I hate keys

  Hello guys  I want to say first off  Happy  February   (my favorite month of the year)  the ressson for not posting  is  the fact that the comments are not rolling  so   before u leave  could  u help me  out  my commenting. 

   I hate  keys  I mean the  word itself was hard  for me to say for the  first 12 years of my life .  I have a t for K substitution so I  said the  word  Tey and   I would  get a minus  from the ST  not fun times.Now that I am older  I can say  key  but  I have to slow down and really  focus on the   K  sound but that  is just the beginning  of  my   key troubles.

   last  Wednesday  when I got home from school i went to use the key to open the house up.     I  can get the  key in and  turn it but  the key  gets stuck in the keyhole making it hard to get out.     Last Wednesday I manage to  get the key  to the garage out   but then  the Garage   door that leads into the house was locked.  I  then  call my dad and he says to try the sliding glass door   I do  but then the key  gets stuck into the door  and  i can not  get it out nor can I open the door.    I  proceed to the sun room in my backyard  and my  dog comes  and stares at me. This is funny cuz my dog spends a lot of time in the sun room    when we are away.    Now  she looks at me   from inside the house at me in the sun room   where I stayed until my sisters  came home.

Pulse Pen light

 This is what I pick up   in the Assertive technology lab. It is  called a smart pen. It  records  audio and sound. I am essentially taping the lecture  and can bring up cretin points  on my pen by tapping   on the paper It is hard to explain so i am going to  show you videos of it







 This video is cool because I  worked on the K sound when I was  in speech therapy.    I also sometime subsitute  t  for K

Life and times of a collage student with disablites

Well guys welcome to Inclusive school week on my blog I am going to try to post something every day this week about Inclusion and how beneficial it has been for me as a result. Lets get started. here are some pictures of my day as a collage student.

I ate this once when I couldn't find waffles

A typical day for me starts long after my sister go to their high school. I wake up around 9:00 and jump into the shower to begin my day. I get dressed and head down stairs where i take my morning medication and have some brekfast. If we have any waffles in the house I will put them in the toster put way to much syurp on them and gobble them down while watching my shows on the DVR. If I am done with breakfast by 10:45 I grab my hat and head to school. I enjoy the walk to school it is about an hour give or take but it is good excersise I have to go up a big hill but the only the first third is steap. If it is late I take a bus or my parents drive me, if they are home. I go to the local Comminty collage which i am hoping to change and start over as a freshman at a four year school next fall.

First stop for me when I get to collage

The first order of business when I get on campus is to go to the Asstive technology center and get Something cheak back tomorrow to see what it is . I then go to my class which starts at 12:10. It is Intermediate Algebra. I sit up front in a seat that is reserved for me, The sign that is in the picture is taken off but no one sits there. The instructor is a guy named Will (not his real name) He is really nice and has high expectations for me. He does not think I a pain to teach and trust me enough to let me lend money. After his class I head upstairs for an English class with Jone( again not real name) the class is pretty easy for me. It is a step below collage English but I will be doing Freshman English in January. I have two friends in that class who went to my rival high school but we get along alright. I also have an old friend that I had in high school when I was friends with DD. I thought that collage would be so scary but Mr T was right I would be fine.

Tuesday post will be on what I pick up at the office

If you have a child in middle school make sure you tell them about the I am norm video contest happening this week for more info click here

Favorite pics of me brought to you by To the max

Mini Me

 

I love the  bright colors 

 

  I enjoyed Summer  2009

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Great brothers

Calling all readers

   So today was the day of our local Buddy walk that I  again did not  make.    I am hoping that  I will  not have to be an odd one at a  walk   because  I am hopping to plain  a Cerebral Palsy walk  this March ( march is Cp Awareness month)     I have a place in mind  but I need your help esp  if u  help  organize a Buddy walk.  How do u do it     A good  place to start  anything  please leave comments  so  I can get this thing rolling

Smarter then I Speak

What if I told you that you had to watch people kick a ball back and forth for an hour and a half? Would you agree to   it?  Would you enjoy it?   It sounds rather boring but millions   of people worldwide enjoy watching soccer.    The difference is that the kicking of a ball has purpose    in game of soccer compared to watching people kicks balls back and fourth. The purpose is a goal that the players are trying to achieve   for there team.     Similarly, in life goals   severe as a purpose outside of the victory that is felt upon achieving them.

