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My Day at the Cerebral Palsy of Northwest Indiana

As I began my day by preparing to go to the Cerebral Palsy of Northwest Indiana, I

found myself excited to see how this mini immersion experience would turn out. Also, I was a

little surprised that I was not even slightly nervous, only anxious with no idea of what to expect.

Upon arrival, I was greeted by Pat, the director of the center, who told me they were in

the process of changing the name of their facility to The Center for Possibilities. She showed

me around and introduced me to the staff which consisted of about 14 in all, four of whom I

would be working with today. There was Carolyn, the lead teacher, who had been there

seventeen years, Regina and Rita, who had been working at the center for about 7 years, and

Jackie, whom I did not get a chance to ask how long she had been working. I felt at ease as Pat

told me to feel free to ask questions and to enjoy myself.

As the children started their day, I sat in a small chair behind some of the children and

looked around the room trying to take mental notes of the surroundings and the children in the

room. I did not get very far when Julian, who was seated in front of me, introduced himself and

said, Can I see your ring? Now your other one. Can I have one?

They started by finding out who was in attendance by reading their name card and each

child would spell their name with Carolyn. They proceeded to sing a song about who is here

today. I noticed they followed a format similar to my preschool as they went through their

morning routine, including things such as: the calendar, talking about how many days until

Christmas, listening (although not very attentively) to a Christmas story, singing their ABCs and
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Jingle Bells. I watched how the children, ages 2 through 6, excitedly danced or moved about

as they sang the songs.

After they completed their circle time, they moved to the table to work on crafts with

Regina. Of the nine children present today, five were able to sit in plastic chairs at the table, two

sat in chairs that rolled with safety straps to keep them buckled in place, and finally two were

confined to wheelchairs that the teachers attached boards onto so they could attempt their crafts.

We made candy canes with pipe cleaners. I sat by Julian, at his request, and helped him

complete his project. I asked Regina, if she wanted me to assist Julian, as I did not know their

policies about helping them with projects. I know some teachers do not approve of too much

help on the childrens artwork; however, Rita seemed grateful it would be one less child to help.

I watched as Julian would excitedly exclaim, Look Miss Regina, were doing it! Look at my

candy cane!

After I finished with Julian, I moved on to work with Sydney. She was more interested in

wrapping the pipe cleaners around her mouth than making a candy cane. Sydney is an

interesting little girl. She is three years old and is currently the only child enrolled who has

Down syndrome. From the moment I walked in the room she was fascinated with me. She

would turn around in her chair to talk to me and would constantly want to hold my hand.

Sydney, who called me Mom all day, liked attention. At play time, as I would be on the floor

playing with one child, Sydney would come up behind me and jump on my back.

At play time was when I could interact with all the children and ask more questions. I

learned that there are different degrees of cerebral palsy. For instance, Andrew, who told me he

was four, showed no indication of any kind of disability. He seemed like he would fit perfectly
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with all the other boys in my preschool, as he told me about the Lego cars he was building and

about is two sisters who are older than him. Then there was Chris. I was told Chris had the most

extreme case of cerebral palsy of the children currently enrolled. He was confined to his special

chair and did not speak. In my opinion, he also had the brightest smile!

I learned that the center accepted many types of disabilities. For example, Frankie, who

was confined to his wheelchair, was not born with a disability. At the age of three, he was

misdiagnosed with meningitis. As a gentleman came in the room and took Frankie out, I

inquired as to who the man was and where he was taking Frankie. Carolyn informed me he was

the speech therapist and Frankie was going to therapy. I learned that the center offers speech

therapy twice a week, as well as having therapists come in to provide occupational therapy and

physical therapy. In order to be eligible for therapy, the child has to have a doctors prescription,

in addition to being evaluated by the centers therapist.

The child I was most intrigued with was Quinlin. I think I was intrigued because at first

he did not even make an impression on me. I was building blocks with a boy, when he crawled

over to me and said, Miss Cheryl. I had mentioned my name to him once at the beginning of

the day and I was amazed that he remembered it. Quinlin, who was four, was older than I

guessed him to be. I think that was because since he crawled, my first instinct was to assume he

was younger. It was hard to understand him, but when I did figure out what he was saying, I was

impressed by how clever he was. After I played trucks with him, he sought me out the rest of the

day by saying, Miss Cheryl.

I noticed Caleb, although he did not speak, communicated by using a form of sign

language. At craft time, he put his pointer finger to him palm and Carolyn said, Do you want
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me to put your name on your paper? When it was lunch time, he indicated that he wanted more

food by pointing to his mouth. I watched as the teachers had him sitting on the floor playing

with blocks. After a while he would roll to the side and the teachers would tell him that he

needed to sit up and strengthen his muscles.

The child I spent the most time with was Audrey. She was confined to one of the rolling

chairs with safety straps. When Carolyn put on music and some of the children started to dance,

Audrey held out her hands and said uppie to signify that she wanted out of her chair. Rita told

me I could take her out of her chair and hold her as she stands. After a few minutes Audrey said

uppie again so I picked her up and we danced together for a song. When the song ended I was

ready to put her down, but unsure of what to do with her. Rita made it sound so simple, Just sit

her on the floor and cross her legs. When I tried that I could tell that she was going to roll

back. I felt a little unsure of myself at that point, as I did not think I was qualified to be holding

her in the first place. Then I remembered when my daughters were about six months old, I

would sit them on the floor like a tripod and they would hold their balance. I tried that with her

and to my amazement it worked. I played with Audrey until lunchtime.

At lunchtime I felt slightly in the way. I offered a couple of times to help. When they

finally gave me a job helping to feed Audrey I was more relaxed. Audrey could put the spoon in

her mouth as long as you were guiding her. When she would turn her head, that meant she was

did not want any more chicken nuggets! I could tell she would much rather have more peaches,

as she was scraping where the peach juice remained. One interesting observation about

lunchtime: I noticed the children who could feed themselves had spoons with large rubber

grippers attached to them. I assumed that was to aid in the development of their motor skills.
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As lunchtime was concluding, I talked more with Julian and Quinlin as they were telling

me it was time for nap. I figured as they prepared for naptime that would be a perfect time to say

my goodbyes, since I had to leave to go to work. As I thanked them and said goodbye, I took a

couple of interesting facts with me. I learned how bright and engaging children with special

needs can be; their eyes and smile can light up the room. I also learned that since this center

does not have a high turnover of employees, the people who work here must have a special kind

of love for children with special needs, as I am almost certain it is not the pay that is keeping

them here.