Terri of Barriers, Bridges, and Books asks the question: “What have you learned or become that you might not have without and encounter with disability?”
If I would answer honestly, you might end up having a post the size of an abbreviated “War and Peace”…I could elaborate on learning acceptance, patience, learning to use the computer, etc etc., etc………
A funny answer, yet a true one, is that my mastery of Hebrew (I live in Israel) has increased ten fold. I joke with my new immigrant friends: “If you want to learn Hebrew really well, have a special needs child….
But I am not kidding here. I raised several children in the sunny country of the prophets before Ricki, and my Hebrew had reached a level that I could make “do” with. But I could “manage” because English is virtually the third language here, and how many serious discussions did I have in Hebrew anyway? “Put your shoes away.”, “I want two bottles of wine.” Just doesn’t need too big of an ability. But unlike my husband, who is a wiz at languages, I progressed slowly at best.
Fast forward to Ricki, age one and a half. Speech therapy. Years of speech therapy, therapy Mom sat in on and heard..
When Ricki turned seven, I hired a special once-a-week teacher for her. This teacher had aims that Ricki would know more than a basic pigeon Hebrew. She wanted her to learn literary words. Ricki did (and does). And so did Mom.
Then I had to fight half the country to get Ricki into inclusion, and then from a poor school to a more positive one. I had to advocate in Hebrew. In addition, I adapt most of Ricki’s work, which means that I have to read Hebrew texts and simplify them, all in good, properly spelled Hebrew. (And we are speaking her of a woman who could not write without “spell-check”, being that I am a terrible speller.) Words like “industrial revolution”, “capillaries”, “bluish” (as opposed to blue), and “miners” entered my wither-to raisin-dry (shrunken) vocabulary.
So if you want to learn a new language….take note, and at speech therapy…. take notes.
4 comments:
I think I could say the same about my professional vocabulary in English-- before my son (w/ special needs), it was ok (I am a special ed teacher, so I do have some background); now, I can hold my own fairly well w/ terminology/ jargon that impresses many...
I forgot to add to my previous comment:
I could never imagine being able to say/read/write all that in Hebrew though (and i do speak a decent conversational Hebrew!)-- Kudos to you! Now THAT'S s/t to brag about! :)
L'havdil
It reminds me of something related but from the opposite...
When we came back from shlichut in England, where dd#2 had had an IQ test saying she was gifted, I tried to get the precocious March-born girl into Kindergarten rather than 4 year old gan.
I called all sorts of offices and finally spoke to the secretary of an important person who said:
"How can your daughter be so bright, if she has a mother who speaks Hebrew as awfully as you do?"
So, she didn't skip a grade and she ended up with great classes and teachers, B"H. All because my Hebrew was atrocious.
Very cool how you were able to learn that way. Interesting perspective.
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