I'm up late. Have an odd sore throat, should be in bed but I'm doing something I haven't done in weeks & weeks... catching up on friends/family via blogs. Honestly, I don't get the entire computer thing but I did love watching my niece KtG's 2 beautiful daughters be adorable with lollipops (she calls the candy "a sucker"--which is what S, at age 2.5 (14 years ago!) wanted to name her little brother, which is how he got the nickname, Lollipop, just sounded like a more polite name). And I enjoyed seeing my pals Noelle & Molly in the fine Utah Valley Magazine. Zina's very authentic chicken stock is, ummm, inspiring.
Learning Facebook, houseworking, reading, grooming, shopping, cooking, loving, spinning, yard work/rototilling/planning, speech therapy going, homeschooling, churching, skiing, visiting, quilting, attending parent/teacher confrontations, I mean conferences... Right now I feel that I'm doing a lot and none of it very well. Did I mention praying?
Actually, my mind often drifts to a cousin, the mother of a baby who later this month will have surgery for bilateral cochlear implants. He is actually a very blessed child. (N & M would really benefit from bi-lateral CIs but I can't sacrifice my family on the alter of insurance appeals and we really don't have approx $+50,000 EACH right now.) My thoughts are on his mother though. For all the blogs, Facebooks etc. I wish I could just call and talk to her. How is she doing? This is a brilliant, connected mother, with a super-fantastic husband. I don't want to intrude or leave any more messages. Their family is huge and supportive so I wonder if I need to talk to her for my sake. There are so many questions that I'd like answered. Perhaps I could answer some of hers...
M, whose language is faltering, told me today that my sketchbook is all fulled-up. I'm going to filled it up a bit more and am looking forward to starting a new one.
Showing posts with label Honesty. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Honesty. Show all posts
20 January 2009
YES!!!
President Barack Hussein Obama.
That sounds great! I love that he kept his middle name for the inauguration. 48 years ago the world was a very different world. I hope that the modern Muslim world will appreciate the courage it took to keep that middle name, as an American. (I love that a kind and gentle Heavenly Father has a sense of humor.) I love that Americans, 80%, support him, even if they didn't vote for him. I love that he inspires us to be better, do more, look more deeply.
As a family we are keeping a "Golden Rule" calendar to record the service we do. Last night for FHE I read his letter to his girls to SKJN & M. So far it is doors open and sharing juice boxes, cheerfully helping around the house.
Loved the music at the ceremony! "Yo-Yo Ma along with Itzhak Perlman on violin, Gabriela Montero on piano and Anthony McGill on clarinet performed the new work composed by John Williams, 'Air and Simple Gifts.'" Aaron Copeland's, "Simple Gifts" was so perfect! Piano, clarinet, cello and violin! The poetry was great but the reading was odd. As if the punctuation was. Off.
ONWARD.
Cheney looked like a sick and twisted, iniquitous, feeble, decrepit Voldemort. Hope time reveals his crimes and that he is alive to receive his judgment... he will eventually. Bush looked like he had another good night of sleep (The former :) president always went to bed at 9:30?! No wonder were are in such a mess.) -- how did the country elect him TWICE?
ONWARD.
That sounds great! I love that he kept his middle name for the inauguration. 48 years ago the world was a very different world. I hope that the modern Muslim world will appreciate the courage it took to keep that middle name, as an American. (I love that a kind and gentle Heavenly Father has a sense of humor.) I love that Americans, 80%, support him, even if they didn't vote for him. I love that he inspires us to be better, do more, look more deeply.
As a family we are keeping a "Golden Rule" calendar to record the service we do. Last night for FHE I read his letter to his girls to SKJN & M. So far it is doors open and sharing juice boxes, cheerfully helping around the house.
Loved the music at the ceremony! "Yo-Yo Ma along with Itzhak Perlman on violin, Gabriela Montero on piano and Anthony McGill on clarinet performed the new work composed by John Williams, 'Air and Simple Gifts.'" Aaron Copeland's, "Simple Gifts" was so perfect! Piano, clarinet, cello and violin! The poetry was great but the reading was odd. As if the punctuation was. Off.
ONWARD.
Cheney looked like a sick and twisted, iniquitous, feeble, decrepit Voldemort. Hope time reveals his crimes and that he is alive to receive his judgment... he will eventually. Bush looked like he had another good night of sleep (The former :) president always went to bed at 9:30?! No wonder were are in such a mess.) -- how did the country elect him TWICE?
ONWARD.
