I have a story.
Her mother came down with measles in her first trimester. The baby was born with multiple defects: Madelung’s Deformity (a musculoskeletal disease), neurological auditory defects which rendered her deaf, malformed ears, and a cataract in the left eye (in the 50s not surgically remediable). The doctors at the time said the baby would never amount to anything but a ward of the state.
The father was an up-and-coming professional musician, with a promising career in Las Vegas. Instead of sticking her in an institution, he gave that up to stay near the home in New England, playing the local venues. The mother worked menial jobs to make ends meet.
They eventually enrolled their daughter in the American School for the Deaf, where she delivered the Salutatorian speech at her graduation. She went on to graduate from Gallaudet University.
How do I know her? She’s been my beloved wife for 36 years. We have a daughter who is a nurse and her husband is a Veterinary Assistant. They have three terrific kids and another on the way.
Yes, it is a blessing. I’m sorry you can’t see that.
Good for you, but it depends on the capacity there for that result.
Girls FAR easier to deal with than boys also.
It’s a case by case situation, your wife’s result was a great one, but you made the case about how life changing it was to the family. Thank God she has you and a great daughter.
So somewhere in New England, she got a great education despite of her difficulties. And there lies the key- her location.
American School for the Deaf- the first, the best, and one of the only deaf schools in the country. Children outside of New England and a few other locales with special needs have miserable choices and their education and their lives suffer greatly.
Public schools for the most part, label the kid for the highest level of funding and provide minimal services. It’s a very sad joke of a system. Truly, a mind is a terrible thing to waste and it’s frustrating. Public schools can be very wasteful and they often lack the proper staff.
I encouraged a mom to allow her kid to be labeled ‘autistic’ although he was not, just to get the 3Xweek speech services he otherwise would never receive. He was entering kindergarten -mute, but not deaf, with high functioning asperger’s. However, his mom would volunteer at the school 3 days per week-gardening, to ensure he actually got his speech therapy (yes, like a spy). Speech Therapists are often over-burdened and we found the district was falsifying the log book to pretend that hundreds of hours of services were given that were never actually provided to the SE kids.
Another toddler was labeled deaf by the PS. Mom toured the program for those kids and literally threw-up. Parents flew him to Manhattan Eye & Ear Institute where it was discovered he had 30% deafness in one ear and about 15% in the other. But he had CAPD and was fitted with high tech hearing aids and given a microphone for his teacher. His mom and I went to six private schools until we could find one amiable to educating him wearing the microphone around teachers neck. It was Christ Church -a Methodist school. With speech therapy and extra tutoring he did well and progressed to Catholic High School. He is athletically gifted and was a state ranked wrestler. A great kid. Graduated college with a psychology degree.
While I understand how you recognize the beauty of special gifts, truly without the best parents, educational opportunities, and advocates, things often turn out real badly. Their lives can often be a huge burden and a personal struggle. Each case is different.