I was catching up on some of my faved tweets, and I came across something interesting. A website posted a list of top ten special needs quotes from this year, and one in particular caught my attention: “If a child cannot learn in the way we teach, we must teach in a way the child can learn.”
– Ignacio Estrada
This brings to mind how Namine learned to scoot for locomotion. Her physical therapist had been trying and trying to get her to crawl, the way all normal babies learn to crawl. Of course she knew about Namine’s limitations: shorter legs, club feet, her knees didn’t bend easily, and dislocated hips. Still, the therapist encouraged us to try and get Namine to go on her hands and knees, and move around that way. Because of the caudal regression, Namine needed to pull herself along rather than actually crawl, but the basic position remained the same. It made sense to us; after all, we couldn’t imagine how else Namine might be able to get around on her own.
Well, kids, Namine sure showed us. She demonstrated her own method of locomotion: scooting around on her butt, using only her arms, without having to needlessly tire out her legs and hips. We couldn’t imagine how else Namine could move around, but she figured it out anyway.
Similarly, I was talking with my aunt earlier this evening about how Namine is learning to stand. The question came to mind, how will she get from a sitting position to a standing position? Her shorter legs and tiny feet do not lend a whole lot of leverage, and her knees don’t bend the same way a person’s without caudal regression does. These are questions, of course, that are a ways away from being answered, but perhaps not as far away as we think. Namine has proven time and time again that she is able to do what doctors have deemed improbable, if not impossible. I’m positive that she’ll come to answer these questions, and more, on her own time, and in her own way.
By the way, the website is Friendship Circle, and the link itself is here. Always assuming Tumblr doesn’t go down again. :p
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