11 July 2008
H is for Happy. As in: I am so happy that I FINALLY snail-mailed the letter to Dr. McP at BYU.
In the process of clearing off my desk I am finishing things up, as well as throwing things out. Several weeks ago I wrote a long over due letter to a department chair at BYU. I emailed it. Still haven't heard from him... Today I put a copy in the mail. I showed K (13) and told him how when I was a kid this is how we wrote to people. I let him touch the envelope! He even chose the stamp.
An aside: About the same time that I emailed Dr. McP at BYU I wrote to ORSON SCOTT CARD! about a great article he wrote about Good/Better/Best Mormons. That is my title, his was "Heyborne in the age of Purity." Here is the link to the article in Mormon Times: http://www.mormontimes.com/ME_blogs.php?id=1346
Mr. Card actually wrote ME BACK! Promptly! A lovely multi-paragraph email. Drat that I can't publish it here. He asked me not to, which is understandable. I'm not publishing my letter to him either lest I offend all the Mormons I know, that I know are so much better than I... neighbors AND relatives! (thin ice zone) Anyway, I haven't heard from BYU's Dr. McP.
Here is the BYU letter:
Since BYU’s Speech and Language Clinic director Lee Robinson told me last August that both of my deaf children were being dropped from BYU’s roster, I have wanted to write this letter. Now almost a year later I can tell a more complete story.
In short: Ms. Robinson called us last fall and left a message that there was no longer space for my children; possibly there would be space for the winter semester. She called again in January saying there wasn’t space for either of them. By the abrupt cut off of services it was clear that the clinic’s priority is not to provide consistent and fair services to children, but rather to accommodate the students’ changing numbers and needs. This practice hurts the children and families the clinic is meant to serve, especially since there are so few speech services for deaf children in Utah County.
Here is our story: My daughter M was implanted January 2007, she was just 3 and had been going to speech therapy at BYU for at least one semester. Ms. Robinson decided that since M would not be activated for a month there wasn’t any use in continuing therapy; she was abruptly dropped. I was not consulted, or even asked. When I asked the graduate student who called in January if I could talk to Ms. Robinson the student said that I wouldn’t change her mind.
This decision was not only rude, it was wrong. The first weeks after a young child is implanted and activated is crucial to her development. Also, during the time before the activation M could still hear with her very powerful hearing aid on the un-implanted side.
I had been told she would definitely be in for Spring term. She wasn’t. Fall? She wasn’t. This unfortunate situation was compounded by the fact that the Utah School for the Deaf and Blind (USDB) was asleep at the wheel and didn’t start promised therapy until May. Our insurance and the ENT surgeon didn’t offer any therapy or suggestions.
As M mother, not a doctor or therapist, I knew there was a serious problem. I spoke to the audiologist who mapped M's implant and he recommended that I call Dr. Susan Naidu at the University of Utah. She was very kind and promptly set an appointment for a diagnostic evaluation. I asked about their waiting list. They don’t have one. BYU’s is about 3 years I was told when I first applied. Deaf children sometimes jump to the top since the students need to work with deaf children.
M started speech at the University of Utah immediately. She looked forward the therapy and I watched each session. The students were professional, prepared and always happy to see and work with M. Perhaps the best part of the experience, aside from the promptness of getting the needed services, was that Dr. Naidu also observed the therapy, joined in as necessary and shared insights and gave advice about CIs and deaf children. The differences between the programs and the directors are stunning.
I noticed at BYU that even though the therapy rooms and observation areas had been recently remodeled the professors rarely spoke with me; they were down the hall, behind a locked door. Also, my other children were not allowed to watch or participate at BYU. This was often difficult and unfortunate since siblings are sometimes the best language teachers. The student therapists would talk to me and then talk to their supervisors for answers, which I would receive the following session.
My son N also has a cochlear implant. He is now 7 and was implanted at age 6 after about 11 months of not hearing due to a sudden drop in his hearing and a prolonged battle with insurance coverage during which time he received therapy at BYU.
He was not dropped from the BYU program until the fall. Ms. Robinson said he would have a spot in January. When she called again to say, “Sorry.” I was not surprised but I was disappointed. Her reason was that there simply weren’t enough students to provide the therapy. Is this another department that BYU (Provo) is doing away with? If I had known that there was a possibility that the services would be so inconsistent I might have weighed my options more carefully.
We were not the only family dropped, and there are other children that were kept on. I don’t know what the criteria for removal was. It wasn’t solely need.
