Families together

Hawley Conger
Matt Wappett
October 1, 2008
Families Together


Through families together I learned more than I thought I would, I thought that it would just be the same old thing I knew about disabilities in society. I thought that it would just be another one of those cheesy get together that was very corny and somewhat pointless. I thought that I would feel as though they were just exposing these children for all the wrong reasons. I had never really had any interaction with families of children with disabilities, and so this was a really good opportunity for me.
I worked with a little girl named Johanna, her brother David had Downs syndrome. He was eight his brother Matt was six and Johanna was four. They all played together very well and watching them interact was really interesting to me I was so surprised at how close the family was, because that rarely happens in society today. I watched how close it had brought this family.
Though David could not communicate in the way that Matt and Johanna could he could very well communicate with the family through motions and signing with his hands it was honestly amazing to watch and it takes a lot to learn how to sign and communicate to other people without using the voice. He interacted with the other people around somewhat but mostly he interacted with the things around him such as the water and really any object that was around him. Through watching him I realized that he treated everything as though it had some sort of a meaning every little thing he would pay attention to and interact with as though he was speaking with it. I think that if everyone had that outlook on life our world would be a lot different than it is today. If people paid attention to everything around them they would not take so many things for granite. We would appreciate the world around us and all that it stands for. That is what I really form got working with David.
While I was working with David’s sister Johanna I realized what the innocence of being four was. Johanna played with all of the other children as though there was nothing different about any of them. They were all equal in her book. She played with the other little girls and interacted with them; she never stared or treated any of them differently. I then thought about how shortly once she entered the school system this innocence would be corrupted. Those kids were going to be separated and she would know then that they were not like her, they would be different to her now and she may no longer interact with them they way that she used to. Which to me is what is so sad about the entire situation it is taking away from the social life of kids with disabilities. If society changed this then maybe Johanna would never have to think this way about some of her peers that way. I could start to see a little bit of corruption when she would ask me where David was, she knew that he always had to be watched out for, I’m sure she had heard her parents ask that very question several times. She was starting to realize that there was something different about David at the age of four. This is what really struck me about the weekend.
Matthew who was six he was the middle child of the family was fully aware of the fact that some of these kids were different than him. He would kind just go off and do his own thing and he wouldn’t really interact with the other children there. He was very aware that David was different as well. He would constantly follow David to make sure he was in the right hands and that he was not wondering off into his own little world. He knew that his parents really had to keep an eye on David because he was different and he also knew that the other children there needed special help. Matthew has been through the public school system however so he was shown that theses children are separated from the rest of the children his age. It seemed almost a little bit hard for him to accept the fact that his brother was different from the rest of the children his age and I believe that Matthew was scared of that idea.
Matthew had drawn a picture of his family but somehow he had forgotten to include David in the picture, and when we asked to draw David he wouldn’t. It was then that I knew society had completely gotten to him. I am however confident that Matthew will learn to accept the fact that David is different it just might take a while.
If I could have the opportunity to have another experience like this is would in a second. It was very interesting to observe how the different families dealt with it. I feel like the families that were there should get to the point where they feel as though they don’t need to go to gatherings such as this anymore, because whether they want to accept it or not they are in fact separating themselves from society by going to things like this. If they want to live a normal life then I believe that they should work on learning how to have there children become as mainstream as possible and maybe not cry for help for them as much. Being mainstream is just what they need to be happy and successful just as their peers are.
The family was very strong and they seemed to have everything down to a routine and they were very educated as well about David and what his conditions entailed it was interesting to see how closely they worked together to try and make David as comfortable as possible. David had a really hard time leaving his family however he cried every time they had to part he really couldn’t do it. It would be really good for David to become more independent and learn how to be separated from his family. I believe it would help him as he got older he would learn then how to become more apart of mainstream society.
I am very happy that I had this experience I learned more from it then I ever imagine. It got me a lot more interested in the class and gave me a deeper thought process on the whole subject I now have more questions and I want more answers!