The Ringer

I wanted to stay away from another movie (even though I only have two others), but this movie was worth noting on this blog. It is a movie about a guy who needs some money really fast. His uncle gets the idea for him to fake being someone with a developmental disability in order to win the Special Olympics. His roommates figure out what is going on and decide they want him to continue faking it so he can beat the Special Olympic favorite, Jimmy Washington. I won't say what all happens, but our faker main character realizes that his new, developmentally disabled friends are indeed, special. But not just in that way.

When I first heard about this movie, I thought, "No way!" I didn't think this movie would be any good because it would just be making fun of those with disabilities. The writers of the movie were the same ones that did "Dumb and Dumber" and "Stuck On You" so I thought it would be another, irreverent comedy. Also, Johnny Knoxville was the main character and he is best known for his work on "Jackass" on MTV. I didn't think it would be any good. Before I watched it though, I heard that they wrote they script and sent it to those in charge of the Special Olympics to get their approval. They got their approval.

They even loved that Johnny Knoxville was going to be the star. In the extras, one of the main people in charge of Special Olympics talked about why that was. He said that he asked some of their athletes what they thought about Johnny Knoxville being in the movie and they thought that was a great idea because they said that all of the kids that watch "Jackass" are the ones that call them "retards." At one point in the movie, the main character's uncle says, "'tard" and the main character stands up and says to never, ever say that word again. It was a good moment in the movie and the athletes liked that part because if Johnny Knoxville said to never say the word "retard" again, those kids might listen and not say it.

I really liked this movie because it was sensitive to the people who have developmental disabilities. It didn't make fun of them. It treated them with the utmost respect. It also brings to light the fact that just because someone has a disability, it does not mean that they are stupid or incapable of doing anything. It also breaks down barriers that people have who just don't know how great those with disabilities can be. It also hammers anyone who uses the word "retard" which I especially like, since that word is like nails on a chalkboard to me.

Famous People Who Stutter

I hadn't planned on doing such a simple entry like this one, but I think this has a lot of value, so I am including it. The above picture is just a few of the many people who stutter. I spent some time on the website http://www.stutteringhelp.org/ and one of the first links I clicked on was the link about famous people who stutter.

As a society, we are obsessed with famous people and while I am not as enthusiastic about this topic as some are, I do enjoy learning about famous people. I was astonished with the list of people that they had that stutter(ed). If you go to the website and click on the famous people link, it gives you a good pamphlet that you can save and print that includes some famous people. The above picture is part of this pamphlet. Interestingly, one of the people on the list, Alan Rabinowitz was part of a video about stuttering that I had watched already (not for this class).

I knew about some of the people, like James Earl Jones, John Stossel, Marilyn Monroe and Winston Churchill, but there were some that surprised me. To name a few, Tiger Woods, Kenyon Martin, Bo Jackson, John Melendez (voice of the Tonight Show), Jimmy Stewart, Bruce Willis, Julia Roberts, Mike Rowe (Dirty Jobs host and Ford promoter), B.B. King, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Col. Joshua Chamberlain (the unsung hero of Gettysburg, it could be argued that he alone provided the win for the Union. The movie "Gettysburg" provides insight into his character and Jeff Daniels plays him extraordinarily well), King George VI, even Moses (purportedly) and Demosthenes (greatest Greek orator of ancient times).

That list blew me away. And I know that there are probably plenty more that just aren't on the list for whatever reason. I love seeing this many famous and successful people on a list of people who stutter. It can give hope and promise to the estimated three million people in the U.S. that stutter. It doesn't need to be overcome for a person to be successful. Also, it makes me think about all of those people. I am sure they had people throughout their lives tell them that they would never make it and look where they are now!

More on Stuttering

There was an article I read from the April 2010 Journal of Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools about stuttering. It was a letter to the editor and it was written by Marilyn A. Nippold. The title of the article is "It's NOT Too Late to Help Adolescents Succeed in School.

It was a very interesting, although short, article about why we should not give up giving someone services just because they are getting "old." While early intervention is absolutely neccessary, we should not stop giving people services because they are in high school and the focus is often on those in preschool and the early grades, not leaving much time for the older kiddos to get services. There are plenty of high school students that still have speech and language disorders. They need are are required to have services as long as they are in school.

