Today we celebrate the short life of Zoe, a student that I had the honor to work with this past year. Zoe's mom had been told that Zoe probably wouldn't live a month after she was born, and yet this January we celebrated her 8th birthday... She passed away in her sleep sometime in the night of July 10 and morning of July 11.
When I first read her background, my initial thought was honestly, what can I do to help her?? But she helped me more than I could have ever helped her. Her and her mom... Her mom is a wonderful lady, full of ideas that can help any student, regardless of their abilities. I had loads of ideas of how we could address the needs of Zoe, but no ideas as to how to implement the ideas. Our amazing OT came in and created a program for Zoe and implemented a lot of the ideas that I had!
Zoe couldn't talk using full words, but she could vocalize... you knew when she was happy by her squeals and her smile... when she was in pain by her facial expressions and when she was comfortable. We worked on using various vowel sounds and using a switch to control a toy...
I will never forget the lessons that I learned from this little girl... how every student in her class was touched by her presence... those students in her class learned how to love and respect a person with disabilities.
I have always been told that I will have the misfortune of seeing my students/patients/clients pass away, but I never thought it would be 6 years into my career. Although I am sadden beyond words, I am comforted knowing that Zoe will not suffer any more and that she is in a better place... it is also comforting to know that her precious mom will be able to continue to show her love for children with disabilities and keep Zoe's memory alive.
I can only hope that right now, Zoe is in heaven chatting some angels ear off and running and playing like she couldn't do here on Earth. She will definitely be missed by everyone that knew her!
When I first read her background, my initial thought was honestly, what can I do to help her?? But she helped me more than I could have ever helped her. Her and her mom... Her mom is a wonderful lady, full of ideas that can help any student, regardless of their abilities. I had loads of ideas of how we could address the needs of Zoe, but no ideas as to how to implement the ideas. Our amazing OT came in and created a program for Zoe and implemented a lot of the ideas that I had!
Zoe couldn't talk using full words, but she could vocalize... you knew when she was happy by her squeals and her smile... when she was in pain by her facial expressions and when she was comfortable. We worked on using various vowel sounds and using a switch to control a toy...
I will never forget the lessons that I learned from this little girl... how every student in her class was touched by her presence... those students in her class learned how to love and respect a person with disabilities.
I have always been told that I will have the misfortune of seeing my students/patients/clients pass away, but I never thought it would be 6 years into my career. Although I am sadden beyond words, I am comforted knowing that Zoe will not suffer any more and that she is in a better place... it is also comforting to know that her precious mom will be able to continue to show her love for children with disabilities and keep Zoe's memory alive.
I can only hope that right now, Zoe is in heaven chatting some angels ear off and running and playing like she couldn't do here on Earth. She will definitely be missed by everyone that knew her!
