She’s an Early Intervention Program Instructor, & Proud of What She Does

The dedication of a woman, working in the early childhood, early intervention programs, translated…

Those Who Don’t Know What the Occupational Requirements for Early Intervention, Felt Prejudices for the Teachers in the Association, Believed, that Their Jobs Entailed, Changing the Diapers of the Special Needs Children, and They Couldn’t Understand Just How Important Our Work Really is………

Taking that Big Step, into the Areas of Early Intervention

For families with someone who’s mentally handicapped, most would avoid dealing, or talking about it but, the First Welfare Intellectual Developmental Center’s teacher, Jia-Huei was different, she’d always told the truth about how she had a younger brother, who’s a resident in the homestay center program of the First Welfare Intellectual Development Center.  That it was because of her younger brother, that, was how she got involved in this field of work.

As her younger brother turned three, he’d still not started talking yet, and couldn’t get potty trained, after the doctors did the examination on him, they’d diagnosed him as severely retarded.  But what had, caused her younger brother’s mental retardation?  The doctor didn’t know.  Back then, there was almost NO information on the early intervention programs, and so, her mother could only send her younger brother into the regular kindergarten, and, there was a photo of her younger brother, in a group photo with the kids in his kindergarten class, with him, standing to the far end, looking at the opposite direction that everybody was looking in.

As he entered into the elementary years, there wasn’t any special eds classes, and so, he still entered into the regular classrooms, and naturally, being different, he was, treated, differently too.  Until her younger brother was finally admitted into the special education programs, she’d finally saw, that her younger brother, had the right to learn, like the “normal” children had.

Although her brother was developmentally delayed, perhaps, it’s how she was mentally mature, she’d never shown any negative emotions toward her younger brother, instead, she’d carried on the responsibilities for taking care of him without being told to, and because she was involved with socializing with someone who has developmentally delayed, she’d gotten used to being around them.  Later, as she learned that there was a position opening at First Welfare Intellectual Development Center, she’d switched tracks, from working in the regular kindergartens to the kindergarten of the foundation.

She’d thought, with her prior experiences with her younger brother, she would knowingly, stay away from this field, but, she’d, set foot, into the work of early intervention field.  Turns out, as she’d started first as a volunteer at the center, Jia-Huei found, that the courses offered there wasn’t similar to the classes in the regular kindergartens, that it was, very interesting to her, plus, she found this work to be meaningful, which was why she’d become, more than willing, to work as a preschool teacher here.

It’s Not a Job for Everybody

For those who don’t know the requirements of early intervention, they would have prejudices toward the teachers, believed, that they’re changing the diapers for the students, they lacked the knowledge and the understanding of the importance of this field.

Actually, the students the instructors come in contact with may have difficulties, flipping themselves over, let alone, feeding themselves, walking, going to the restrooms………all of these things, which come as natural as breathing to regular kids; in order to train the students to flip their bodies over, and raise their arms, to train their muscle strengths, this wasn’t done, with just, the words of praises, so the early intervention educators needed to work alongside the physical therapists, to design a curriculum that the students can manage, and willing to participate in, the games, the exercises, and, without the professional trainings and the knowledge, you just can’t do it.

Even if the teachers managed to come up with incredible curricula for the students, sometimes, there’s, limited progress that students will make, and, it may take them, over six months, to finally learn, to flip onto their stomachs, then, another six months, to learn, to sit up, to stand………and, all of these, had caused a lot of the teachers to feel defeated, and so, not everybody has what it takes, to become, an early intervention educator.

There was a student of Jia-Huei’s, who’d started in the early intervention programs when he was only two, he was affected by a cell virus in vitro, not only was he mentally slow intellectually, he also suffered from hearing impairments too.  And because there are almost no children with hearing impairments at the school, there’s, nobody to teach children who were, hearing impaired, in order to help herself gain more knowledge, Jia-Huei gone around to courses offered everywhere, to learn how to interact with people who are hearing impaired.