      Goals are different    for different people   in various aspects in their lives.   One of my biggest goals in life is improving the clarity in the articulation of my speech.   Speech has never been something that I could have taken for granted as a result of me being diagnosed as a toddler with Cerebral Palsy. Cerebral Palsy   is the result of having   a lack of oxygen before, shortly after, or during birth.     Because     I was born prematurely, the   likely hood of me getting this chronic illness increased.    As an infant using my mouth mussels    to eat was a challenge and to this day my speech is unclear and I   always bite on my drinking straws.  I cannot say all the sounds fluidly in the English language but understand everything that is said to me.  This is really frustrating for me   and to make matters worse I am my hardest critic. To me everyone’s speech sounds clearer than my even those with disabilities.   Due to the reasons above my speech clarity is a goal that I have.

             Goals are the gas in a person’s engine, in that they provide the drive for people to work hard.   When I was little ,I thought that if I worked really hard that when I was an adult I would speak normally.   I did not mind speech therapy back than.  I went and worked hard and did things that the speech teachers asked me to do. I tried so  many techniques from lying on my back trying hard to say sounds to having stuff   in my mouth to   work to strengthen my mouth mussels. I did not mind working hard because my thinking was   I had to do this in order to speak like   grown ups do. Looking back on it, I would say that it was hard work   but   I complied   with the grueling work and stuck to it in hopes of  achieving my goal. My fuel  was my goal and with it I  forged  ahead with speech therapy. 

               Just like in cars, without goals   there is no inner fuel; thus there is a lack of motivation to work  hard  . In seventh grade my speech teacher told me that I   would always have unclear speech do to Cerebral Palsy.    The speech teacher and I got along well   and I trusted her so I took the information   at face value.   The remainder years I had at speech therapy though the school system   were a waste of  time for me and the speech pathologist. I no longer   had a goal   so the work became extremely frustrating. During my junior year of high school ,I stopped going to speech therapy for a while.   I had a class that period that I went to anyway so I went there instead of therapy.   I was taking   Advance Placement  United States history from a guy who had a hard  time understanding ,me and I   once  I  told him that I had left speech he got vary concerned for me and encouraged   me to return to speech.   So I was back to sitting across   from   my speech pathologist    understanding to put my tongue in the roof of my mouth and being unsuccessful. I hated speech therapy after seventh grade because the light that was supposed to be at the end of the tunnel, me speaking clearly was no longer in site   so the work became grueling and painful for me to sit though.   On the rare occasions that I did work hard the vain mussels in my neck popped out , yet   it seemed pointless  because my speech would always be gibberish. It became a chore to go to speech therapy because  I no longer had a goal.                    

              Goals  are necessary for  people to  make hard  work meaningful.  By the end of the  fall 2010 semester I want  to  achieve   the  goal of  getting into speech therapy and working  diligently  at improving the articulation of my speech.  I want  to  do this by  enrolling at  Peninsula  Associates  , a speech center walking distance from my house. A big barrier to achieving this goal will be  being able  to afford the  assessment  and  speech lessons.  It  may also be  hard to focus if I  have  a lot of homework   or other  stuff in my  mind.   I can get around the finical barriers by getting SSI  or  getting my insurance pay for the  therapy. As far as the attention barrier I can try to  get focus as  I am  in the waiting room, and plan ahead by keeping up to date with my school assignments.  Now  that I know  speaking clearly can  be a goal to me,   recent research  shows the brain in more plastic than my seventh grade teacher  thought,  I think I can improve the diction in my speech so that   I could work  in any profession  I chose  ,as well as being a advocate   for  people with disabilities.   

I have CP so I will post this

Laughter is always the best medicence

  the  story:  In  speech  one day  my speech teacher  Ms.F   in a effort to  see that  I am  not the only one who speaks   badly    told me about a deaf  lady who  was a  stand  up comic.  We  looked on  youtube   heard  her speek  the   bell  rang  and  I had   Mr.T    next period  so  i    rushed  to his classroom   and forgot about  it



August  2010: I am   web sufeing on  youtube and frond this  and  it  hit me that this  was the same  lady  Ms.F had  told  me about. I watched  it and all  I can say  is that her experince   is  so similar to  mine. My favorite  part  is     about the   red ballon and Mike. This video will make  you cry  laugh    and  be in awe.  Enjoy it my  friends

such a great story

Tell a story Tuesday

 I am  going to try  and start  something     blog  world  and  i need your  help. I am going to  try and   recommend  books on the disability  experience.   If you  have any   good  books  in this  category  leave a comment  and who  knows   your  recommendation may lead to  a  post on that book   now  for my  first book  Accidents of  Nature.

