So yesterday I accepted an assignment with an LD class at one of our
high schools. I do LD all the time but I'd never been with this
particular group at this particular school.

Turns out these kids were pretty severely affected. And it was field
trip/career training day. We went to the Dollar General store and
stocked shelves. I was paired with a little bitty asian girl with
Down's. She was an absolute riot. She did the lower shelves and when
we got to the upper levels that she couldn't reach, I had her toss me
the packages to be placed, which she thought was the most fun ever. It
got to be a contest, with her hurling packages and me catching and
stacking and stacking as fast as I could. I cried "uncle" when I turned
around to find her holding 4 six-packs of Charmin with a wicked little
grin on her face.

Then it was on to a Chinese restaurant further down the strip mall. For
lunch, I was paired with a different girl, who insisted she didn't want
chinese food, she wanted chicken nuggets with ketchup and sulked when
she was denied.

So we ordered sweet and sour chicken for her, with white rice, a crab
rangoon and the sauce on the side. She ate the rice willingly enough,
asked for more because she was still hungry, but balked at the chicken.
It didn't look like chicken nuggets. I told her it was because they
were chinese McNuggets and convinced her to cut one open with her fork
and look at and smell it.

She did, and exclaimed, "Hey, there's chicken in there!" She took a
tiny, experimental nibble and said, "Oh! It's good!" She asked for
ketchup and I told her to try the chinese ketchup in the bowl next to
her plate.

"OMIGOSH it's GOOD! How come you didn't say this was so good?"

"Mandy, I told you you'd like it if you tried it."

"Will you call my mom and tell her the name of this so she can get it
for me some times? No, wait, you better call my dad. He's better at
remembering stuff."

It sounds like such a silly thing to be pleased about, getting a kid to
try a new food. But some of these kids go beyond rigid in their
preferences - we're talking downright brittle. You take your victories
where you find them.

On Apr 10, 8:17*am, Kathleen > wrote:
> So yesterday I accepted an assignment with an LD class at one of our
> high schools. *I do LD all the time but I'd never been with this
> particular group at this particular school...snip
Kathleen, I have no idea what "LD" refers to, but I certainly enjoyed
your giving tell about these children. Good on you!
....Picky

"PickyJaz" > wrote in message
...
On Apr 10, 8:17 am, Kathleen > wrote:
> So yesterday I accepted an assignment with an LD class at one of our
> high schools. I do LD all the time but I'd never been with this
> particular group at this particular school...snip
Kathleen, I have no idea what "LD" refers to, but I certainly enjoyed
your giving tell about these children. Good on you!
....Picky

Usually in this context learning disabled

"Turns out these kids were pretty severely affected"

Dimitri

Kathleen wrote:
> So yesterday I accepted an assignment with an LD class at one of our
> high schools. I do LD all the time but I'd never been with this
> particular group at this particular school.
>
> Turns out these kids were pretty severely affected. And it was field
> trip/career training day. We went to the Dollar General store and
> stocked shelves. I was paired with a little bitty asian girl with
> Down's. She was an absolute riot. She did the lower shelves and when
> we got to the upper levels that she couldn't reach, I had her toss me
> the packages to be placed, which she thought was the most fun ever. It
> got to be a contest, with her hurling packages and me catching and
> stacking and stacking as fast as I could. I cried "uncle" when I turned
> around to find her holding 4 six-packs of Charmin with a wicked little
> grin on her face.
>
> Then it was on to a Chinese restaurant further down the strip mall. For
> lunch, I was paired with a different girl, who insisted she didn't want
> chinese food, she wanted chicken nuggets with ketchup and sulked when
> she was denied.
>
> So we ordered sweet and sour chicken for her, with white rice, a crab
> rangoon and the sauce on the side. She ate the rice willingly enough,
> asked for more because she was still hungry, but balked at the chicken.
> It didn't look like chicken nuggets. I told her it was because they
> were chinese McNuggets and convinced her to cut one open with her fork
> and look at and smell it.
>
> She did, and exclaimed, "Hey, there's chicken in there!" She took a
> tiny, experimental nibble and said, "Oh! It's good!" She asked for
> ketchup and I told her to try the chinese ketchup in the bowl next to
> her plate.
>
> "OMIGOSH it's GOOD! How come you didn't say this was so good?"
>
> "Mandy, I told you you'd like it if you tried it."
>
> "Will you call my mom and tell her the name of this so she can get it
> for me some times? No, wait, you better call my dad. He's better at
> remembering stuff."
>
> It sounds like such a silly thing to be pleased about, getting a kid to
> try a new food. But some of these kids go beyond rigid in their
> preferences - we're talking downright brittle. You take your victories
> where you find them.
>
>
Kathleen, I shared your story with DH. He taught Special Education in a
middle school in New York City for 32 years. He got a chuckle out of the
story. He certainly understands your delight. When working with learning
disabled children there are a few moments like the one you experienced
that make it all worthwhile.

Bless you for what you do.

--
Janet Wilder
way-the-heck-south Texas
spelling doesn't count
but cooking does

PickyJaz wrote:

> On Apr 10, 8:17 am, Kathleen > wrote:
>
>>So yesterday I accepted an assignment with an LD class at one of our
>>high schools. I do LD all the time but I'd never been with this
>>particular group at this particular school...snip
>
> Kathleen, I have no idea what "LD" refers to, but I certainly enjoyed
> your giving tell about these children. Good on you!
> ...Picky
>
>

LD = Learning Disabilities.

The kids in this category run the gammut, from maybe just needing a
little extra help to get through their math work, or needing someone to
read from the textbook for them because they're dsylexic, to profoundly
physically and/or mentally disabled.

As I said, this group was pretty severely affected.