One idea she recommends, though not her original idea, is to not use the pull-out method for those requiring services. Instead they should be offered credit for speech and language services. The idea is that if they have an actual class where they can earn a grade and receive a credit or two, they will be much more likely to participate and try to do well. This would also help them to "avoid the stigma of being removed from other required courses" during their time at school.

This was a good article and I enjoyed reading it. I would have liked it to be longer. It was good because I will be working in the school districts when I recieve my degree and I need to be well informed and this article helped me think about things I hadn't thought about yet.

Inclusion Module

This was an online module I did for EDSE 201. We didn't have class and so we had a choice of doing this or going to a panel on Special Education. I needed to help my wife with our kids last night so she could get a little break, so I didn't go to the panel. So I did this module instead.

It was fun to review what we had already learned about inclusion. The videos we watched were really good. The videos were of a meeting that a mom of a student with special needs was having with those involved in her daughter's education. They were informative and it was good to see the mother being so strong in the videos. She had suggestions and everyone was willing to listen and implement what the mother said. They didn't treat her like she had no idea what she was talking about. That was refreshing.

I also enjoyed answering the questions at the end of a case study. They challenged me to think about what I have been learning this semester and putting it into practice. This was good as I will be involved in these kinds of situations as a Speech-Language Pathologist. I am glad I got to do this and be put to the test!

Freaks, Geeks and Asperger Syndrome

"Freaks, Geeks and Asperger Syndrome: A User Guide to Adolescence" is a book written by a 13 year old boy named Luke Jackson. He has Asperger Syndrome (AS), but is very high functioning. So much that he wrote this really good book on the subject.

Luke has six siblings including three brothers and three sisters. His oldest brother has Dyslexia and Dyspraxia. The brother just older than Luke, Joe, has ADHD. His youngest brother, Ben, also has autism, though it seems to be a bit worse than Luke's.

This book was really well written, especially for a thirteen-year old. He discusses all aspects of what it is like to have AS. He talks about his diet (gluten and casein free), bullies, dating--though he admits that being only thirteen, he isn't very experienced--and what people involved in the lives of those with AS can do to make their lives easier.

One of my favorite parts of the story has to do with literalism. He was supposed to be working on "maths" and began to daydream. He saw his teacher come slowly by and stop in front of his desk. His teacher said, "Jackson. Would you care to tell us exactly where you are?" Luke, knowing that he was in a classroom said, "Class E2, Sir." It made sense to him. But his teacher responded "Are you trying to be smart?" Luke thought about that and replied, "Yes sir. Of course I am trying to be smart." That made his teacher mad because his teacher thought he was trying to be sarcastic, but he had thought to himself "I am at school because I am trying to be smart." So that is exactly how he answered the question.

I really liked this book. I have worked in the special education field for ten years now, going back and forth between residential settings and schools. I have worked with people with different forms of disabilities and various degrees of disabilities too. I have learned that there is always something to learn about people with disabilities as no-one is the same. This book helped further my understanding of those with disabilities and how best to help someone with a disability.

This is a movie that takes place in 1976 in South Carolina. It is based on a true story of a developmentally disabled young man who is befriended by a high school football coach. He slowly becomes part of the football team as a sort of mascot. The coach takes a special interest in the young man.

The movie follows the progression of a pretty rough football season for the team. They end up only winning half of their games. Some of the people from the town thought that they lost their games because the coach was distracted by Radio. The football season ends and soon Radio starts spending time in the coach's classroom.

Then basketball season starts and Radio helps them out as well. He is also allowed to join school as an 11th grader, where he wanted to stay...and does. He is currently still an honorary coach for the team and is very involved with the school.

There were several quotes that I thought were really meaningful and have felt myself about individuals over the course of the last ten years that I have worked in the special education field.

"The way he treats us all the time is the way we wish we treated each other even part of the time."

"He's got himself a good heart. Most people just don't take the time to get to know that."

It is important for us to remember that a person is not defined by the way they look or the way they act. Those are nothing compared to what is in the heart. That is where a person truly is.

