Week 3..Yippee!

Another week and so many cool lessons! I'll copy and paste some of the cool material I learned at the end, but I'd like to first share a few personal stories that have to do with this week's objective which is: learning about the different kinds of disabilities.

My sister Sawyer is 15. She is beautiful, talented, funny, great with babies, and she also suffers from severe hearing loss in both ears. She has been wearing hearing aids from the time she was 4, but her hearing continues to get worse as time goes on. There is a good chance she could lose her hearing completely.
Regardless of this fear, Sawyer lives life with joy. Obviously having this disability changes the way she has to do things. She has grown up reading lips and the biggest way to understand people. Even with hearing aids, if she can't see our lips she has a hard time understanding. She also has to sit in the front of all of her classrooms which can sometimes lead to uncomfortable interactions. She recently cut her hair pixie cut style which makes her hearing aids much more noticeable. This year in school on the first day one of her teachers spotted them and spoke very loudly and slowly in front of the class "Are you deaf?" She takes all of this in stride. She even makes jokes about it! Sawyer is one of my heroes :)

This is me with my sisters. Sawyer is the middle right.

This week I spent some time with Lily, an little 3 year old girl adopted recently from China. She had to have open heart surgery when she was very young which left her with a huge scar. She also had some developmental issues which make the right side of her face sag a bit and causes some speech issues. She has deafness in her left ear which is shriveled. These physical disabilities are minimal compared to the emotional ones she suffered growing up in an orphanage. Lily saw that the babies in the orphanage got the attention and so she mimic their behavior. She is very needy and does not like to do things herself. Despite all of this Lily is a happy little girl with an excitement for life! Today we fed some horses, pet a pig, and tried to catch chickens. Her adoptive brother who is also 3 is her playmate and best friend. I have learned that I need to be stern with her and teach her that she can do things on her own. It is a joy to see her pride as she accomplishes things she never has before.

In addition to physical disabilities this week we learned about mental illnesses like depression, OCD, and learning disabilities. Below is a video from an Apostle of the Lord teaching how to treat those who suffer from these.

If you are looking for more academic informational ways to act and treat others, here are some of the highlights of our lesson this week:

Learning Disabilities

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Learning disabilities are manifested by significant difficulties in listening, speaking, reading, writing, reasoning, and/or mathematical ability. The primary problems do not involve collecting information (as in sensory disabilities), but in interpreting, translating, or recalling information. Learning disabilities are intrinsic to the person, presumed to be due to central nervous system dysfunction, and may occur throughout a person’s lifespan. Learning disabilities range from mild to very severe.
People with learning disabilities often have trouble learning sequences of tasks. This difficulty is some-times mistaken for carelessness or lower intelligence. However, learning disabilities do not denote inferior intelligence. In fact, a majority of individuals with learning disabilities have normal intelligence and are fully capable of performing complex tasks that are not impeded by their disabilities. Alternative teaching strategies can help people with learning disabilities learn to adapt and perform at academic levels com¬parable to their peers.

Suggestions to Improve Access and Positive Interactions

The Learning Disabilities Association of America states that nearly 2.9 million students are currently receiving special education services for learning disabilities in the United States.
According to the U.S. Department of Education, approximately 46.4 percent of students in special education have learning disabilities.

• Be aware that occasional inattentiveness, distraction, or loss of eye contact by a person with a learning disability is not unusual.
• When communicating with a person with a learning disability, discuss openly the preferred way to communicate.
• Be sensitive to the fact that some information processing problems may affect social skills.
• Provide structure and clear concrete expectations.
• Provide positive reinforcement. Do not embarrass the participant by asking him or her to do a task that will draw attention to the disability.
• If the participant has difficulty with coordination, be sure to analyze activities for any safety issues and to manage any identified risks.

• Mental Illness

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  Mental illnesses are biological brain disorders that can critically interfere with a person’s ability to think, feel, and relate to other people and the environment. For many years, children were not thought to experience mental illness because they did not have to confront the stresses that adults face. Research now indicates, however, that children do have depression and anxiety disorders.
  According to America’s Children: Key National Indicators of Well-Being, the annual report of the Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics, nearly five percent—an estimated 2.7 million children—are reported by their parents to have definite or severe emotional or behavioral difficulties. These challenges may interfere with their family life, their ability to learn, and their formation of friendships. They may persist throughout a child’s development and lead to lifelong disability, including more serious illness, more difficult to treat illness, and co-occurring mental illnesses.
  
  The National Institute of Mental Health estimates that 22.1 percent of Americans age 18 and older—about 1 in 5 adults—have a diagnosable mental disorder.
  According to the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill, mental disorders fall along a continuum of severity. The most serious and disabling conditions affect 5 to 10 million adults and 3 to 5 million children ages 5 to 17. Mental disorders are the leading cause of disability in North America, Europe and, increasingly, the world.
  The causes of mental illness are not known, but mental health professionals believe these disorders are due to a combination of biological, psychological, and environmental factors.
  

