God Gave Me Two Legs for a Reason

Hey Everyone!

              I've got to run out the door but I wanted to make a quick post this week about an assignment I was required to do for class! The assignment was to spend 2 1/2 hours in a wheelchair! Sounds fun right? Well at least my 6 year old self wants to think so...In all reality though it was a great experience.
           Our assignment was to spend those 2 1/2 hours in a wheelchair performing various tasks. We had to experience wheeling ourselves into a restroom, push ourselves up a hill, attempt to get a drink from a drinking fountain, ask someone for assistance and a whole slew of other experiences. While I did quite enjoy the arm workout, I found a few of the tasks pretty difficult. The hardest by far was wheeling myself into the bathroom. Within the bathrooms on the 2nd and 3rd floors of the Hinkley building the bathrooms have a small lip you have to roll over in order to enter the restroom. When I say lip though I don't mean just a little ledge that looks like a tiny rap you can just use enough force to roll over, I mean an actual little ledge. Maybe a 1/4 inch off the ground, just a straight chunk of metal, it makes it almost impossible to hold open a door for yourself while rolling into the rest room, needless to say I might have had to ask for assistance on this one. Other tasks I found much simpler such as getting a drink from the drinking fountain, using the elevator and wheeling through the door after pushing the handicapped button.
        If there's one thing I learned from doing this activity, it's that God gave me two functioning legs for a reason, of which I need to be grateful for!

--Julie

You may call me Judge Julie now.

Yes that's right! Judge Julie! How official....

     I'm not sure how this all stared, but I have this ongoing joke with my boyfriend about titles of authority I get from obscure places. When I was serving in Fresno someone once confused my companion and I for being a "pope" and they kept referring to us as girl popes! Even when we corrected them! Sister missionaries, not popes....anyway my boyfriend thought it was the funniest thing so now he'll refer to me as Pope Julie the first from time to time. Every so often I'll gain some new title and he'll call me that for a while. This week in class (and the week prior) I accepted the titles "Judge Julie" and "Principal Julie".  I couldn't have been more excited to tell him all about my new authority....
     Honestly though, when in class we role play case studies or IEP (Individualized Education Program) mock meetings I learn so much! In the first mock case study we did I was able to play the "hearing officer" (which is basically the judge?). I loved it! I thought at first it was going to be the most cake job since I didn't have to present, debate or argue one side of the case but instead I was involved in different ways. I'm not going to lie, I got pretty into my role! Mostly I just wanted to ask tons of questions about the beliefs and views each party had in the case. Later when we got to do our first mock IEP meeting I received the title of "Principal Julie". This activity was even more exciting to me because having grown up with my own IEP I knew how these meetings should run. However, in the role of the principal I feel I gained a greater understanding of everyone's role within the MDT (Multi-Disciplinary Team Meeting). Even down to the parents participation in creating their child's IEP, I've learned each member has something to say, and their assessment of the child is important in understanding and creating a plan to help the child reach their potential.
      In the mission I hated role play...bane of my existence kind of hate, but now I love it! Perhaps Fresno prepared me, but honestly I really feel role plays are one of the greatest ways we can understand and learn in someone else's shoes!

--Julie

So Much Awesomeness

Here we go!

    Okay so I'm super excited to tell everyone about all awesomeness that happened in my life this week! The first thing is tutoring. I never had a tutor until college, and now that I have one it's the most incredible experience! I get one on one attention, to ask all the questions I need and for no charge! I can't think of a better deal! The tutor I met with was the sweetest girl on the planet (with possible the best hair ever too). Feeling a little panicked about the test I have to take next week, I was in dire need of help so ....I booked a 2 hour appointment! Sorry to monopolize your time? I wasn't kidding though, I felt so unprepared for the test. However! Now after having met with her I feel so much better!
   We started with a review of the 6 principles of IDEA (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act). Which I definitely didn't know because I could only name two before I needed to look at my notes. Although I'm a champ and will tell you them all without looking!

1. FAPE (Free appropriate public education)
2. Non-Discriminatory Evaluation
3. LRE (Least restrictive environment)
4. Due Process
5. Individualized Education (IE)
6. Zero Reject/ Child Find.

Okay maybe I peeked for the last two at my notes...I'll have to keep studying...Another portion of studying with my tutor I was pleased with was reviewing the 13 categories that children with disabilities qualify under. This is where my tutor had some great ideas! She had me draw out a little stick figure girl and point to where each of these categories would apply! So for example, by my figures lips I drew an arrow and labeled "speech language impairment", neat huh? I was so excited to be able to remember all 13 in this way, visual help really works people! Now having studied for the test I feel like I have a clue as to whats going on! Bring on the test!!

--Julie

Did I Stutter?

        Is anyone else a fan of Stanley Hudson from the Office? No? Perhaps I'm too big a fan of that show...In high school I use to fake being sick so I could stay home and catch up on episodes I'd missed...that only happened once or twice so no harsh judgement please! Anyway, the episode that Stanley yells "DID I STUTTER?!" is a perfect introduction to what I want to talk about today! Speech Impairment. 

        Neither I nor anyone in my family grew up with a speech impairment. Now that I'm thinking about it, I only knew two people growing up who had any kind of speech impairment. One was an older cousin who stuttered for a while, and the second a girl in my ward who couldn't quite properly pronounce her S's. However, a statistic shared in class reported "25% of the students served in the public schools' special education programs were categorized as having a speech or language impairment (almost 1 million children in the 1993-94 school year, which is the year I was born!). Although I didn't grow up with too many people having this impairment, its far more common than I was aware of. 

       After learning a crash course on this impairment, I found I was most intrigued with those diagnosed with Hypeplexia.  Thanks to good ole Google I further looked into the definition as 

"Children with hyperlexia have a significantly higher word-decoding ability than their reading comprehension levels. Hyperlexic children are characterized by having average or above-average IQs, and word-reading ability well above what would be expected given their age."

     Simply I would say these Children have a difficult time understanding auditory instruction and verbally communicating. However, they're like reading wizards with their higher level reading skills then other kids their age. This got me to thinking, would I rather have a difficult time communicating but be able to read like a pro, or communicate like a pro with normal reading skills. I decided...neither, I just like the way I am! Though these children have difficulty while in their early years, they're not doomed to struggle the rest of their lives. The earlier the impairment caught, the better chance the child has at overcoming this difficulty. 

     God makes each person different. I'm grateful He didn't create me with a speech impairment, but is it really the worst thing ever to have? I'm sure it must be frustrating for those who experience it, but more often than not these children (with the proper therapy) are able to overcome this battle while in school.

--Julie