"Best Friends"

My wife found an article in Ladies' Home Journal (I don't normally read this magazine...) about a family who has two children with autism. The mother, Sharon Lindsey, said that her son, who was five when this was written, can undo any lock and be outside in no time. He has been known to take off and go missing on a few occasions which scares Ms. Lindsey. They live near a busy street and it makes her worry a little.
The other child with autism in the family is nine years old and is terrified of strangers. As a parent that is sometimes a good thing, but not all of the time. She sometimes had a hard time even playing in her backyard or leaving the house to go anywhere.
That was until they got an autism service dog named Brock. He is trained to watch for signs of meltdowns, which the Lindsey's five-year-old had on a regular basis. He has gone from around 25 a day to three or four mild outbursts a week. Brock has also helped the nine-year-old become more and more social. She is comfortable enough now to go to birthday parties and she even attended a summer camp.
It is amazing what animals can do to help all kinds of people. They can help blind people get around, they can help kiddos with autism become more social and less behavioral and even just provide comfort for those who need it.

Autism

I watched a short documentary about Autism that featured Temple Grandin talking about her experiences with Autism. It is an old movie, produced in 1992. They didn't use people-first language. They used terms like "autistics" and "mentally retarded." They also highlighted the lives of three other people.

One was a little girl who was in a form of Intensive Behavioral Intervention who was showing good signs of improvement. Another kiddo with autism was 16 years old when the video was made. He didn't have very much verbal skills but are working on getting him to talk more. He has a very supportive family that helps him out a lot. He was reverse mainstreamed meaning that regular-ed students came into his classroom to work with him.

The last was an older gentleman who types out his thoughts on a little processor. He is severely disabled but they found that he is very able to communicate with this device. He has a trainer that helps him use the machine at work. His mother had been told that he should be in an institution and now he is holding down a job in a local warehouse. There was another man that used the same device and has shown high intelligence.

This was a good video because we sometimes think that people with autism don't have high intelligence but often they do. There are some that do have low intelligence but we shouldn't treat everyone with autism like they have below normal IQ's. This will help me in my career since I hope to work with people with autism.

My Job

I work for a company called Envision. They are based out of Evans, CO. They started in 1964 working to enhance the quality of life for people with developmental disabilities in Weld County. They are the designated community centered board for Weld County. They currently serve over 1,000 Weld County residents. There are many different ways they help. They have host homes where people with disabilities live in homes around the community. There is a day program where they can receive services including life skills and other fun activities. There is also residential.

I work in the residential setting. My title is "Direct Care Staff." I work with individuals that live in their own houses. I help them with all of their daily activities. What does a typical night look like? I get to Billy's (not a real client name, of course, due to confidentiality) house and help him cook dinner. While he eats I clean the kitchen and then his dishes when he is done. Then he watches T.V. while I do laundry. I then take him out to see a movie or to the park. When we get home I give him his medicine and help him get ready for bed. After he goes to sleep, the night staff arrives and I go home.

This is just an example of what a typical night is like. I didn't take this example from one night or from one client. It is a mix of what usually goes on during my shifts. I also work two overnight shift during the week. Those are mostly filled with cleaning, organizing and generally making the house look nice. Oh, and I watch some t.v. or bring movies since there isn't much on during the middle of the night.

Stuttering article

I reviewed the article "Peer Responses to Stuttering in the Preschool Setting" from the Journal of Speech-Language Pathology. The purpose of this study was to see if the effects of stuttering in preschool-age children has negative consequences on them.

They began the article by discussing what parents have discussed concerning their children being bullied and picked on. They go on to talk about why play (both real and pretend) along with social interactions are imperative for young children. For this study, they decided to focus on when the children are engaged in "free-play" which is just playing for playing's sake.

They chose four preschoolers who have issues with stuttering, three boys and one girl. They videotaped the children playing outside, since they said that indoor playing would be too confining and guided.

The results were pretty outstanding. They were not what I was expecting at all. In most cases, they peers of the children who stutter did not have negative responses to them. In one case, there was only one negative response out of 36 responses. In another, there were eight out of 28, so it was a little higher but still not what I thought it would be.

This will help me because I will most likely be working with kiddos who stutter and it is good to think about all aspects of their lives and not just what I see when they come in for therapy. They don't just stutter when working with us. They stutter all the time and sometimes we might forget that.