Ms. Robinson came across as cold and uncaring every time I dealt with her. Once while discussing payment she scolded my son for touching the small action figures in her office, that were at his eye-level. Another time she hovered in the entry waiting for me, to see if we were late? She never spoke to me and I found that odd. I had told the therapist that I couldn’t pick up all the children from 4 different schools, travel and make it on the hour. Once the time was changed to quarter-after the problem was solved.
After N was dropped I called Dr. Naidu. She was happy to work with N as well. The students and Dr. Naidu went out of their way to get N and M on the same days, times and in rooms where I could observe both children at the same time. I deeply appreciate their thoughtfulness.
The cost is about twice BYU’s rate. It should actually be much higher but since our insurance doesn’t cover speech therapy we get a discounted rate. The drive (twice a week) is grizzly, not only the cost of gas and environmental concerns, but the time away from home (minimum 6 hours a week, verses 2 1/2 at BYU) is what is especially difficult for us. My other children need a parent at home in the afternoon.
The lack of options for deaf children in Utah County is a primary reason that I am writing this letter and have tried to create a foundation to help deaf children in Utah County. When I mentioned this problem to Ms. Robinson she expressed little interest and said that BYU students would most likely not be available to participate at a new Utah County facility.
I hope that this letter helps BYU improve its Comprehensive Clinic services. I welcome hearing from you.
Sincerely,
H ...
An aside: About the same time that I emailed Dr. McP at BYU I wrote to ORSON SCOTT CARD! about a great article he wrote about Good/Better/Best Mormons. That is my title, his was "Heyborne in the age of Purity." Here is the link to the article in Mormon Times: http://www.mormontimes.com/ME_blogs.php?id=1346
Mr. Card actually wrote ME BACK! Promptly! A lovely multi-paragraph email. Drat that I can't publish it here. He asked me not to, which is understandable. I'm not publishing my letter to him either lest I offend all the Mormons I know, that I know are so much better than I... neighbors AND relatives! (thin ice zone) Anyway, I haven't heard from BYU's Dr. McP.
Here is the BYU letter:
Since BYU’s Speech and Language Clinic director Lee Robinson told me last August that both of my deaf children were being dropped from BYU’s roster, I have wanted to write this letter. Now almost a year later I can tell a more complete story.
In short: Ms. Robinson called us last fall and left a message that there was no longer space for my children; possibly there would be space for the winter semester. She called again in January saying there wasn’t space for either of them. By the abrupt cut off of services it was clear that the clinic’s priority is not to provide consistent and fair services to children, but rather to accommodate the students’ changing numbers and needs. This practice hurts the children and families the clinic is meant to serve, especially since there are so few speech services for deaf children in Utah County.
Here is our story: My daughter M was implanted January 2007, she was just 3 and had been going to speech therapy at BYU for at least one semester. Ms. Robinson decided that since M would not be activated for a month there wasn’t any use in continuing therapy; she was abruptly dropped. I was not consulted, or even asked. When I asked the graduate student who called in January if I could talk to Ms. Robinson the student said that I wouldn’t change her mind.
This decision was not only rude, it was wrong. The first weeks after a young child is implanted and activated is crucial to her development. Also, during the time before the activation M could still hear with her very powerful hearing aid on the un-implanted side.
I had been told she would definitely be in for Spring term. She wasn’t. Fall? She wasn’t. This unfortunate situation was compounded by the fact that the Utah School for the Deaf and Blind (USDB) was asleep at the wheel and didn’t start promised therapy until May. Our insurance and the ENT surgeon didn’t offer any therapy or suggestions.
As M mother, not a doctor or therapist, I knew there was a serious problem. I spoke to the audiologist who mapped M's implant and he recommended that I call Dr. Susan Naidu at the University of Utah. She was very kind and promptly set an appointment for a diagnostic evaluation. I asked about their waiting list. They don’t have one. BYU’s is about 3 years I was told when I first applied. Deaf children sometimes jump to the top since the students need to work with deaf children.
M started speech at the University of Utah immediately. She looked forward the therapy and I watched each session. The students were professional, prepared and always happy to see and work with M. Perhaps the best part of the experience, aside from the promptness of getting the needed services, was that Dr. Naidu also observed the therapy, joined in as necessary and shared insights and gave advice about CIs and deaf children. The differences between the programs and the directors are stunning.
I noticed at BYU that even though the therapy rooms and observation areas had been recently remodeled the professors rarely spoke with me; they were down the hall, behind a locked door. Also, my other children were not allowed to watch or participate at BYU. This was often difficult and unfortunate since siblings are sometimes the best language teachers. The student therapists would talk to me and then talk to their supervisors for answers, which I would receive the following session.
