and desires of a child like Xiang-Xiang is quite, simple, being with those whom she enjoyed being around, it’s, the best thing in their lives, while we’d both, done all we possibly can, to fulfill, the tiniest wishes that our, young daughter  has.

To this point, we still have no clue, what’s, caused our daughter to not speak, to not flip on her tummy, to walk, and to, feed herself, but no matter, Xiang-Xiang is our, baby.  As parents, our only hope for her, is that she’s, safe and healthy, and happy throughout her life, while we shall, keep on, holding her, tiny hands, to lead her, to grow up slowly, on this, hard road of life she’d found herself to be one, to become, the strongest backup for her, in her life.

And this, is the love, the devotion, of parents with a special needs child, and the cause of the conditions of this young child is unknown, and the parents had, started to, accept that, they may, never find out what exactly, had caused their daughter’s, condition, but, they’d learned, to give her the love, the support she needed, on this road to life, and that, is the most, important sort of support, of love, that any parents can, give to, their, own young.

Forever Accompanying You

A developmentally delayed child that contributes to her family in her own way, translated…

My daughter in developmentally delayed, and a companion for the families, she’d accompanied the three generations.  The years changed, she will always be, a white sheet of paper, with the words of gratitude out of her lips, smiling.

Before the birth of my daughter, she’d been blessed upon by my grandmother.  My grandmother became a widow at twenty-eight, lonely her whole life, toward this baby great granddaughter, she’d felt that she was a grace from God, that she needed to love her very much.

After my daughter was born, we saw that she was limp in her limbs, with diminishing capacity, after a long road of treatment from the physicians, nothing worked.  During that age there’s no early intervention programs, and I had to work, can’t stay home to look after her, so I can only, move in with my own grandmother, and she’d, welcomed us with her arms wide open.

“Dear, come, a hug!”, grandma opened up her arms, my daughter ran toward her, like she was a pet that my grandmother kept, she’d slept with my grandmother too at night.  My daughter accompanied my grandmother for a whole of twelve years.

After grandmother passed, I’d placed her in an institution, on Monday I’d sent her into boarding, on Saturday, I’d taken her home.  This was a difficult period for her, as she came home happy on Saturdays, but when Monday came around, she’d started crying hard, throwing her tantrums, rolled on the ground, refused to get taken away, she was only fourteen then.

My mother moved in with me at her old age, I’d taken my daughter home so my mother could have company, during the daytime, my daughter went to daycare, and arrives home at four in the afternoon, and my mother looked after her with great care, they’d loved and cherished one another so, until my mother too had, passed away, my daughter had accompanied my mother for a whole of ten years.

After I retired, I’d taken her to a ton of group outings, to help socialize her into life of the community, my life, is her life too.  Companionship is the BEST gift of life, companionship doesn’t cost anything to hire someone from the outside, with the families there, keeping each other warm.  Although my daughter is not intelligent, but putting her in the right place, she’s still, a contributor.

And now, she’s, in her fifties, and as I got older, I’d found how wonderful she truly is, she’d had a ton of love from home, very spirited every day, it’s like the Holy Bible said, “everything works together, everyone benefitted.”

And so, this, is the “use” of this developmentally delayed child to the family, she’s great companionship for the elders, and now, her mother realized this finally, and now, the mother and daughter will live together, until the end.

The Sixth Grader Ran on the Track Field, Became a Vegetable, the School Mandated to Pay the Families

Knowing this student’s heart condition, the instructor still made him run, that’s why the school is mandated to pay!  Off of the Front Page Sections, translated…

Four years ago, a sixth grade boy with a heart condition, ran around the school track, fell down, he was rushed to the hospital, and became a vegetable, the families filed a suit toward the country, the Taichung District Court found that school needed to pay the boy’s families until he turned twenty, the amount of over $40,000N.T. per month for the medical fees, and over $20,000N.T. per month extra until he’s sixty, that the amount of over $4.36 million N.T. needed to be paid to the boy and his mother for emotional distress.

The parents told, that filing the suit against the country is to get justice for their son who’s “growing up but never waking up”, and they hoped that their son will be the last victim of the negligence of the school campuses, the school already filed for an appeal.

