In my junior year of high school, Miss Goodman, my counselor suggested that I volunteer to be a student assistant in the special needs classes at Chatfield Senior High School in Littleton, Colorado. At first, I was hesitant and afraid about this because my peers made fun of them and whoever else was around them. Even though I was so afraid that I would be made fun of it didn’t stop me from being a student assistant. I figured that if I let my fear take over and not do this I am letting my peers win and intimidate me which I didn’t want that to happen.

I remember the first day like it was yesterday. I was so excited, nervous, and disappointed all at the same time. I felt an immediate connection with the teacher and she made me feel comfortable and wanted. I was very disappointed because I didn’t get to meet any of the students that day and I was hoping that I would. I understood why I couldn’t and got over being disappointed very quick. That day the teacher and I went over what she expects and some of the students disabilities. Hearing about all of this made me so excited and happy. I was so excited about all of the new things I was about to learn.

I was paired up with this beautiful young lady Stephanie. She had cerebral Palsy and a speech delay. Despite all of her struggles she always had the most gorgeous, biggest smile on her face at all times. She was as sweet as ice cream. I helped her with her school work and we played a lot of games and did a lot of puzzles as well. At first, it was extremely hard to know what she was saying, but as time went on I got more use to it and could understand her perfectly. It made me feel good to see her leave the challenge room by herself. This showed me that she gained a lot of self confidence and that she didn’t care what her peers said to hear and she was able to ignore the rude comments of the other students. Every single day I would look forward to seeing her and I know she was the same way.

From this experience, I now believe that it is possible to make a difference in someone’s life. It’s a great feeling that you get when this happens. I could not ask or wish for a better way for my belief to change. How are you going to make a difference in someone’s life?

I worked as an assistant counselor at Camp Paha, a summer day camp for disabled children, ages 7-24, during the summer of 2003-2005. This camp was located at an elementary school in Lakewood, Colorado. This was a fun camp for the campers because they were able to go on field trips every day. It was a very challenging job as every day was different and you never knew what to expect. I made a difference in the lives of Chris, Desiree, and Johanna, who were disabled children attending camp, by helping them achieve their personal goals, which was rewarding for me when I saw them grow and improve every day.

Before the campers show up the staff does mandatory 2 week training. During these two weeks we get cpr and first aid certified, we learn about feeding and changing, about safety, about the different disabilities, and do a lot of team building exercises. Towards the end of the 2 weeks we get our group assignments. The ratio are 10 campers to 1 head counselor, 2-3 counselors, and then 1 counselor in training and sometimes a junior counselor.

There are a lot of activities that the campers do on a daily basis. They go swimming two times a week at a local outdoor pool. The days that they aren’t swimming they go on field trips for half the day. Some places that they go to are to a local mall, butterfly pavilion, museum, indoor theme parks, horseback riding, and to the state parks. When they aren’t on field trips they do arts and crafts where they make cards and different projects that they can take home. They also do outdoor living skills where they learn about safety in the public, camp safety, and learn how to read signs. They also do gym, music, and free time. During free time they can do pretty much anything they want within reason. I have noticed that swimming and field trips are the campers favorite activities. Their favorite things about the butterfly pavilion was that they got to hold a spider named Rosie and that the butterflies would land on them and that there were so many. There favorite things about the museum was the hall of life and the dinosaurs.

The campers who were in my group had a variety of disabilities such as mental retardation, attention deficit hyperactive disorder, depression, cerebral palsy and epeletic seizures According to answers.com mental retardation is a developmental disability that first appears in children under the age of 18. It is defined as an intellectual functioning level (as measured by standard tests for intelligence quotient) that is well below average and significant limitations in daily living skills (adaptive functioning). Also according to answers.com attention deficit hyperactive disorder is a developmental disorder characterized by distractibility, hyperactivity, impulsive behaviors, and the inability to remain focused on tasks or activities. Also according to answers.com depression is a psychiatric disorder characterized by an inability to concentrate, insomnia, loss of appetite, anhedonia, feelings of extreme sadness, guilt, helplessness and hopelessness, and thoughts of death. From another source called National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Storek cerebral palsy refers to any one of a number of neurological disorders that appear in infancy or early childhood and permanently affect body movement and muscle coordination but don’t worsen over time. From another source call medline plus seizures is a sudden change in behavior due to an excessive electrical activity in the brain.

One of my favorite campers, Chris, is fifteen years old and has cerebral palsy, mental delay, and seizures. When I first started working with him, in the summer of 2003, he wasn’t able to feed himself. I was very patient with him, and after a few weeks he started to feed himself on his own. He became comfortable with me, trusted me, and was able to do more things independently. Although he spent most of his time in a wheelchair, he loved every opportunity to get up and walk with my help. I always encouraged him to try new things. I remember all the times that the other counselors would try to work with him, but he would throw a fit and not do anything for them. As soon as he would see me, he would calm down and wanted all my attention. He would do everything I asked him to do. We became great buddies, and he felt very comfortable with me. Finally, his parents realized how much he liked to work with me, and they requested for me to work with him all summer. He’s a wonderful, great kid.