My son N also has a cochlear implant. He is now 7 and was implanted at age 6 after about 11 months of not hearing due to a sudden drop in his hearing and a prolonged battle with insurance coverage during which time he received therapy at BYU.
He was not dropped from the BYU program until the fall. Ms. Robinson said he would have a spot in January. When she called again to say, “Sorry.” I was not surprised but I was disappointed. Her reason was that there simply weren’t enough students to provide the therapy. Is this another department that BYU (Provo) is doing away with? If I had known that there was a possibility that the services would be so inconsistent I might have weighed my options more carefully.
We were not the only family dropped, and there are other children that were kept on. I don’t know what the criteria for removal was. It wasn’t solely need.
Ms. Robinson came across as cold and uncaring every time I dealt with her. Once while discussing payment she scolded my son for touching the small action figures in her office, that were at his eye-level. Another time she hovered in the entry waiting for me, to see if we were late? She never spoke to me and I found that odd. I had told the therapist that I couldn’t pick up all the children from 4 different schools, travel and make it on the hour. Once the time was changed to quarter-after the problem was solved.
After N was dropped I called Dr. Naidu. She was happy to work with N as well. The students and Dr. Naidu went out of their way to get N and M on the same days, times and in rooms where I could observe both children at the same time. I deeply appreciate their thoughtfulness.
The cost is about twice BYU’s rate. It should actually be much higher but since our insurance doesn’t cover speech therapy we get a discounted rate. The drive (twice a week) is grizzly, not only the cost of gas and environmental concerns, but the time away from home (minimum 6 hours a week, verses 2 1/2 at BYU) is what is especially difficult for us. My other children need a parent at home in the afternoon.
The lack of options for deaf children in Utah County is a primary reason that I am writing this letter and have tried to create a foundation to help deaf children in Utah County. When I mentioned this problem to Ms. Robinson she expressed little interest and said that BYU students would most likely not be available to participate at a new Utah County facility.
I hope that this letter helps BYU improve its Comprehensive Clinic services. I welcome hearing from you.
Sincerely,
H ...
31 January 2008
H is for Honesty.
I've wanted to post this for a long while, it is from the New York Times. It is unusual in that it is blunt and honest, even for NYC. They ran it last Friday, the 25th, before Florida. Thank heavens Giuliani is out. The way he treats his family and several ex-wives makes me wonder about larger issues. Now if only Mitt Romney could be as honest as the NY Times, say it like he sees it. I feel that he is being so "coiffed" instead of telling about how great he is and all the amazing things he has accomplished, starting with his family!
Meanwhile, in reaction to recent re-revelation that Barrack Obama's middle name is Hussein, (as it has been for the last 45 years) I want to make bumper stickers that say, "Hussein in '08" wouldn't that be great for a mini-van in Utah? Many in my camp, myself included, like Obama. If you want to read more about HONESTY and Obama and the pledge of allegance check out this link: http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/muslim.asp
Meanwhile, in reaction to recent re-revelation that Barrack Obama's middle name is Hussein, (as it has been for the last 45 years) I want to make bumper stickers that say, "Hussein in '08" wouldn't that be great for a mini-van in Utah? Many in my camp, myself included, like Obama. If you want to read more about HONESTY and Obama and the pledge of allegance check out this link: http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/muslim.asp
The NY Times quote:
Why, as a New York-based paper, are we not backing Rudolph Giuliani? Why not choose the man we endorsed for re-election in 1997 after a first term in which he showed that a dirty, dangerous, supposedly ungovernable city could become clean, safe and orderly? What about the man who stood fast on Sept. 11, when others, including President Bush, went AWOL?
That man is not running for president.
The real Mr. Giuliani, whom many New Yorkers came to know and mistrust, is a narrow, obsessively secretive, vindictive man who saw no need to limit police power. Racial polarization was as much a legacy of his tenure as the rebirth of Times Square.
Mr. Giuliani’s arrogance and bad judgment are breathtaking. When he claims fiscal prudence, we remember how he ran through surpluses without a thought to the inevitable downturn and bequeathed huge deficits to his successor. He fired Police Commissioner William Bratton, the architect of the drop in crime, because he couldn’t share the limelight. He later gave the job to Bernard Kerik, who has now been indicted on fraud and corruption charges.
The Rudolph Giuliani of 2008 first shamelessly turned the horror of 9/11 into a lucrative business, with a secret client list, then exploited his city’s and the country’s nightmare to promote his presidential campaign.
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