 Accidents of  Nature   is  such a great   book  it  is about   a  teenager  with  CP who  goes  to a camp  for    all  kinds of  kids   with disabilities.  Set in  the  summer  of 1970  it     talks  about    stereotypes that    the disabled community  has to  face.  The  characters  are   well  written and  their are a lot  of things to think about  after  you  put the  book  down.      This  is  by  far  one of the  best books on disabilities  I have ever  read

Full Furstation

warning  this post contains a vent

  I  have the  hardest speech in my entire class.      Has been a statement   I   could have  said   from pre k to  senior year of  high school,without  frustration.  As  when  I  was  young    as long as  kids  played with  me (which they  did ) at recess, lunch or  free time.  As   I  entered  middle school ,   I     told myelg   that they  do not have a disability ( I  got  passed up in  speech class    and that was discouraging , but   not  to  bad)   and that lasted through  high school,  what also helped  was the  typical  kids who  could  understand  repeat things  to  the   teacher.

( Another reason  that inculsive  education has worked  for me)     But   as   I say it about  my current class  CDS 2010   my  Frustration level is  full.

I really like my first day picture of CDS 

The  thing is that  all of the students in the program  are young adults   with disabilities and   most of them   have been in SDC classes   in  high school.  I am  one  of the smartest   students  in the classes   and I  comprehend everything   that goes  on. It  should make  sense  since  I   understand everything that  I should  be able to express myself , but   that is not the case.  All the teachers   do not  understand me 100 percent  of the time and   it is  difficult   to   show them how  smart  and funny  I  really  am.   A good example  is  today  during   PE.

 We  were in the cycling   room and     coach  A (we had a  four coaches  today)  helps me and says  "AZ  you  make me feel   like     Cinderella," as he put my  foot through the  straps  on the bike pedals" Am  i the handsome  prince ."

 

 " No,"   I say You are the  ugaly troll. I have been  playing a lot  of  Lego  Harry  potter  on the Wii.

 

 The ugly   frog,"                                                   

"No   troll,"

  "Mole?"

 " No? " 

The other  kids  call out  but they do  not say   troll

  I got off  my bike and  wrote the  wrong spelling of  troll 

 I show  it to  coach B  "Troy,"

  

"No   troll

" Finally coach   got it." 

I walked  back  across campus  with  Coach  A and  we   talked about the  frustration i have about my speech during the classes in the class and he suggested  slowing down and   articulating.      Coach A  says that   he talks to fast and ask that we all  try to do our best and  slow down.    I can  do that but      it  still  does not  guaranteed that I will speak  smartly.  I   hate   speaking  stupidly I need more  ST   with a good speech therapist.

 got  pics  from  the flowing
 sign:https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhgXxe25XgWypThBwqhxbaBjYmL4LPZNaXX7EZRSEC3DrFAHg3FUrI3eKYBhJxuzfO5t_YfUcD3yKhq3Dq9eS94o63y6Vnl_Wh7zDQuBzkKHjy7f4HBsKSxJLs1gkylbIPhvtR_uA4LNDN/s400/Frustration.jpg

 troll http://i.clevver.com/photos/229747/130/98/lego-harry-potter-years-14-screenshots-of-year-1-vignette.jpg

Teach your childeren well

Today  I learned a  great skill  in   self advocating.  I  have  had some problems  with    some of the kids and  staff  at  CDS(all the students have disabilities in the  program )   understanding  my speech and teasing ( more  on this soon)  so  I  made a power point on  CP and presented it to the class and  head  teacher.    It  went   well and  the  great thing was that   I  did it without  direct input from   other adults.  I did go  down to the  speech  center  yesterday   and  they    said  to  educate others  but    they  did not mention creating a   power point . I  am  feeling   proud  of my self and hope that any parent  reading this  who has a special need  kid   remember that   eventually they  need to  be    an  expert on there disabilities to  the  point where    they can  educate  others.

