Friday, November 30, 2007

Disabled Childrens Association


This visit occurred the day before yesterday so I'm trying to catch up!

This center is a special education center that takes care of disabled youth. We met some of the students who of course, were adorable. The teachers at the school had many questions for us on the issues of mainstreaming, medication, and strategies.
Hajj Rituals

One remarkable thing we noticed was how quiet and peaceful the students were. I asked if they took drugs like Ritalin, and was told that this was not the way behavior problems were addressed in the school. "The children spend lots of time with their family and watch little TV. they are low-income so they do not have money to buy sweets or video games". Culture must have an impact, because students were not running, jumping, being rude to each other or the teachers.

These were students with not just physical disabilities, but social ones as well. One particular girl, Faye, was so beautiful. She is unable to walk and has ADD, but she was precious! She reminded me of my daughter, who I miss very much.

Beautiful Faye

The room decorations were so interesting, and I recognized a lot of typical teacher boards, but Saudi style. Seeing the Bratz on the wall, albeit more conservatively dressed, was hilarious. Overall, it was a great visit.

Bratz in the Middle East
Our bus is escorted by a security detail

4 comments:

  1. hey ms.infante!!!,
    how old must you be to wear the abaya(for girls)?
    do the girls need to wear the abayas during school??

    love,
    liz

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  2. hey ms.infante,

    i was going to ask you do students in 8 th grade have grad night or things like that??
    do they have theme parks and parks like l.a?
    do boys and girls date at an early age??

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hello Liz!

    The girls start wearing abayas around age 12. Inside the schools, because they are seperated from the boys, they do not need to wear their abayas, although some choose to wear the hijab or head scarf. At the college we visited today, the girls completely took of their abayas and walked around in jeans, T-shirts, etc.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I will ask about theme parks tonight!

    ReplyDelete