ECSE 421 RB5

This week I learned more about different family members react to having a child or sibling with disabilities.  We got to read an article about how it is to be the sibling of a child with a disability and we also read an article about how it is to be a father of a child with a disability.  I really enjoyed reading these articles because you get to see several different perspectives of those involved when a child has a disability.  It was also neat to learn about the grief cycle and how the knowledge of the stages in the grief process can help professionals (or professionals in training) understand family response to a crisis.  When the family is able to get to the acceptance stage of the grief cycle then they are able to discuss their child’s disabilities, they are able to balance between encouraging independence and showing love, they are able to discipline without undue guilt, and they are able to pursue personal interests unrelated to their child!

This week I was unable to make it to class but I was lucky enough to have classmates who took great notes for me! Through reading the articles given to us and the notes my classmates took for me, I was able to still gain a lot information this last week! My greatest resource this week definitely had to be my classmates and all their help!  I feel like there is still I have to learn about how to work with families that have children with disabilities and how to differently approach each family member.  It was nice to be able to talk to my peers about what we learned this last week in class and come to understand what they got from class that day! 

Weekly Quote:  

“There really is no way we can know the heart, the intentions or the circumstances of someone who might say or do something we find reason to criticize, thus the commandment, judge not.”

HWD: 

The main thing we can to while trying to work and help those with severe disabilities is to be patient!  We have to be patient while researching how to help them, we have to be patient with ourselves and we have to be patient with them when they act up or are upset.  While in Romania, the little boy that I have talked about before was having a rough day. He was doing all right and then all of a sudden started to crying and flinging himself against the bed and the ground.  Confused at why he was so upset we started to look around the room to see if we could find out what was causing him to react that way.  Knowing that he is very particular about the placement of objects in the room and objects that he is playing with, I started to observe the toys that he was playing with.  Sure enough, there were two stacking blocks that were stuck inside each other, as soon as I took the out of each other and handed them to him he stopped throwing his fit! To figure this out, I had to stay calm and assess the whole situation, as I have been reading about severe disabilities and how to work with children who have severe disabilities I come across a lot that talks about staying calm!  This has helped me a lot with this project and also life in general! My Credible source this week is: http://complexchild.org/articles/2015-articles/january/in-betweens/