For her, the values of a lot of things were, unseen, but as the time came, it was, enough, to keep her going.  Like in interacting with this child with hearing impairment, because the child wasn’t cognitively developed, it would be wrong, assessing short-term, to see the child’s progresses, instead, the progress that this child makes should be examined from when he was two, three years old, all the way, into his third, or fourth grade years in elementary school.  The teachers can also find the effects of the trainin

The dedication of a woman, working in the early childhood, early intervention programs, translated…

Those Who Don’t Know What the Occupational Requirements for Early Intervention, Felt Prejudices for the Teachers in the Association, Believed, that Their Jobs Entailed, Changing the Diapers of the Special Needs Children, and They Couldn’t Understand Just How Important Our Work Really is………

Taking that Big Step, into the Areas of Early Intervention

For families with someone who’s mentally handicapped, most would avoid dealing, or talking about it but, the First Welfare Intellectual Developmental Center’s teacher, Jia-Huei was different, she’d always told the truth about how she had a younger brother, who’s a resident in the homestay center program of the First Welfare Intellectual Development Center.  That it was because of her younger brother, that, was how she got involved in this field of work.

illustration from the papers…

As her younger brother turned three, he’d still not started talking yet, and couldn’t get potty trained, after the doctors did the examination on him, they’d diagnosed him as severely retarded.  But what had, caused her younger brother’s mental retardation?  The doctor didn’t know.  Back then, there was almost NO information on the early intervention programs, and so, her mother could only send her younger brother into the regular kindergarten, and, there was a photo of her younger brother, in a group photo with the kids in his kindergarten class, with him, standing to the far end, looking at the opposite direction that everybody was looking in.

As he entered into the elementary years, there wasn’t any special eds classes, and so, he still entered into the regular classrooms, and naturally, being different, he was, treated, differently too.  Until her younger brother was finally admitted into the special education programs, she’d finally saw, that her younger brother, had the right to learn, like the “normal” children had.

Although her brother was developmentally delayed, perhaps, it’s how she was mentally mature, she’d never shown any negative emotions toward her younger brother, instead, she’d carried on the responsibilities for taking care of him without being told to, and because she was involved with socializing with someone who has developmentally delayed, she’d gotten used to being around them.  Later, as she learned that there was a position opening at First Welfare Intellectual Development Center, she’d switched tracks, from working in the regular kindergartens to the kindergarten of the foundation.

She’d thought, with her prior experiences with her younger brother, she would knowingly, stay away from this field, but, she’d, set foot, into the work of early intervention field.  Turns out, as she’d started first as a volunteer at the center, Jia-Huei found, that the courses offered there wasn’t similar to the classes in the regular kindergartens, that it was, very interesting to her, plus, she found this work to be meaningful, which was why she’d become, more than willing, to work as a preschool teacher here.

It’s Not a Job for Everybody

For those who don’t know the requirements of early intervention, they would have prejudices toward the teachers, believed, that they’re changing the diapers for the students, they lacked the knowledge and the understanding of the importance of this field.

Actually, the students the instructors come in contact with may have difficulties, flipping themselves over, let alone, feeding themselves, walking, going to the restrooms………all of these things, which come as natural as breathing to regular kids; in order to train the students to flip their bodies over, and raise their arms, to train their muscle strengths, this wasn’t done, with just, the words of praises, so the early intervention educators needed to work alongside the physical therapists, to design a curriculum that the students can manage, and willing to participate in, the games, the exercises, and, without the professional trainings and the knowledge, you just can’t do it.

like this, working with children with special needs, photo from online…

Even if the teachers managed to come up with incredible curricula for the students, sometimes, there’s, limited progress that students will make, and, it may take them, over six months, to finally learn, to flip onto their stomachs, then, another six months, to learn, to sit up, to stand………and, all of these, had caused a lot of the teachers to feel defeated, and so, not everybody has what it takes, to become, an early intervention educator.

There was a student of Jia-Huei’s, who’d started in the early intervention programs when he was only two, he was affected by a cell virus in vitro, not only was he mentally slow intellectually, he also suffered from hearing impairments too.  And because there are almost no children with hearing impairments at the school, there’s, nobody to teach children who were, hearing impaired, in order to help herself gain more knowledge, Jia-Huei gone around to courses offered everywhere, to learn how to interact with people who are hearing impaired.

For her, the values of a lot of things were, unseen, but as the time came, it was, enough, to keep her going.  Like in interacting with this child with hearing impairment, because the child wasn’t cognitively developed, it would be wrong, assessing short-term, to see the child’s progresses, instead, the progress that this child makes should be examined from when he was two, three years old, all the way, into his third, or fourth grade years in elementary school.  The teachers can also find the effects of the trainings that this young boy receives from the early intervention programs.  And because of beliefs like this, that was what drove Jia-Huei, to keep on working in the field of early intervention.

So, there are, a ton of trials and hardships, that someone who works in an early intervention program such as this woman face, because you can’t really see the immediate effects of your training, teaching the children, but the differences will show overtime, you just have to, wait, and, eventually, the differences you’d made in the lives of these children will become clear as day.