autism

Every now and again I find something that amazes me. Something that brings me to believe that in each of us there is more than we share with the world. This essay is written by a third grader. It was sent to me by a friend who I am confident in. She has assured me that this child did really write this fantastic essay. Enjoy!

The topic of my essay is a description of how an autistic boy benefits my classroom. I’ve read about autism. I learned that kids with autism usually don’t like to make eye contact. They are usually sensitive to touch and sound. It’s often hard for autistic people to speak and sometimes can’t speak at all. It’s hard for them to make friends. There is no one cause of autism. There is no known cure.

Some people might think that a kid with autism shouldn’t be going to school. I think that it is better that they do, so that they can learn to read, write, do math, and be part of the school community. I believe it will work better to teach the autistic students to live with their autism so that they will be able to go out in the world. I’ve gone to school now for three years with an autistic student. This is what I know.

Noah is an extraordinary boy. He is a student in my third grade class. Everyone in my class is different. What makes Noah most different is his autism. Like other kids, he plays and runs around at recess. Mrs. Reigh, his assistant teacher, says that he is really good at math. Other kids in my class are good at math too. Everyone has strengths and weaknesses. It’s what we do with them that matters.

Noah doesn’t speak like other kids. I can tell what he is saying but it’s not precise. You need to infer his meaning. I think I can tell what he is feeling. For many in my class it’s hard to understand Noah but everyone tries. Some kids in my class can speak really well but you don’t know what in the world they are talking about. I’m sure I don’t always make sense either. Just because he has autism doesn’t mean you have to speak different to him. He understands what you say to him. You should see him type. He types way better than me. Most of us speak to him like he’s any other third grader but with maybe a hint of more kindness. Like us, he tries to be a good student. He does the best he can. Having Noah in our class has helped us be better communicators but I don’t think we realize it. It just happens.

Noah benefits our classroom by showing his expressions. For example, being cheery. He laughs, jumps around, claps, and smiles. This brings a sense of cheer to the other kids in our classroom. I know that humans are affected by the people around them. Happiness brings more happiness and sadness brings more sadness. In our class the way people act or feel affects the whole class. When he gets mad, we know he’s mad but we have to figure out why. When other kids get mad they might not say why. Or they may say it is one thing but it is really something else causing it. You still have to figure it out. At least Noah gets over it.

Noah helps us become more patient. An example of this is when his Alpha Smart doesn’t work at the moment and we must wait. Another example is if Noah wants to explore an object we need to wait for our turn. He doesn’t always want to give the object up. For Noah this might be because he is autistic and can’t help it. For others it might be just plain old selfishness. It’s just the way some people are.

Noah uses some sign language. He helps us learn new signs too. Noah signs “thank you” when he gets a treat or snack. Noah signs “water” when he sees a picture of it. He signs “ball” sometimes also. This helps him communicate. Mrs. Reigh teaches us sign language so that we can answer. It’s pretty basic but it’s a beginning. It is interesting to learn.

I think Noah is a friend to others. At recess he blows Bubbles, plays with bird seed and rice. Noah will listen while others read. Being a friend is something everyone can learn.

The next example of how Noah benefits our classroom is not so clear and simple. You have to dig deep to realize, but it’s true. Not everyone realizes this, but Noah teaches us how to hope. He teaches us to hope, because he has autism. We can hope someday he’ll be able to speak. I’m told there is no “cure” for autism today. But what about tomorrow? Someone I respect and believe in says, faith and courage will carry you but only hope will lift you.

The final example isn’t so easy for me to describe. It’s about family. I grew up in a happy, loving family. It was my dad, my mom, my sister and Nana. We spent each day like it was our last. We knew Nana was dying. She had end stage emphysema. She wasn’t supposed to live a long time. She did though. She lived with us seven years. It was the best I could ask for.

Noah’s got a tough but good life. He has a Mom and a Dad, a little sister, an older brother and his twin brother Mark. His grandparents go to his house a lot. Noah’s brother Mark is autistic too but is home schooled for now. I’ve met his Mom, Dad, grandma, sister and Mark. Their family is patient, loving and caring. You can tell when you see them. I imagine their life is hard but worth while. I say that it is worthwhile because they have each other. They wouldn’t be making such progress and they probably wouldn’t be as strong if their family didn’t appreciate what they have.

If you look for joy and happiness you will find it. If you don’t give up looking for it, you will always find it.

Really close your eyes and think about this: people who have autism aren’t much different from us. They eat , sleep, drink, read, play, run, jump, laugh, cry, have feelings, love, hope, dream, type, bounce a ball, and make friends. The autistic person is not much different than a “normal“ person. It’s just more noticeable. Wouldn’t it be something if it wasn’t even noticeable?

EAA 2008

The EAA was again a fantastic aviation event with the weather to match! A record crowd lined the runway nightly for the air show, and the education hangers were crowded with thousands of people. To check out some of the pictures from EAA you can copy the link and paste it to your browser or watch the embedded slide show. If you do watch the embedded slide show, the videos that are included do not play so it will look like long distance photos. You will have to cut and paste the link to see the videos.

