October 8, 2012

Portrait of a Real Girl

My latest post at Support for Special Needs discusses a little exchange I had on Twitter last week, ostensibly about Schuyler's school photo. The conversation was a doozy, and mostly ended in kookery, which is hardly a surprise at this point.

Still, it brought up a larger point, about how kids like Schuyler are typically a lot more complex and self-determined than some people give them credit for. They are, dare I say it, actual people?

NOTE: This is NOT her school photo. Which is kind of too bad.

2 comments:

Kim said...

Have you read the book,"Carly's Voice" by Arthur Fleischmann? After reading Schuyler's story, I see a lot of similarities between Carly and Schuyler. Our kids are, indeed, VERY COMPLEX and know much more then we give them credit for. My 15 year old daughter is non-verbal and developmentally delayed, however she surprises us daily with what she is capable of. An example, we had a 12 year old dog. A- (our daughter) had never paid much attention to her until a few months ago as she was wearing out, and then A- would show some ?aggression? toward her. The dog died last week. A- seemed not to be affected, but when she went to her session with her behavioralist, they started with some basic questions with her Vantage Lite:
Dr.- Hi, A-. How are you today?
A- (via her talker) Sad
Dr.- Really? Why are you sad?
A- Dog. Sad.

This floored me.

Sabrina Steyling said...

That poster was, indeed, a butthead, and kudos to Schuyler for calling her out.

Love that purple fuzzy hat, by the way - Where does Schuyler get these awesome accessories? I want one! :)