From My Friend, Ro Vargo - Essay Example

Reflection on “From My Friend, Ro Vargo” Affiliation INTRODUCTION: The book lays much emphasis on the life of a girl from joining elementary school all through until the time she joined university and the life that she hoped for in the future. All this is explained well in a systematic way. The author describes the positive attributes of the girl and the impact that she had on the lives of the other children. The chapter explains the life of this girl and her parents, the transitions that she underwent and the achievements she made in life despite the very many challenges that she went through and succumbed to. In most cases you wouldn’t find the qualities of this girl since they are scarce in the society. The life story of this girl from when she was still young is filled with wonders and very many touching moments and events that happened all through. The parents had to sacrifice a lot for the girl since she was not just a normal girl. It was so hard to accept this but little by little the parents understood her and handled her the best way possible giving her the love that each and every child deserves. The important events in the life of the girl are mentioned well in this chapter. The relationship between this girl and her friends and school mates is discussed. After reading the whole chapter one learns a lot of lessons that makes him or her view life in another dimension where one is made to believe that one can make it no matter what challenges come their way. The story is a motivation and as Willis (2007) notes say that one can make it in any situation no matter the challenges. One gets motivated that life is not hard and with a good heart one can conquer all. Her parents say that their child conquered far much more than they had expected despite her disabilities. Their daughter is said to fit very well in the society and would leave great impact everywhere she went. The girl is said to have touched the life of many through various ways and different events. Everybody terms her to be a good inspiration to their lives. Her parents are also supportive as they did a lot to made their daughter achieve all that she did. And were it not for them the girl could not have achieved all that she achieved. They stood with their girl all through these situations and thereafter the good results are noted. The story is a good revelation as Villa (2005) notes that some of the things that are seen to be impossible can be possible with hard work and determination. Ghadeer in the story is one of the many beneficiaries of Ro’s story. She suffered stroke when she was twelve and at a certain period she was not able to converse orally. When her classmates went to visit her in the hospital she began to use the sign language as a way of communication. The child’s doctor was so excited and asked her how she had learnt it. She told the doctor that it was Ro who had taught her. This was a good job that Ro had done and her social skills had helped Ghadeer so much. This was an instance that proved that Ro was important and had changed the lives of the people around her in a positive way. The girl also communicated a lot of things and at one instance she was misunderstood by the psychologist who thought that she didn’t make sense when she wrote some information on a paper and after consulting the parents the psychologist understood what she meant. Justine, who was a student at the Maxwell school of communication, had to present a documentary as part of the final grade. When she approached Ro to be part of the document presentation, Ro did not turn her down as she was dedicated to help her in the making of the documentary. Upon completion they named the document Ro. Ro also shared her experiences and what she wanted to become in life. The inclusion did help her very much to overcome many odds in life as villa (2005) notes. Keeping Ro in a normal environment was a good move but also a risky step that her parents had made. It wasn’t easy but the truth of the matter is that she attained a normal life through this inclusion although it was not an easy thing at first but finally it yielded good fruits. In the story also, we get to know about Muricha who was Ro’s friend at the middle school and she says that she became social with Ro not because of what many teachers thought that it was the attention that made her close to Ro but she explained that she needed Ro more than Ro needed her. Inclusion is the practice of educating students with disabilities in the usual, normal and general classrooms or environment. Mainstreaming is the practice of educating a student with disabilities from the general education classroom. The learning disabilities of America had come out strongly and said that the general classroom should be able to provide the learning students with all the benefits that they need. The teachers who are to be trained to deal with the cases of inclusive learning should be given the right skills in order to get the best results from these staff. They should be given special tutorials so that they are supposed to deliver the best services to these disadvantaged children. Inclusion also needs thorough planning since it not just the usual education. It entails a lot and so it requires maximum planning. The parents of these children should be in the fore front when it comes to the planning of inclusion. This is because the parents understand their children best than any other person and they know their strong and weak points. The parents are said to be primary stakeholders in the process. The other step in the planning of inclusion is