If you have not visited EAA I suggest you do. I know that everyone leaves with a new appreciation for aircraft.

Tom


http://picasaweb.google.com/twinscher/EAA2008/photo#s5232034162187486418

Olympics 2008

Judy and I have been obsessed with the Olympics this year. We have watched it during our spare evening time and I have stayed up way to late every night watching anything that I may have missed. I have found that by programming my remote, I could switch between channels and never see a commercial while enjoying continuous Olympics. Thought out this time we have seen may stories of success and courage, but none has struck my heart as deeply as the following story.

Take the time to read this article and I promise you will be as inspired as I was.

Somalia’s runners provide inspiration

By Charles Robinson

BEIJING – Samia Yusuf Omar headed back to Somalia Sunday, returning to the small two-room house in Mogadishu shared by seven family members. Her mother lives there, selling fruits and vegetables. Her father is buried there, the victim of a wayward artillery shell that hit their home and also killed Samia’s aunt and uncle.

This is the Olympic story we never heard.

It’s about a girl whose Beijing moment lasted a mere 32 seconds – the slowest 200-meter dash time out of the 46 women who competed in the event. Thirty-two seconds that almost nobody saw but that she carries home with her, swelled with joy and wonderment. Back to a decades-long civil war that has flattened much of her city. Back to an Olympic program with few Olympians and no facilities. Back to meals of flat bread, wheat porridge and tap water.

“I have my pride,” she said through a translator before leaving China. “This is the highest thing any athlete can h

ope for. It has been a very happy experience for me. I am proud to bring the Somali flag to fly with all of these countries, and to stand with the best athletes in the world.”

There are many life stories that collide in each Olympics – many intriguing tales of glory and tragedy. Beijing delivered the electricity of Usain Bolt and the determination of Michael Phelps. It left hearts heavy with the disappointment of Liu Xiang and the heartache of Hugh McCutcheon.

But it also gave us Samia Yusuf Omar – one small girl from one chaotic country – and a story that might have gone unnoticed if it hadn’t been for a roaring half-empty stadium.

***

It was Aug. 19, and the tiny girl had crossed over seven lanes to find her starting block in her 200-meter heat. She walked past Jamaica’s Veronica Campbell-Brown – the eventual gold medalist in the event. Samia had read about Campbell-Brown in track and field magazines and once watched her in wonderment on television. As a cameraman panned down the starting blocks, it settled on lane No. 2, on a 17-year old girl with the frame of a Kenyan distance runner. Samia’s biography in the Olympic media system contained almost no information, other than her 5-foot-4, 119-pound frame. There was no mention of her personal best times and nothing on previous track meets. Somalia, it was later explained, has a hard time organizing the records of its athletes.

She looked so odd and out of place among her competitors, with her white headband and a baggy, untucked T-shirt. The legs on her wiry frame were thin and spindly, and her arms poked out of her sleeves like the twigs of a sapling. She tugged at the bottom of her shirt and shot an occasional nervous glance at the other runners in her heat. Each had muscles bulging from beneath their skin-tight track suits. Many outweighed Samia by nearly 40 pounds.

After introductions, she knelt into her starting block.

***

The country of Somalia sent two athletes to the Beijing Games – Samia and distance runner Abdi Said Ibrahim, who competed in the men’s 5,000-meter event. Like Samia, Abdi finished last in his event, overmatched by competitors who were groomed for their Olympic moment. Somalia has only loose-knit programs supporting its Olympians, few coaches, and few facilities. With a civil war tearing the city apart since the Somali government’s collapse in 1991, Mogadishu Stadium has become one of the bloodiest pieces of real estate in the city – housing U.N. forces in the early 1990s and now a military compound for insurgents.

That has left the country’s track athletes to train in Coni Stadium, an artillery-pocked structure built in 1958 which has no track, endless divots, and has been overtaken by weeds and plants.

“Sports are not a priority for Somalia,” said Duran Farah, vice president of the Somali Olympic Committee. “There is no money for facilities or training. The war, the security, the difficulties with food and everything – there are just many other internal difficulties to deal with.”

That leaves athletes such as Samia and 18-year old Abdi without the normal comforts and structure enjoyed by almost every other athlete in the Olympic Games. They don’t receive consistent coaching, don’t compete in meets on a regular basis and struggle to find safety in something as simple as going out for a daily run.

When Samia cannot make it to the stadium, she runs in the streets, where she runs into roadblocks of burning tires and refuse set out by insurgents. She is often bullied and threatened by militia or locals who believe that Muslim women should not take part in sports. In hopes of lessening the abuse, she runs in the oppressive heat wearing long sleeves, sweat pants and a head scarf. Even then, she is told her place should be in the home – not participating in sports.

“For some men, nothing is good enough,” Farah said.

Even Abdi faces constant difficulties, passing through military checkpoints where he is shaken down for money. And when he has competed in sanctioned track events, gun-toting insurgents have threatened hi

s life for what they viewed as compliance with the interim government.