Help Me To Speak

This is a documentary that follows three young people who live in England and have problems with stuttering (or stammering, as they call it in Britain). The three people in the documentary are Mudiaga Eghweree, Joanne Murphy and Nathan Stevens. They all have dreams of what they would like to do with their lives.

Mudiaga would like to be a graphic designer but is worried he won't get into a university because of his speech difficulty. Joanne would like to be a teacher when she grows up and Nathan dreams of becoming an actor.

The documentary follows them for a year. Joanne has had some speech therapy but during the documentary, is stuck on a waiting list to receive services. She was on the waiting list for nine months when she got fed up and decided to call the people in charge of the list. After her call, she was assessed by a speech therapist again and was told her stuttering had improved.

Mudiaga had a really hard time of it. He has the kind of stuttering where he gets stuck on one part of a word. In saying "What time is it?" he would say, "W-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-what t-t-t-t-t-t-t-time is it?" He went to speech therapy and was taught some tricks to help him talk more fluently. He was able to and near the end of the documentary was able to interview at a university and even approach a girl and have a conversation with her...

Nathan is an aspiring actor. He has had a hard time for a while and six years before the documentary was filmed, one of his brothers died. He was only three weeks old. There are a number of people who begin stuttering after a traumatic experience. His stuttering just got worse. He was in a play and had only a few lines, but during rehearsals could not say his lines without stuttering. At the end of the documentary it came time for the play. He was really nervous but when he delivered his lines, you wouldn't know he had any kind of problem. It was amazing!

This was a fantastic movie and I recommend it to anyone interested in stuttering in any way. Here is the link for the video:

http://www.documentary-log.com/you-are-watching-help-me-to-speak/

Angel Unaware

This is a fantastic book written by Dale Evans Rogers. It was written about Roy and Dale Rogers daughter who died at the age of two. She had Down Syndrome. It was a very easy read and is only 63 pages long. It is written from the perspective of Robin Elizabeth Rogers.

The story begins soon after she died and she is giving an account of her life to Heavenly Father. She reports on what happened to her and her family in her very brief stay on earth. There were a few different things that show how old the book was (it was written in 1953). The term "mongoloid" was used throughout the book. That is only one example.

This was an interesting read because it was from the point of someone who, while living, did not have a voice. Also, since she is reporting to God, the perspective of what her short life was like was also a little different. This book was a good reminder of how precious all children are but especially those with special needs. There is something...well...special (to use a pun) about them. They are so happy and so fun to be around. This book is a good example of a child who was just that.

Stuttering and the SpeechEasy

I watched two videos for this one. I was intrigued about the SpeechEasy from my previous post so I did a little youtube search about it. I found two stories from Good Morning America. The first was about a girl named Amamda Cowles. She has been stuttering since she was a little girl. She was made fun of during her time in school. So much so that she left high school at 16 and wanted to kill herself. She was put in special education classes because her teachers thought she was “retarded.” She had been in speech therapy, but it didn’t seem to be helping.

On the show, she was talking about her disorder. She was having a really hard time talking because she was under more pressure than normal. Her Speech-Language Pathologist was sitting next to her. She said that Amanda had a moderate-severe stuttering problem. Interestingly, when the SLP was talking about the SpeechEasy, she said, “stutterers” instead of “people who stutter.” She said that the SpeechEasy works around 85% of the time. Those that see success, see it with a 50-90% rise in their fluency.

When Amanda put the device in her ear and started talking, I could only hear a very slight stutter a couple of times. She did really well, except that Charlie Gibson kept cutting her off…

The other video was of a guy named Mark Babcock. He had been stuttering since he was a little boy. His stuttering was pretty severe but he was able to graduate high school with straight A’s and was voted Homecoming King. He saw a story on Good Morning America about one of the doctors who helped to invent SpeechEasy. His family ordered one for him. The camera crew was there when he tried it for the first time. He put it in and immediately started talking like he didn’t have any problem.