creating awareness of disabilities among the students and the staff. Providing staff with training is also part of the planning. The administrators should also come up with policies on how the students’ progress will be evaluated and how the progress is going to be analyzed (Willis, 2007). Advantages Associated with Full Inclusion Full inclusion has good merits on the children as outlined here. The children who are normal and those disabled are able to get lessons from each other and in the process the spirit of acceptance in the society comes in. This is a good move towards making the disabled children to feel that they belong in the community. This also trains the students who are normal to show love to the less privileged and make them feel more important. Full inclusion will also help to improve the students socially (Willis 2007). This will enhance good relations with both parties and the difference that exists between them will cease to be noted. Furthermore, when one is educated it helps them to achieve one’s goals and dreams since education is a fundamental thing in the world. The equal chance of the people with disabilities helps the victim to think broadly and make great impacts in the society in the future. Providing the disabled children with education also assists them to appreciate themselves when they accomplish certain things in life like securing a job after going through the school system (villa 2005). Challenges Associated with Full Inclusion At times the disabled children may turn up to be disruptive affecting the system of learning which should be smooth. This would in turn call out for isolation so that the normal students get a normal learning program without challenges (Willis 2007). Bullying also counts in as a challenge since there have been cases where some normal children treat the students who are disabled in a harsh way due to their condition which portrays them to be inferior. This is a way of discriminating them. In other cases the teachers tend not to lay emphasis on the disabled children. These teachers take the disabled children to be like a bother and this should not be the case. At times the teacher might get bad tempers and address the disabled learners in a harsh manner. This would end up affecting the child’s learning process and psychology. Full inclusion will also affect the learning process of the normal students since the teacher has to lay special emphasis and attention on the disabled since they require much attention and their understanding in some cases is low. This might cause a great impact in the completion of the syllabus which should be completed in time (Villa, 2005). It is very evident that that full inclusion helped Ro to achieve her dream and become a successful individual in the society. We also see that her parents were very supportive and so we can term them to have engaged them in good planning of the inclusive process as Villa (2005) notes say it is a key thing. We also realize that Mrs. Kristen who was her teaching assistance acknowledged her to be a good student and she helps her so much to achieve her goals. Mrs. S, the gym teacher, helps her and even gives Ro her whistle after retirement to show that Ro was amongst her best students. We also learn that she had rejected the offer to teach her but thereafter she agrees. We also get to learn that there were plans put in place before Ro and the other six disabled students were joining high school. We also learn that when Ro joined high school she did not have friends who spoke to her. The story also tells us that when Ro was in the 6th grade some students teased her and others stared at her. She was also at some point isolate. We have got very many readings that relate to this issue in the Bible. In Galatians 3: 28 it is written that,” There is neither a Jew nor a Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus”. This encourages everybody and especially the disabled to fight the battle since they go through many obstacles. The Bible in Genesis chapter 1 verse 27 it is written that we were all made in his own image. It is also said in Genesis2 the story of creation of man was the best of all creation and God says that he did it with his likeliness. This calls for respect since if everybody was created in the image of God if we treat or handle the disabled in a bad way we are doing harm to the almighty God. Luke 14:13-14 says “ But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you. You will be repaid at the resurrection of the just." Also in Galatians 3:2, the bible says that there is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. CONCLUSION In conclusion, we learn that there is need to provide educators, families, and other interested persons with information about including learners with disabilities into general education classes and school community life, .successful inclusive education models and strategies are needed and materials that provide a sound basis and experimental support for inclusion. The resources talk about how to base and restructuring the curriculum and the rules on social interactions and friendships, family perspectives and issues, collaborative teamwork and personnel development and general inclusive education resources. REFERENCES: Clarissa Willis (2007, Feb, 16). Creating an Inclusive Learning Eniviroments for Young Children: Newyork. Corwin Press. Copyright Richard A. Villa (2005, Sep 7). Creating an Inclusive School. New York: ASCD. Copyright Brauen, M.L., O’Reilly, F., & Moore, M. (1996, April). Issues and options in outcomes-based accountability for students with disabilities. THE BIBLE. . Read More