Another camper whom I worked with, Desiree, is thirteen years old and has depression, attention-deficit-hyperactive-disorder, and mental delay. I helped her increase her self-esteem by showing her that she has some beautiful gifts; she is a kind, loving, young adult who can relate to the campers and help the counselors with the campers. I helped her improve her reading and math by having her read her favorite books to me and play math games. When we were on a field trip at the zoo, she was helping me push Chris in his wheelchair when he had a seizure. She was so sweet and took his hand and kept saying, “It will be okay.” I’ll never forget that moment because it showed me how much she has improved and how much I helped her.

The last camper whom I worked with, Johanna, is fourteen years old and has seizures, mental delay, and attention-deficit-hyperactive disorder. She is a very loving person and loved to have the campers who couldn’t walk sit in her lap. She always talked to me about hurting herself. One of the goals that we worked on was to increase her self-esteem, and I helped her with coping skills that she could use when she felt this way. I recall one time when she was very agitated and was throwing a fit, so I removed her from the situation, and we went for a walk to the playground and played on the swings. After a few minutes she was calm, relaxed, laughing, and singing. It made me feel great that I could help her to come out of her depressed mood so quickly.

You can say that working with disabled campers is my passion. I love it because it is rewarding and challenging for me. There is something new and exciting every day. It makes me feel important when I can help disabled campers and make a difference in their lives. It is such a wonderful feeling when you see the campers grow and improve. They are all very special people.

]]> http://angelbear23b.wordpress.com/2008/05/03/fun-and-thrills-at-a-day-camp-for-disabled-children-portfolio-3/feed/ 1 angelbear23b http://angelbear23b.wordpress.com/2008/04/28/imitation-exercise/ http://angelbear23b.wordpress.com/2008/04/28/imitation-exercise/#comments Mon, 28 Apr 2008 14:33:15 +0000 angelbear23b http://angelbear23b.wordpress.com/?p=24 ]]> They were married for just a year and expecting there first child.  He was sitting wtih her and watching her read a book and admired how intuned she was.  He thought to himself that he was a very lucky man to have such a wonderful and beautiful wife.  They both were very excited and couldn’t wait for their baby to be born.

In my junior year of high school, Miss Goodman, my counselor suggested that I volunteer to be a student assistant in the special needs classes at Chatfield Senior High School in Littleton, Colorado.  At first, I was hesitant and afraid about this because my peers made fun of them and whoever else was around them.  Even though I was so afraid that I would be made fun of it didn’t stop me from being a student assistant.  I figured that if I let my fear take over and not do this I am letting my peers win and intimidate me which I didn’t want that to happen.

I remember the first day like it was yesterday.  I was so excited, nervous, and disappointed all at the same time.  I felt an immediately connection with the teacher and she made me feel comfortable and wanted.  I was very disappointed because I didn’t get ot meet any of the students that day and I was hoping that I would.  I understood why I couldn’t and got over being disappointed very quick.  That day the teacher and I went over what she expects and some of the students disabilities.  Hearing about all of this made me so excited and happy.  I was so excited about all of the new things I was about to learn.

I was paired up with this beautiful young lady Stephanie.  She had cerebral palsy and a speech delay.  Despite all of her struggles she always had the most gorgeous, biggest smile on her face at all times.  She was as sweet as ice cream.  I helped her with her school work and we played a lot of games and did a lot of puzzles as well.  At first, it was extremely hard to know what she was saying, but as time went on I got more use to it and could understand her perfectly.  It was awesome to see her improve and grow each and every day.  Every single day I would look forward to seeing her and I know she was the same way. 

From this experience, I now believe that it is possible to make a difference in someone’s life.  It’s a great feeling that you get when this happens.  I could not ask or wish for a better way for my belief to change.  How are you going to make a difference in someone’s life?

The author of Leaving Work to Watch the Sunset used their voice by paushing at the end of what seems to be the end of a sentence.  They sounded coaked up when they talked about her dad and him dying.  When they explian what their dad had to be doing in order to see a sunset she raised her voice and a little bit.  They had a curious tone to when they were asking a question.  There are times that she starts with a high voice and then towards the end of the sentence it comes down.

I could use my voice in my essay by trying to raise my voice a little bit when i feel is necessary or think that its a really important part.  I could also pause at the end of each sentence for a few seconds so then the listerner nows that thats the end of the sentence and its starting a new one.