The verdict stated, that the boy had a congenital heart condition, isn’t fitted for hard exercises, and all his teachers knew this.

On the morning of October 20^th, 2016, the homeroom instructor told the whole class to get on the track field to practice running, and the instructor stayed in the class, not gone out to keep an eye on the students, allowed the boy to run two laps, the boy started swaying left and right, limping, and started panting, turning pale, along with other symptoms that he was not will.  The homeroom instructor saw, but didn’t call the ambulance immediately, the student was carried by another instructor to the nurse’s office, where the nurse performed CPR, until the paramedics arrived.

The judge believed, that the homeroom instructor wasn’t monitoring the boy when he was running, and not paid enough attention to how he was afterwards, and as the boy passed out, she’d not called the ambulance on time, that it all fitted into negligent in care, that the school should pay for the damages on behalf of the country.

And so, because you weren’t paying enough attention to this student with a HEART condition, and you made him run the laps, that’s why you’re, responsible, for his death, and the school got sued for it, because of the teacher’s not paying enough attention to the student’s health conditions.

A Different Life

With the assistance given to these families by the foundation, these families can finally, have some sense of, normalcy in their, functioning, translated…

In the meetings that day, the senior early childhood intervention educator, Mrs. Shih told everybody, there was a student’s mother whom she’d lost contact with that’s gotten reconnected with her on FB, told her that her twins who were, helped by the center from before, who’d, received the early intervention helps are, in the universities now.

Mrs. Shih said, as the mother told her how her children were doing, it’d, deeply impacted her, because as the twins were sent to the early intervention center, they had troubles, feeding themselves, and yet, Mrs. Shih wasn’t as experienced as she is now, she’d, become, too nervous when looking after the twins, worried, that she may, injure the twin if she weren’t, careful enough; but, over a decade later, the twins had the abilities to take the entrance exams for college, and, they’d, both gotten into the public universities too.

I’d once heard other coworkers, sharing the tales of success.  The person in the story was, Shen, he’d lost his parents, and lacked that secure attachment, he’d, needed to hug everybody he saw, and in the end, he was called, the “sexual predator”; but, as he’d been sent to the foundation for placement, he’d, learned to express his insecurity in an alternative method, and because of the company he had from his teachers, his peers, he’d, changed his manners from being timid as he’d come to the center, to now, being able to, laugh out loud.

There was, also, the younger brother of a guy, that he’d, felt like an older brother to his own older brother, because his older brother needed to get taken care of more.  Thankfully, after the older brother received job trainings, he’d, started working, not only was he making his own way, he’d no longer needed to, be watched over staying at home, and he finally had the time, to do what he wanted to do, and felt the burdens, lifted from his shoulders now.

If the early interventions didn’t happen, then, the twins may still need someone else to help them at meal time, let alone how they’d, taken the college entrance exams; had the teachers not helped Shen adjust his behavior problems, he would now still be, misunderstood, as a “sex predator”; if the older brother didn’t get the job training he needed, the younger brother would still be, carrying that burden of taking care of him, and NOT had a life of his own, the life that he’d, wanted; and, those families that were, torn apart, because of the children’s conditions, after the children were, placed in the early intervention programs, the atmospheres at home became much better; and, the aging parents, who could, no longer look after their own young, and after they’d asked the First Welfare Foundation for assistance, they’d now, found time to breathe, for themselves…………

Every time I’d heard these stories, it’d, moved me very much, the teachers at the First Welfare Foundation, had originally, just wanted to, help the needed to have a better, a more comfortable life, but, their work had, touched the families as well, helped these families, changed for the better, giving a higher quality of life, of the family members.

Reason why I’d started this column, is because, I want the world to know, how extraordinary these teachers are, how they’re, using their, professionalism, their passions, persistence, and love, to help turn the families they’d helped, around, giving the families, new hope, so they can, keep on, hoping for, a better, a brighter future for themselves.

And so, this, is considered the fishing pole program, because this foundation had helped those who are, mentally decapacitated to have a skill set, to train them to take care of themselves, so, their families no longer need to worry about them all the time, and, this is an amazing program, and we should have more of these, social welfare foundations that are, doing this sort of work in the world.

