Special Ed Trilogy: Special Ed

By Maxine Yoong

The Special Ed Trilogy (short for 'Special Education') comprises all three titles by Maxine Yoong: (1) Highlights from 20 Years' Intervention Work, (2) A Dyslexic's Childhood, and (3) Inspiring Journeys of Growth and Resilience.

Featuring real-life anecdotes of differently abled individuals (including herself personally), Maxine's narratives offer a glimpse into the complex, multifaceted world of a gifted group.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Maxine Yoong
• Release date: Aug 22, 2023
• ISBN: 9798223726562

Book preview

Special Ed #1: Highlights from 20 Years' Intervention Work

PART I

The following chapters will focus on one specific Main Problem, with accompanying Possible Factors, Details, Genetic Anomalies, General Symptoms, Learning Challenges, besides listing Possible ways of Therapies, Self-Overcoming, Attempts to Help, and maybe bonus Gifts or extra talents that average people may not have (God is fair: For every difficulty one wrestles with in life, He bestows an extraordinary gift to us that makes us special).

Prologue: Writing for a Public Domain

When I was a teenager , I used to write articles in my mother tongue to earn a few dollars. While in college, I took a few writing courses in English. Despite the fact that my professor said I had talent, it was extremely tedious for me to polish each paper for submission.

Years later, God told me to write. I was stumped for a long time. What to write about? Then, what to do with the writing? I realised I did not want to lose my privacy as an unknown individual. One day, my teenager showed me her friend's blog. Suddenly, I saw in a flash that I could write anonymously, yet those pieces of articles are open and freely available in cyberspace. If I changed all names and places, chances are that no one could identify the author nor the characters.

So, I set about recording things that struck me as worth keeping. Hard as it is, I believe that few people would admit to having learning disabilities as children. It could be they have forgotten! Or it could be that they would like to forget all about the painful struggle! If by playing the role of a scribe, I have helped you in any way, I praise God!

I AM NOT A TEACHER, but an awakener. (Robert Frost)

1.  Working Memory (Main Problem)

Twenty years ago, I had the challenge of working with a 7-year-old girl, specifically adding to her one working space (which I called a ‘register’, as per computer terminology).

Night before yesterday, I went for a Christmas dinner in a local hotel. My husband and I arrived very early at the venue. I spoke to a gentleman from Canada. Before the dinner was over, I gave him my first book. It was an impromptu gesture of good will; there was nothing pre planned about it.

But guess what? He has a daughter who is 11 years old. She is dyslexic. They determined that she had 3 working spaces – a normal person should have 7. We managed to touch base on this topic because I added ‘Special Education’ to my biodata on the back cover of my first book.

Realistically, what are the chances that I should meet him, in a city of several millions? Plus, the fact that he had only been living in this country for seven months. His chosen home in this country lies at least three hundred miles to the north.

Of course, this huge coincidence does not mean I could definitely help him and his daughter. All I can do is to point to God, prayers and childhood active games. No wonder I was commissioned to document the childhood games of my generation. With the advent of computer and hand phone games, active outdoor games are almost dead and gone in the cities.

CHILDREN ARE NOT A distraction from more important work. They are the most important work. (C.S. Lewis)

2.  Overdue Baby (A Possible Factor)

As I prayed for the dyslexic girl in the north, thoughts came.

The first: Was she an overdue baby?

My eldest was overdue eight days. Of course, the due date is kind of arbitrary; not cast in stone. Years later, I was talking to my counsellor, who has the gift of knowledge. I happened to comment that my eldest was overdue, while the rest of my children were early. She paused for a moment and said gently, he was so comfortable in my womb that he was reluctant to be born. It was only when the doctor fixed a date that he would induce, that my labour started the night before.

Looking back, my son is the type that is diametrically opposite of Chicken Little. Oh, the sky is falling! While the rest may panic and sweat, he would slowly get his food, his drink and move slowly and deliberately. He does not worry; he does not stress.... Yet he does plan, in his slow and sure way. He is just a born optimist. I can hardly see any remnant symptoms of dyslexia or dyscalculia in him. If I select a joyful child, he is the one. Most of the time, he is calm, at rest with himself and with the rest of the world.

He has chosen to live in a small town, earning a pittance as a special education tutor. Somehow, every one of his students is somewhat depressed. I honestly don't know how he survives and stays as happy as a lark. One such child would drain me dry. I would strive to help. He just sits back, relaxes, and works steadily with one and then another. His classes could consist of up to six children, each with his or her own set of seemingly unsolvable problems. They trust him implicitly. He works with them instinctively. No such thing as lesson plan and teaching goals with his way. Yet he begets result over the years. It is amazing!

Experts suspect that dyslexia is probably hereditary to a certain extent. Yet I have read a book written by a couple who counselled and prayed extensively in different countries; they said in at least one case, a child’s dyslexia was overcome after one session of prayer. The probable cause was reluctance and refusal to be born.

LIVE SO THAT WHEN YOUR children think of love, fairness, integrity, and tenderness, they think of you. (Anonymous)

3.  Fatty Acid Functional Deficiency (Genetic Anomaly I)

It is a genetic aberration that came as one of 27 physical symptoms of the dyslexic syndrome. Out of the documented symptoms, my family members and I display 7 of them. One of them is a fatty acid functional deficiency. As a result of this functional deficiency, a well-nourished child could be really thin. Whenever the child feels stressed, that is if a teacher expected something impossible of the child or reprimanded him or her for not being able to do what came easily to others, the child would burn fatty acids at an extreme rate, much more than what was normally consumed.

From the age of three to seven or eight, I was really short and very thin. If I showed you a photo of me at that time, you would see my joints: both elbows and knees as knobbly. My limbs were rail thin. I looked like the children in starving Africa, minus the fat belly.