A week later, one of the reporters came by to see how he was doing. He was talking without any problems. The reporter asked him to take the device out and talk. He couldn’t get through a whole sentence. The reporter asked him to put it back in and he went on talking again, like he didn’t have any issues.
This SpeechEasy device is definitely something I want to do more research on…

The videos can be seen at:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HuO3DbnQjxE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b9mvqN1BrMs&feature=related

Stuttering- A life-altering condition

This was a two-part video that I found on youtube.com. After searching around for a bit on stuttering, I found this video about Rebecca Glass. She has been stuttering since she was in the second grade. Stuttering is a disorder that not much is known about. It is a disorder that has been around for a long time. The Egyptians even wrote about stuttering. There are many famous people who stutter including Marylin Monroe, James Earl Jones and even Winston Churchill.

In the video, Rebecca talks a little about what her stuttering is like. She gets frustrated because she knows what she wants to say, but sometimes has a hard time saying it. As she was growing up, her friends were able to overlook her disorder, but she is preparing for college and is nervous about all of the new people she will be meeting and how they will react to her stuttering. She visited a Speech-Language Pathologist to receive a “SpeechEasy”. This is a device that looks like a hearing aid but instead of amplifiying sound, it alters sound so that you hear your voice at a very slight delay and at a different pitch. This helps with what is known as the choral effect. That is something that has proven effective for people who stutter. It is what happens when one who stutters sings or talks in unison with other people and their stuttering is dramatically reduced.

Rebecca tried this device and the first time she read a passage, there was a dramatic difference. There wasn’t any stuttering at all! Something like this will help me as I will be working with people who stutter. Knowing about this device can benefit many people that I come in contact with in my career. It may not help everyone as the price is pretty steep, ranging from $4100-$5100.

The videos can be seen here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lj2IsxxCSS8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vUa310vYN2w&feature=related

ASHA Autism article

This article was set up in four parts. The first part is an introduction to Autism and what Speech-Language professionals can do to help those who have it. Those that have Autism communicate in divers ways and means. They may use gestures, facial expressions, sign language, vocalizations, or various communication devices. Because of that, there are almost countless ways to be able to help those with Autism communicate. And while no two people with Autism are exactly the same, what SLP’s need to figure out is how to help each person to best suite their needs. A common and effective tool for SLP’s working with those with Autism are aided augmentative and alternative communication devices.

The rest of the article features three different kids that have Autism and what the SLP’s that worked with them did to help them effectively communicate. I won’t go into detail about what worked with each kiddo, but I will say that they had SLP’s that didn’t give up on them. The main thing for me to take from this article is that I need to get to know my clients and what things would help them best. Sometimes it will be a long, tough road and sometimes it will be the most simple of things that will help my future clients learn how to communicate.

The article can be found here: http://www.asha.org/Publications/leader/2010/100119/AutismCaseStudies.htm

I Just Am

This is a book written by Bryan and Tom Lambke. Bryan is Tom’s son and has Down syndrome. Bryan wanted to write a book about what it was like to live with Down syndrome. It was a fun book. It is a children’s book so it is pretty easy to read. Every page has a picture and underneath the picture there is a sentence or two. For example one page has a picture of Bryan playing basketball. Underneath the picture it says, “I play basketball. I like to shoot hoops.”

There were also some interesting facts at the end of the book. They were facts about Down syndrome and what it is. There were also facts about what kind of health issues are most common among people with Down syndrome.

This was a fun book. I really like that Bryan wanted to write this so that people will be less ignorant about Down syndrome. He had some help from his father which shows the love his parents have for him. I will be able to use this in my career as I will be working will people who have Down syndrome, among other developmental disabilities. It makes me get excited when I think about how I can somehow help people with Down syndrome and know that they will be teaching me too.

"Deaf Sentence"

This is a fictional novel written by David Lodge. It is about a retired professor of linguistics in England named Desmond Bates. He is having a bit of a hard time getting used to being retired. His wife owns and works in a store selling furnishings while he is stuck being a stay-at-home retiree.

He has another problem too. He is losing his hearing. He needs hearing aids to be able to have a basic conversation with someone. His life gets a little adventurous as a PhD student enters his life. She is a little bit crazy and seems to really like Desmond. He also has an 89 year-old father that lives in London and is a little bit quirky. The story follows Desmond over the course of about 6 months. There are a few instances where not having good hearing is problematic for him. He has some akward moments because of that.