Soo you say u understand me eh

     I  speak   english  a  little spainsh  and  of course  Gibberish

   cool  cartoon   gotten 

  I  have a  hard time saying my  name and   speaking  clearly for that  matter   but I  think I  have  also grown    when someone does  not  understand me.


   It  started last  Th  as  I  went  to   a local speech  center to  sign  up  for speech  ( more on this   latter) and  I was talking to a ST and another  one  walked in  and  knew   of my  old  ST  from  high school  and so I introduce my slef and  she said   oh  and  I  could  tell    she did not understand me and  I  ask her.  The  ST   was  so impressed.  I do  have  a  sixth   sense    and  it is  so  cool. 

It should not be a fight

    I have  seen and heard  Many stories about    parents  who  have to   fight  for there child  to be in   mainstream  and   after  reading such  accounts  I  wonder why  does  it have to be a fight   on there  part    to   let disabled  kids  go to inclusive  school.

My mom  came  to   my  kindergarten  class    when we had our career
  unit I am  sitting on    my  teachers lap   listening to what she does  in the
hospital

I  have always  been  included  since  kindergarten.  It was a no  brainier    for  my  parents  and the  two  school districts  because  I  have   normal    intelligence.      I would not trade      inclusion   for special  education,  (although  I must admit  I  wish  I had  more life skills when I graduated high school ) because I have  met so many wonderful  teachers, students and faculty as well as  being  apart   of   all of my school  communities.  I  have  so  Many great   memories   of     being in the  mainstream  and  going  on  field  trips  and  discovering     new  things.      I  just graduated   from  inclusive  high school  but  have  left behind   a club and lessons  that  others have  learned  from  me.

Ms P  (red)  was my sped teacher  all t
throughout high school here  i am  with her
 halloween 2009

  I have had   help and support   from special  education  teachers and staff  and have  participated in  ST     a  one  to  one aid  and  Work ability   while  being  able  to read    write and  learn  with  people  in my community, people who  live  near  me and     in my city    because  I have  been  in inclusive education

 Field trip  fun.

I   care so much about inclusion  because   Cerebral  Palsy   could  have    caused me  to  have a  intellectual disability  are be     so  disabled  that  the  best  place  for me   would have  been a separate  class  or  a special   needs  school.    I     care because  I  have  friends with   disabilities both online   and in  real life   who are not included . I   see   what  a shame it  is  that  other people will not have the chance  to get to know them.

Art work  2009   the teacher
used  to be a sped  teacher
  I  took  ceramics  during my Senior
year  of high school 

 I have  heard   from a  favorite  teacher of mine that    when  they taught at   another  school the kids with disabilities  were  there  but  they never  got to see  or talk to them.  The kids   missed  out   on getting  to  see   and talk  and  make a connection  with   the  person  who has been  a great   mentor and  friend to me.       The teacher  has been  working as teacher for  a while  but  I  was  their  first    student my   level  of  disability    it was not easy  but    like they  said    at the end of the  year   " Oh  the stories we could  tell"  and     I   am a character in  that story  along with  the  other students.(maybe   mine are the   annoying  and hard stories  but     hopefully there are some great ones of just me and  the whole class) I  have not heard  any  stories  yet from that class  but   I would buy the  book .........I  think.....  lol

 School is not the only  area that  inclusion
  should  apply to but to   all types of  recreation for
  peers of   similar ages. I played  soccer in AYSO    from pre k
 to  8th  grade every fall

 Inclusion     should  not be    so  hard because  unlike a driver's   test which should be  earned because the   result  of     it not  going  badly are deadly     inclusion  dose  not hurt anyone . In fact inclusion  benefits  everyone   involved the students  teacher s and school community.       In    all classes i have been  in  (AP   US history  include)   everyone isn't  at the same level  so why is it that    people  say it is  easier  not  to  have  kids with  intellectual  disabilities   at the  same   classrooms. With   mortifying  assignments    or    simplfilng  the  information     all kids would be able to learn better.  Inculsion   was not  a fight  for me  and should not be a fight for anyone  else.

