Today I got to go play with Joshua for almost 3 whole hours! It was fantastic. I adore that boy. He just turned six and has severe cerebral palsy. I am one of many, many volunteers who goes to Joshua's house to pattern him, showing his body how to creep in a cross-pattern on his hands and knees by moving his limbs for him while he lies on a table. In between, he crawls on his stomach on the floor. I dumped 2 carts of blocks and some water on my head as a reward for him crawling X amount of feet, let him climb and drool on me. I have no dignity, which is a great asset. ;) We laughed and laughed, and he babbled up a storm! He's making so many new sounds these days. It's really exciting. I read him some books, and he liked that a lot too. He's very smart; he does all kinds of math problems on his facilitated communication board and he reads silently very well. Joey is also very academically advanced, but is still mastering this whole "communication" thing. Both boys have their own languages and their own ways, and it's so exciting to learn the meaning behind certain repeated utterances and gestures.
In conclusion, I really love smart disabled kids and I want to play with them all the time. I call it "play" because it really does not seem like "work" to me. I can't believe that people will pay me to do this. It is too weird. Bless the little ones who teach us how to slow down and pay attention and celebrate life's victories!
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Yes! Bless the little ones indeed. We have much to learn from our special kids. I am so glad to hear you see the joy in your job because that is the most important part.
It is funny you mention pouring water on your head and being silly as a reward. We have used that technique many times for our daughter when she was younger. I used to say, "If you take your medications nicely I will pretend to be a frog." or whatever other silly thing I could think of. It always worked and added some fun to our day.
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