This applies to my life right now as I am studying Audiology and Speech-Language Sciences at UNC. We have observed many clients that have hearing problems in the clinic in the basement of Gunter. I had never really thought about what their everyday life is like though.

There are a lot of things to remember such as keeping extra batteries on hand so you don’t run out in the middle of a Christmas party (which happened to Desmond) or even just remembering to put your hearing aids in when you leave the house. This book will help me to remember what life is like for all of those people I will come in contact with in my everyday life as a Speech-Language Pathologist.

Sound of Fury

This documentary follows a couple of families in New York who have strong ties to the deaf world. It gets a little confusing on paper for who is in the different families, but there are two main families. Both of the husbands of the families are brothers. One is hearing, the other is deaf. The deaf brother, Peter, is married to a deaf woman and they have three deaf kids. The oldest is Heather, who is five. She expresses interest in getting a cochlear implant. As a family they check out what getting one entails. The mother decides she would like to get one, but when she finds out it wouldn’t help her a whole lot, she decides not to get one. She also decides that Heather won’t get one either. This causes problems with Peter’s parents who are both hearing and think that Heather should have one. There are some heated debates and in the end, Peter moves his family from Long Island to Maryland.

Peter’s brother, Chris, is hearing and is married to a hearing woman (although she signs since her parents are deaf) and they have twin boys. One of the boys is hearing and the other is deaf. They decide to have their deaf son implanted with a cochlear implant. This causes some more contention in the family.

An update of the story six years later shows that Peter moved his family back to Long Island. Heather, one of her brothers and their mother end up getting cochlear implants. They seem to be doing really well.

This affects me a lot because my Associate’s Degree is in American Sign Language (ASL) interpreting and we studied deaf culture a lot. My wife and I have had a lot of “discussions” about this topic. She insists that if we had a deaf child, we would implant them. For a long time, I highly disagreed. She had some good points. One of them was that I have really bad knees and my kneecaps will have to be replaced someday. My knees are bad and they can and will be fixed. If our child’s hearing is bad, it can be fixed. My problem with that is that once that implant is taken off or if the batteries die, they are deaf. We have made a compromise. If we do have a deaf child, we will implant them, but we will teach them ASL as well as oral communication. If you don’t implant them very early, the chance of talking well diminishes rapidly. Once our child is old enough, they can make the decision to be a “hearing” person or to take the implant off and join the deaf community.

I Am Sam

This movie is about a man with the mental capacity of a 7 year old. He has a daughter with a homeless woman who takes off at the first chance she gets. He is crazy about the Beatles and names his daughter Lucy Diamond. He raises her with a little help from his friend next door. As she gets older, she starts having a hard time at school because she doesn’t want to become smarter than her dad. She gets taken from him and he “hires” a lawyer to do his case pro bono. In the course of the case, he loses and Lucy is placed in a foster home. During the trial, his lawyer learns a lot about love and what that means in her life. In the end, even the foster family falls in love with same.

This movie is one of my favorites, but even so, I watched it again for this project. I had forgotten just how good this movie is. I like that at least one of his friends in the movie actually has a disability. I liked this movie for a number of reasons, one of them being that they show how someone with a disability can be treated in everyday life, but also in the courtroom, which was new for me. It was also really good because it showed that while someone with disabilities can look or act differently than what we expect, they aren’t very different when we get to know them. Having worked in various jobs with people with disabilities for the last decade I was able to appreciate that.

Willowbrook

There was an institution in New York, called Willowbrook, which housed people with physical and developmental disabilities. It was an absolutely horrible place. The people living there walked around naked because there weren’t enough people (staff) to help them get their clothes back on. In one part of one of the videos, a staff member was hand-feeding a resident. Hand shoving might be a more appropriate phrase for what they were doing. The staff then stuck their hand in the residents’ water cup for some reason. Residents would hang out around the radiator just to get some warmth.

This information will help me in my current job. I work for Envision here in Greeley. I work in a residential setting, meaning I go stay with our clients in their homes and help them with their chores and cooking and whatever else they need. One of my clients is in his eighties. He was in an institution when he was younger. I can’t say much but he did have a hard time there. I have always had some respect for him because of his experiences, but now I view him in a whole new light. What he went through was even worse than what was happening at Willowbrook too. This new knowledge will help me be even nicer than I already am to him.