From the age of eight onwards, I started cooking my meals in addition to what my mom served. With high carbohydrate content and lots of shallot oil, I thrived. I was still short, but gradually gained enough weight to look normal.

All my daughters were thin until puberty. They have normal appetite, but somehow did not put on weight. They are each at least seven inches shorter than their brother.

My niece did not have a chance to eat enough oil. Her family eats very healthily. During her childhood, she had many outbreaks of skin rashes, periodic eczema and some form of itch most of the year.

BRAIN CELLS ARE MADE up of fatty acids. Unless a child is given the opportunity to eat sufficient fatty acids in acceptable forms, the brain cannot develop normally. I would suggest cold-pressed coconut oil or olive oil if the parents could afford them. Otherwise, I thrived on peanut and sesame oil in the sixties and could not complain I did not develop to my full potential.

I have observed over the years that out of 10 children needing special education living in my area (whom I know of), at least 7 of them were rather short and thin. It was as if in their struggle, they burnt up all the nutrients their mothers conscientiously fed them.

THE MORE I READ, THE more I acquire, the more certain I am that I know nothing. (Voltaire)

4.  Seasonal Light Disorder (Genetic Anomaly II)

Seasonal light disorder is another of the 27 physical symptoms related to the dyslexic-autistic spectrum.

I'll cover it because it came as a thought at least twice during the past 24 hours. For me who grew up very near to the equator, it did not affect me for 21 years. Then, during the first spring I spent in Virginia, I became a totally different person. During the plum rain (or peach rain – I can't be sure, because in Taiwan, I read about 'mei' rain which means ‘plum’. But in North and South Carolina, I saw lots of peach blossoms along the highway during spring breaks in the eighties), I was snapping at all of my close friends, till a number of them joked about PMS (Pre-Menstrual Syndrome). However, one was astute enough to mark my outbursts and note down the weather of that day. After the rains were over, she confronted me and asked about my family’s medical history.

Around that time, I read about my cousin's suicide attempt in Northern China. My cousin grew up in a small town two hours north of Canton or Guangzhou in Southern China. When he went to a university up north, he became clinically depressed. My uncle, a urinary surgeon, had him diagnosed, and managed to move him back south to save his life.

On the same side of the family, I have a girl cousin who became weepy many years ago during an especially bad bout of the infamous haze season in the country, due to the burning forests in Sumatra. This girl cousin did not spend any extended period out of Malaysia; therefore, her experience was limited to those few weeks of limited inconvenience. I remember that was the only year when visibility was affected enough to bring in a poor harvest of guava (a tropical fruit).

FAST FORWARD TO THE generation after mine: Only my eldest brother's two children went abroad for studies. My nephew fared all right in the dark winters of UK. On the other hand, my niece failed and was depressed for quite a while even after returning to sunny Malaysia. According to my nephew, he thinks she was reclusive and clinically depressed in the winter semester of September-January.

If a person knows that he or she has the disorder but needs to stay for an extended period in a place with limited sunlight, the simple solution would be to acquire a tanning lamp which emits light of the correct wavelengths, and then exposing oneself to a few hours of such light daily. This would take care of the brain's need of light.

YOU DON’T LEARN TO walk by following rules. You learn by doing, and by falling over. (Richard Branson)

5.  A Distressed Child (General Symptoms)

The third thought that came: If a child is distressed, parents should eliminate the stress, if at all possible.

It is up to the parents to intervene, if a child suddenly:

Wets the bed, after years of being dry in bed.

Talks in his or her sleep, raising the voice, arguing or shouting.

Grinds his or her teeth regularly while asleep.

Screams and wakes up because of nightmares in the middle of the night.

Attempts to sit up or struggles physically in bed while asleep; or

Sleepwalks.

My youngest, Elizabeth, was dry in bed since the age of eight months. During kindergarten, she started wetting the bed and screaming in the middle of the night. I found out later that the Chinese subject teacher had been picking on her because she was too talkative in class. I went to talk to the principal and requested a change from the Chinese to English stream. Subsequently, I re-registered her in a school that taught only Malay and English.

The abrupt change brought about an immediate result: No more manifestations of distress at night. Her new homeroom teacher in the English stream was an Indian lady who happened to be a pastor's wife; loving, kind and sensitive.... She made my daughter her special helper and channelled the latter's excess energy into the betterment of the class. She hugged my daughter daily for a job well done, praised her lavishly and guided the child lovingly.

Among my primary schoolmates, I was the only one who did not send my children to Chinese-medium primary schools. Many accused me of being a turncoat. However, I am glad that none of my children became functional illiterates in all three languages being taught in my country.

TODAY, MY ELIZABETH is a happy, well-adjusted, friendly and caring young lady. She neither reads nor writes in Chinese. Guess there is no earthly reason why she needs to go to China to work.

AS SPECIAL NEEDS PARENTS we don’t have the power to make life ‘fair,’ but we do have the power to make life joyful. (Anonymous)

6.  Full Circle (Possible Therapy 1)

My son recently told me that he had been reading up on early childhood education. Regarding dyslexia, he thinks his English teacher had been instrumental in giving him the best therapy, by making him and his class go through a nine-month discipline of writing cursive sentences with a fountain pen, one page at a time. At the bottom of each exercise page, there was a space for designing and colouring self-chosen colourful designs. The exercise book chosen had multicolour parallel lines designed for penmanship. He was nine years old then.

I came from six years of Chinese-medium education. Nevertheless, I remember going through an entire academic year of that when I was in Standard Four, at ten years old. Of course, at that time, I hated it. I would have rather spent the time chasing my brothers' kites. There were hardly any cars in that time (the 1960s), so the entire neighbourhood belonged to the children. We roamed the place seeking stones and leaves