  Mental Illness Facts

• About 5% of Americans have a serious mental illness
• One in four families has a member who suffers from mental illness
• Only one in five people who has a mental illness seeks the help that he or she needs due to stigma, lack of awareness or other barriers
• Suicide is the third leading cause of death for people between the ages of 15 and 24.

Depression

Depression is the most commonly diagnosed emotional problem. Almost one-fourth of all Americans suffer from depression at some point in life, and four percent of the population have symptoms of depression at any given time. The term “depression” can be confusing, since it’s often used to describe a very normal emotion that passes quickly. Everyone feels “blue” or sad occasionally. But if that emotion continues for long periods, and if it is accompanied by feelings of guilt and hopelessness, it could be an indication of depression. The persistence and severity of such emotions distinguishes the mental disorder of depression from normal mood changes. People who suffer serious depression say they feel their lives are pointless. They feel slowed down, “burned out” and useless. Some even lack the energy to move or to eat. They doubt their own abilities and often look on sleep as an escape from life. Many think about suicide, a form of escape from which there is obviously no return.

Manic Depressive Bipolar Disorder

manic-depressive (bipolar) disorder, an illness in which sufferers’ mood may swing from depression to an abnormal elation or mania that is characterized by hyperactivity, scattered ideas, distractibility, and recklessness. Most people suffering from bipolar disorder respond remarkably well to the mineral salt lithium, which seems to even out the disorder’s terrible highs and lows.

Anxiety Disorders

Fear is a safety valve that helps us recognize and avoid danger. It increases our reflexive responses and sharpens awareness. But when a person’s fear becomes an irrational, pervasive terror or a nagging worry or dread that interferes with daily life, he or she may be suffering from some form of anxiety disorder. This affliction affects about30 million Americans, including 11 percent of the population who suffer serious anxiety symptoms related to physical illness. In fact, anxiety is thought to contribute to or cause 20 percent of all medical conditions among Americans seeking general health care. There are many different expressions of excessive anxiety. Phobic disorders, for example, are irrational, terrifying fears about a specific object, social situations or public places. Psychiatrists divide phobic disorders into several different classifications, most notably specific phobias, social phobias and agoraphobia.

Schizophrenia

Like depression, schizophrenia afflicts persons of all ages, races and economic levels. It effects up to two million Americans during any given year. Its symptoms frighten patients and their loved ones, and those with the disorder may begin to feel isolated as they cope with it. The term schizophrenia refers to a group of disorders that have common characteristics, though their causes may differ. The hallmark of schizophrenia is a distorted thought pattern. The thoughts of people with Schizophrenia often seem to dart from subject to subject, often in an illogical way. Patients may think others are watching or plotting against them. Often, they lose their self-esteem or withdraw from those close to them. The disease often affects the five senses. Persons suffering schizophrenia sometimes hear nonexistent sounds, voices or music or see nonexistent images. Because their perceptions do not fit reality, they react inappropriately to the world. In addition, the illness affects the emotions. Patients react in an inappropriate manner or without any visible emotion at all. Though the symptoms of schizophrenia can appear suddenly during times of great stress, schizophrenia most often develops gradually, and close friends or family might not notice the change in personality as the illness takes initial hold.

Substance Abuse/Addictive Behavior

Substance abuse should be a part of any discussion about mental illnesses. Substance abuse, the misuse of alcohol, cigarettes and both illegal and legal drugs, is by far the predominant cause of premature and preventable illness, disability and death in our society. According to the National Institute of Mental Health, nearly 17 percent of the U.S. population 18 years old and over will fulfill criteria for alcohol or drug abuse in their lifetimes. When the effects on the families of abusers and people close to those injured or killed by intoxicated drivers are considered, such abuse affects untold millions more. While abuse of and/or dependence on substances may in their own right bring suffering and physical sickness that require psychiatric medical treatment, they often accompany other seemingly unrelated mental illnesses as well. Many people who struggle with mental illnesses also struggle with alcohol or drug habits that may have begun in their mistaken belief that they can use the substance to “medicate” the painful feelings that accompany their mental illness. This belief is mistaken because substance abuse only adds to the suffering, bringing its own mental and physical anguish. Here, too, psychiatrists can offer hope with a number of effective treatment programs that can reach the substance abuser and his or her family.

Suggestions to Improve Access and Positive Interactions

• Remember that people with mental illness do not have lower intelligence.
• Be aware that people with more severe mental illnesses may have difficulty processing or expressing emotions.
• Be sensitive to the fact that some people with mental illness may overreact to emotionally charged topics or conversations.
• Learn more about the nature of the person’s diagnosed mental illness.