The Child Who Was Sent to Us by Love

On having a student with autism in the class, translated…

In three years’ time, he’d only spoken twice.  Light, a tall and strong boy, diagnosed, with severe autism.

The first time I set my eyes on him, I could tell that he was different, Light’s mom told me nervously, “He’s of normal intelligence, very mild tempered, especially interested in animals and plants, would not attack others without provocation………”  Light gazed outside the window, toward the white sunlight, squinted his eyes, lost in thought, not saying a single word to me.

“Light, what are you looking at?”, “Light!”, that, was the only word he’d spoken, in that first year.

He’d gone to a regular high school, with the focus in competitions and entering into college, it was, truly, hard and trying for him.  He clearly fell behind the rest, in the classes, he’d sat, silent, like a statue, mild mannered and behaving, with the gazes seeming like he was deep in thought, and those lips that are forever sealed up.  As his classmates said hi to him, he’d just sat, silent, and observed.  The teacher worked hard, to try to get him to open up, Light just sat quietly and listened, without any responses.  This silent child, never spoke a word.

The schedule became busy in his second year of high school, Light became like a wood carved figure, followed closely behind his classmates, and, imitated their movements, without any facial expressions, like a grain of sand that existed outside the space and the time.  Only one class, on the relationship between humans and animals and plants, Light lifted up his head, and, a smile seemed to have, curled up his lips.  Then, quickly enough, he’d become, statuesque again.  After class, I’d asked him on purpose, “Light, do you like animals and plants?” “Flower!”, and that, was the only word of reply he’d given in his second year of high school.

The last year’s academic pressures had caused every one of his fellow classmates to be wind up tightly, and Light still trekked between the classes, silently.  On the day of graduation, Light’s mom got all dressed up and came.  “Thanks to the teachers and the classmates’ tolerating him.  The future?  We’re still thinking on it, thank you all for caring for him so.”

I’d placed the present into Light’s hands, “Light, this, is a graduation gift from me.”  Looking at that thickened volume of plant encyclopedia, Light’s eyes twinkled, it was, vague, but I had, caught the light.  Light didn’t say thank you, just gave me a slight nod, he’d followed behind his mom, walked out of the school silently.

I don’t know how this kid will walk through his life, I knew, that parents, teachers, as well as his classmates are merely passengers in his life.  And, everybody gave a helping hand when we’d met up, showed him the care and concerns, and, at the time of parting, we can only say our silent prayers and blessings, hoped, that the passengers in the next parts of his life can use a heart of gentleness, warmth, to accompany this unique child.

I believe, that so long as love is shared between people, that there’s this warmth, every Light in the world, will be touched, by strangers who cherished, and treated them well.

And so, this, is the wishes of a teacher for her student, and, because this student is autistic, he relates to the world around him in his own way, and, his classmates, his teachers had shown him tolerance for it, and allowed him to take his own time, not pushed him into socializing the “normal” way, and, we can only wish and hope, that this kid is going to be just as lucky and blessed, as he go through the rest of his life.

The Math Class for the Special Needs Students

From the observations of a school teacher, translated…

From before, when I’d worked in a regular high school, I didn’t know what “Combined Occupational Training” is, until fate stepped in, and took me to another new school to teach, that, was when I’d gotten into contact with this group of amazing kids.  In the morning, when most of the students entered into the gates of the school, with their heads lowered, and a lack of facial expression, this group of kids would always use the most upbeat voice to greet me, giving me a good start of my day.

Later on, I’d attended a special educations seminar in the summer, there was a lecturer, who’d told us, “the culture in Taiwan awards the students who performed well, and in the end, there may be half of those kids who grow up, and go abroad to work, but, our group of kids will work and give back to the communities here indefinitely, and so, we must do EVERYTHING we can, to help them grow up.”, those words, they got into my heart, made me think, other than showing my passions toward them, and saying hi in the mornings, what ELSE can I do?

And so, I’d told the manager of student affairs, I’d wanted to teach the occupational math courses.  The manager of student affairs opened up his eyes wide, asked me, “Principal, are you SURE, you want to teach their class?”  I’d nodded, persistently, and that, was how my affinities with this group of kids started.

