Week 8

This week I continued reading from the book Gifts and read it for about an hour and a half. Many of the stories are pretty similiar, but they are all pretty interesting. I like that they are real life struggles because it makes me feel for the parents of these children. They talk about the financial burdens, losing faith, the thought of abortion, and many other things that go along with having a child with Down syndrome. Before reading this book, I didn't realize all the health problems that are common along with Down Syndrome. This book tells about these problems and all the time and money they take. The book also addresses how others react towards these children and sometimes its not always positive. Some schools and programs even refused children because of their disability. I think this is horrible and would hate that feeling if i were the parent. I use to have a misconception about people with Down Syndrome, in that they couldn't do the same things that I could. Reading this book has taught me that they can do things just as I do, it just may take them longer to do it. I am glad I am reading this book. It has really taught me a lot. I plan on finishing the book this week.

Week 7

This week I read for about 4 hours. I finished the boo, Lock and Key and started the book Gifts: Mothers Reflect on How Children with Down Syndrome Enrich Their Lives. So much happened in Lock and Key. Ruby and Nate were sort of dating for a while. They weren't official, but they met every night by the pond and spent any spare time with each other. Ruby found out that Nate's father was hitting him and yelling at him all the time and tried to help. Nate wouldn't let her help and kept saying he was fine, so Ruby ended things with him. Later she realized she needed to be there for him and went to talk to him but found out he had run away. She ended up finding him and he gave in to telling someone. He stayed at Cora and Jamie's house until he left to live with his mom in Arizona. When he left, Ruby gave him her key that she always wore around her neck to help him remember her. Ruby graduated and got accepted to the U, which was a college near by. The book ended by Ruby describing what a family is, now that she really experienced having one. Gifts is a book that consists of letters that mother's write about their child who has Down Syndrome. It is amazing how parents' feeling towards Down Syndrome change once they have a child who has it. Most of the stories start with the day they found out their baby had or would have Down Syndrome. All of the parents cried when they found out but now realize that it was a blessing. In a lot of the stories the doctors recommended patients terminate their pregnancy if they found out before birth. I was really shocked by this. I think that is a decision for the parents to make and that nurses, doctors, and others should not try to influence those decisions. One story even said that the doctor who did the sonogram informed the patients OBGYN that they wanted to terminate when the patient never even said that. I would be so mad if that happened to me. I really hope that when I am ready to have kids that I will have kids without any complications or disabilities, but I think reading this book may help me accept any problems a little better.

Week 6

I read for about two hours this week and so much happened. The day Ruby skipped school Olivia dropped her off at her old school, Jackson, where she met up with her freinds ex boyfriend. While with him she drank alcohol and smoked pot. She got stupid and went to her ex boyfriends house and caught him with her best friend. She left in a hurry and ended up passing out in the woods. Olivia was smart and told Nate where she dropped Ruby off and he went looking for her. he found her and took her home, but Cora and Jamie were furious. Jamie was really hard on Ruby and wouldn't even talk to her for days. Ruby and Olivia became really good friends and Olivia helped Ruby realize that Nate is her friend when Ruby tried to deny it. She told her that he wouldn't have came and got her out of the woods if he were not her friend. Later in the book Cora and Jamie were getting ready for Thanksgiving dinner and Cora was freaking out. It was the first time she would be preparing the food for his whole family. This experience showed Ruby what it was like to be a family. She had never experienced this before. It really makes me sad to think that not everyone knows what a family is. I grew up in a very family-oriented home and could not even imagine it not being that way. Even though this book is fictional, it is helping me realize that not everyone comes from a home like mine. This is something I will need to remember to think about especially when I start teaching. There could be days I am talking about family and all students will have different opinions about what a family is based on their home lives. I am jsut about done with the book and plan to finish it this week. I will also be starting the book Gifts this week for my exceptionalities class.

Week 5

This week I only read for about 30 minutes out of Lock and Key, but I read the book Joey Pigza Swallowed the Key, which took a little over an hour. I had to read this book for Exceptionalities and didn't think I would enjoy it, but it was actually really good. It is about a boy who has AD/HD and his struggles through school. His teachers don't try to help him, instead they send him out of class, tell at him, and eventually send him to the Special Ed classroom. He does some pretty crazy things like sticking his finger in a pencil sharpener and swallowing his house key, and eventually he accidently cuts the tip of a girls nose off with a pair of scissors. this was the last string and they sent Joey to a doctor and special classes to get help. The doctor puts him on a patch, which continuously releases doses of medicine. After he is finished in his special classes and on the patch he is allowed back to school and teachers realize he is a good kid. This book really hit home with me because I could have students like this in my own classroom someday. If I do I will not treat them the way Joey's teachers did. I will do everything I can to help him succeed. It is so sad he had to go through all of that just to get people to realize he isn't a bad kid. The part of Lock and Key I read was really interesting. As far as Ruby knew, Cora moved away to college and forgot about her. That wasn't what happened at all. She found out the Cora had searched for her for years, but Ruby's mom was constantly moving and using fake names so that Cora couldn't find them. She was afraid she would lose Ruby too. This is a lot for Ruby to take in and she didn't handle it very well. I left off with her skipping school the day she found out about all of this. I am looking forward to finding out what will happen next.