A Day of a Different Sort

Actually, it’s two days, but who’s counting?

The classroom next to me is inhabited by our TMH class.  TMH is school district jargon for Trainable Mentally Handicapped.  There are official IQ cutoff points and the like to distinguish these kids from the PMH kids a level below (that’s Profoundly Mentally Handicapped) and the EMH kids a level above (which are the Educable Mentally Handicapped kids).  Even there are these classifications which are based on solid facts like IQ, there are also all sorts of variables to be considered – physical health, emotional stability, physical size, personality and on and on and on….. to see which classroom these students go into.  Thus, there are EMH students being "served" in a TMH classroom….THM being "served" PMH, etc.  The alphabet soup of classifications.  And don’t forget the EH students which are Emotionally Handicapped…. are you getting my drift here?

With all that uncertainty and "abnormality" it is very difficult to get a substitute teacher in for these kids.  A lot of people are afraid of mental disease, defect or deficiency….I guess they think Downes Syndrome is contagious.  The other side of that coin is that these children are very used to routines for the most part.  Any upset of their routine can cause them a lot of stress – so bringing in a stranger who is unfamiliar with the students and the classroom routines can throw everything into a tailspin. 

Fortunately there is both a teacher and a teacher’s aide for this class, so there is rarely ever a need for a sub.  UNfortunately, the teacher was out for surgery and did not recover as quickly as estimated….so his absence overlapped with the aide’s absence for a minor medical procedure.  Two days overlap.

Enter Ms. Wolf.

I am familiar with these kids and their routines.  They even take turns visiting my class when I have 6th graders.  I like them. They are wonderful..

Most of them are not physically attractive.  Actually, only 2 of them would be considered "normal" looking physically.  3 of them exhibit the classic mongoloid looks of downes children.  2 more have physical abnormalities that keep them from walking in a normal manner.  2 have crossed eyes.  As I said…physical beauty is not their strong point.

But oh the beauty they have in their souls.  They love and love and love.  They are happy to see me every day.  I get hugs and giggles.  Of course I get pouts and tantrums too……..but they are just the most wonderful eartly angels there are.  They are honest – their minds just can’t figure out the complexities of a lie.  They try.  They have moods and preferences like other people…but are rarely petty aboutgetting them.  They have personalities.  Low IQ does not mean zombie.  Their quirks are fun to discover and wonderful to behold.

There are 10 of them in the class.  It is self-contained which means I did not get out of the room ONCE in 2 days.  Yippee.  When there is an aide, there is a little more leeway.  But it was just me.  They are very giving…..and very demanding of attention.  It was very different from the usual class I teach….and so I am whipped. 

But I am going home with a smile on my face….and I’ll be hearing the angel wings fluttering as I go.