At first, when I’d started, I didn’t get ANY feedback from the students, after I’d explored awhile, I’d come to realize, that by having a lot of knowledge in the mathematics, still wasn’t enough, to teach the course to them.  For them, I’d written individualized education plans that tailored to their needs, and, I’d found, that the material must be able to be applied in real life situations for them.

On a practice exam, a student raised her hands, asked me if they could use calculators?  Without much thought, I’d told, if they can not use it, then, they don’t use it.  But, when I saw how she’d counted, using her fingers, I’d felt so awful, and, I’d immediately had her take out her calculator—and later on, I’d told her, that she could use ANYTHING, so long as she can manage solve the math problems.  Contemplating on the matters further, as teachers, we’d often use our own standards, to expect the students to perform well, did we use more empathy, and more patience, to make the learning process more student-focused?

At the end of the semester, as the students got out of their final class session, a student followed behind me quickly.  “Principal, this, is sausage with fish eggs, I’d made it with my mom at home, it’s for you, and, I’m only giving it to you!”, he’d stated.

“Thank you.  And, calculate for me, if a single sausage is sold for $15N.T.s, and, you buy one for all of the fifteen students in the class, how much would it be totally?  Tell me your answer, at the start of next semester.”  I’d replied to him with a smile, and, accepted this gift.

This, is the practical side of education, this principal worked with this group of kids with special needs, to help them have the basic abilities to make it on their own, and, although the lessons are simple, to normal people, it’d taken these kids a lot of time and energy to understand the subjects, and, being an instructor of special needs children, it takes patience, and compassion.

The Burdens from Caring for a Developmentally Delayed Child was Too Much, the Mother Jumped into the Water, the Father Tried to Save Her, Both Parents Ended Up Dead

It is hard enough, taking care of a normal child, and this family needed to care for one that’s developmental delayed, from the Front Page Sections, translated…

A woman with a Chinese descent, Chen was found, drowned to death, close to where she lived, in a large ditch, her husband, Wang was missing; and because Chen had prior records of attempting suicide, and was saved, the police believed, that it was because of the stresses she’d faced, taking care of her developmentally slow son, and she couldn’t handle it, took the leap into the river, and her husband who couldn’t swim went after her, and was drowned too, and missing, the firefighters are searching for Wang through the nights.

The police investigated, that Wang (age 39) , married Chen (age 30) from China, both of them worked in a factory, has a six-year-old and a two-year-old son, but the older child was developmentally delayed, and harder to care for, the couple got along really well, but, because taking care of their older child was hard, and so, they’d gotten into verbal altercations from time to time.

The police told, that the three generations of the family lived under the same room, the grandparents on the first floor, Wang and their children, on the second; at around four in the afternoon yesterday, the youngest child cried about how he wanted his mom, tripped and fell at the entry of the staircase, the grandfather didn’t see the daughter-in-law come down to check on the child, felt it was odd, and, after the grandfather gone upstairs, he’d found both the parents aren’t around, immediately called it in.

The family stated, that Chen, ten days ago, had gone to the drainage systems in Hsiu-Shui to attempt to drown herself, but, her father-in-law found her in time, and prevented her from so doing; yesterday afternoon, Chen went out again, and her husband ran out without putting on his shoes, perhaps, because Chen wanted to kill herself, the husband ran after her, to prevent her from doing so, and, to save his wife, he leapt with her, but, because he couldn’t swim, they both drowned.

Chen left behind a notebook, with the final words for her son, “Mom knows you’re not a healthy child, but, mom will go, to a far away place now, to watch you boys grow up from afar.”  “Mom really loves you very, very, very much, you are my cherished babies, both of you…”, as the family members read how Chen spoke of nothing but love toward her sons, they all felt bad, that she had died.

The relatives of the Wangs said, that the eldest son is slow-to-learn, and reacted slowly, the family would take him to the hospitals for follow-ups, the parents of Wang not only helped the couple look after the child, also treated Chen, their daughter-in-law, as if she were their own, they couldn’t figure out, what drove Chen to commit suicide.

Perhaps, it’s how she felt awful about her son’s conditions, and she could do nothing about it, and, with the strains from her day-to-day living, she just couldn’t get through, but that, is all speculations now.