I passed AP history ,but aged out of speech

I have cerebral palsy which is mild ;however, it still noticeable in one way when I open my mouth to say something. Not saying anything for me isn't a option because i love to talk and i am funny which means strangers will always wonder what is wrong with me or think that i have low intelligence which is soo not the case. AS Deb pointed out her speaking has no consistency with intelligence

This has happened a lot of times during my course of my life. I remember adults talking to me or asking my parents what I say it far more what happens. It happened recently at a restaurant with some family friends. I order something off the adult menu(which makes sense considering my age) . I had an adult drink but come meal time I got a thing I wanted from the kids menu. Now most people would not be bothered by this but looking back I wonder if the waitress gave me something from the kids menu because she thought I was not a adult or that I would not know the difference because I had a intellectual disability I wonder.

I did pass Advanced placement united states history and it is true. I passed my test with a three. with high school ending I aged out of free speech therapy and there are still things I could work on. Mr.T stutters a little bit but he is still smart and wise and the administrates trust him to teach AP and he is a great teacher. I may talk unclearly but that dose not mean I am dumb.


pic is from http://www.buzzle.com/img/articleImages/295742-3812-20.jpg

I do not get by

Remeber the Beatles song I get by with a little help from my friends well for me I do not get by with help because I do not feel that I have friends to lean on. I do have the kid from my b ball team who is my best friend but he is only a eighth grader. I have typical friends but they are not scared of transiton so it is hard to go to them for help. Plus I have the suspiction that i tag along with them instead of being true friends with them. I have some socal skills but as a senior in high school (with five days left) I can not work in groups I still act like a child. i am no where near ready and hanging out with Mr T is out of the picture as well so how am I going to survive.

At Special Olympics there are kids who could realte but DD has single handly made it so I do not have acess to them. The girls are disabled and whats more they have fromed a click and make my life a liveing hell. I got into a fight with them saying that they belong in Slytheren( from harry potter) and they belong to the vampire hunters( They realy enjoy twilight) The coach then repermand me for makeing this wrose because I also cussed at them ( was tempted to use the R word but I did not ) So I do not know how I am going to deal with the transition from high school. If anyone has a time machine can you please let me use it to go back to the begging of senior year instead of where i am now

Today is Cerberal palsy awaness Day

Ten things I learned about living with CP
1 Buttons are overrated
2 Never tell me that life is tough
3 Ruler is a tough word to say,
4 Rulers are hard to use
5 Special Olympics is fun and challenging
6 Gum is imposable to chew and swallow
7 Not all people with CP are in wheelchairs and walkers
8 Table for twelve is a assume show.
9 Repeating things shuk
10 Inclusion is key

March is Cerebral Palsy Awareness month lets try to reach for the stars

this is a great site for cp. awareness I hope to start a local chapter of this in the near future

Hope to be back to blogging on Friday making post for next week Stay toon

Transition to adult life

I have been wanting for a long time to write about how i feel about leaving high school for a long time and Ellen's post about her run in with the lady with Down Syndrome gave me fuel for my story here it goes.

All high school seniors there is a big fear about what lies ahead. Think about it from the time you are five and six you go to and from school Monday through Friday come home are under adults supervision while you are at home. In the case after high school a new routine takes place one that involves growing up and moving away from home or getting a job and going to community collage. Normal people handle this well. My brother did and now he is back near by ( well now he is in AZ) but he still lives at home with his mom.

Now through in CP ,NVLD, OCD and a fear about the future it is hard. I personally do not want to levee high school and leave the familiar that i have had since I was a newborn. I am not that independent and the aspect of a roommate in collage scares me. The fact that i have normal intelligence means that I can not stay until I am 21 which means fall next year I am going to be lost.

Now that I am a senor my parents and i have to plan for the rest of my life. This has to be the scariest part of transition as the future seems like a big black abyss. i am so scared like i have ever been. I love things to stay the same so these next months are going to be scary. I know i do not want to live in a group home and although I want to live at home next year I doubt I will always be comfortable living at home so I will need to learn how to live on my own. I want to get married and have some kids so I can coach there teams help with scouts etc will that happen i sure hope so. I want to be a self advocate and an author for the disabled and make the world more inclusive but i will need some help. I hope some adults at school will continue to help me as I transition from there but until i leave in May I am going to enjoy every last minute of my high school experience. My advice to all parents is to enjoy the kids as they are kids and listen to them and help make their dreams come true.