“Once, the insurgents were very unhappy,” he said. “When we went back home, my friends and I were rounded up and we were told if we did it again, we would get killed. Some of my friends stopped being in sports. I had many phone calls threatening me, that if I didn’t stop running, I would get killed. Lately, I do not have these problems. I think probably they realized we just wanted to be athletes and were not involved with the government.”

But the interim government has not been able to offer support, instead spending its cash and energy arming Ethiopian allies for the fight against insurgents. Other than organizing a meet to compete for Olympic selection – in which the Somali Olympic federation chose whom it believed to be its two best performers – there has been little lavished on athletes. While other countries pour millions into the training and perfecting of their Olympic stars, Somalia offers little guidance and no doctors, not even a stipend for food.

“The food is not something that is measured and given to us every day,” Samia said. “We eat whatever we can get.”

On the best days, that means getting protein from a small portion of fish, camel or goat meat, and carbohydrates from bananas or citrus fruits growing in local trees. On the worst days – and there are long stretches of those – it means surviving on water and Angera, a flat bread made from a mixture of wheat and barley.

“There is no grocery store,” Abdi said. “We can’t go shopping for whatever we want.”

He laughs at this thought, with a smile that is missing a front tooth.

***

When the gun went off in Samia’s 200-meter heat, seven women blasted from their starting blocks, registering as little as 16 one-hundredths of a second of reaction time. Samia’s start was slow enough that the computer didn’t read it, leaving her reaction time blank on the heat’s statistical printout.

Within seconds, seven competitors were thundering around the curve in Beijing’s Bird’s Nest, struggling to separate themselves from one another. Samia was just entering the curve when her opponents were nearing the finish line. A local television feed had lost her entirely by the time Veronica Campbell-Brown crossed the finish line in a trotting 23.04 seconds.

As the athletes came to a halt and knelt, stretching and sucking deep breaths, a camera moved to ground level. In the background of the picture, a white dot wearing a headband could be seen coming down the stretch.

***

Until this month, Samia had been to two countries outside of her own – Djibouti and Ethiopia. Asked how she will describe Beijing, her eyes get big and she snickers from under a blue and white Olympic baseball cap.

“The stadiums, I never thought something like this existed in the world,” she said. “The buildings in the city, it was all very surprising. It will probably take days to finish all the stories we have to tell.”

Asked about Beijing’s otherworldly Water Cube, she lets out a sigh: “Ahhhhhhh.”

Before she can answer, Abdi cuts her off.

“I didn’t know what it

was when I saw it,” he said. “Is it plastic? Is it magic?”

Few buildings are beyond two or three stories tall in Mogadishu, and those still standing are mostly in tatters. Only pictures will be able to describe some of Beijing’s structures, from the ancient architecture of the Forbidden City to the modernity of the Water Cube and the Bird’s Nest.

“The Olympic fire in the stadium, everywhere I am, it is always up there,” Samia said. “It’s like the moon. I look up wherever I go, it is there.”

These are the stories they will relish when they return to Somalia, which they believe has, for one brief moment, united the country’s warring tribes. Farah said he had received calls from countrymen all over the world, asking how their two athletes were doing and what they had experienced in China. On the morning of Samia’s race, it was just after 5 a.m., and locals from her neighborhood were scramb

ling to find a television with a broadcast.

“People stayed awake to see it,” Farah said. “The good thing, sports is the one thing which unites all of Somalia.”

That is one of the common threads they share with every athlete at the Games. Just being an Olympian and carrying the country’s flag brings an immense sense of pride to families and neighborhoods which typically know only despair.

A pride that Samia will share with her mother, three brothers and three sisters. A pride that Abdi will carry home to his father, two brothers and two sisters. Like Samia’s father two years ago, Abdi’s mother was killed in the civil war, by a mortar shell that hit the family’s home in 1993.

“We are very proud,” Samia said. “Because of us, the Somali flag is raised among all the other nations’ flags. You can’t imagine how proud we were when we were marching in the Opening Ceremonies with the flag.

“Despite the difficulti

es and everything we’ve had with our country, we feel great pride in our accomplishment.”

***

As Samia came down the stretch in her 200-meter heat, she realized that the Somalian Olympic federation had chosen to place her in the wrong event. The 200 wasn’t nearly the best event for a middle distance runner. But the federation believed the dash would serve as a “good experience” for her. Now she was coming down the stretch alone, pumping her arms and tilting her head to the side with a look of despair.

Suddenly, the half-empty stadium realized there was still a runner on the track, still pushing to get across the finish line almost eight seconds behind the seven women who had already completed the race. In the last 50 meters, much of the stadium rose to its feet, flooding the track below with cheers of encouragement. A few competitors who had left Samia behind turned and watched it unfold.

As Samia crossed the line in 32.16 seconds, the crowd roared in applause. Bahamian runner Sheniqua Ferguson, the next smallest woman on the track at 5-foot-7 and 130 pounds, looked at the girl crossing the finish and thought to herself, “Wow, she’s tiny.”

“She must love running,” Ferguson said later.

***

Several days later, Samia waved off her Olympic moment as being inspirational. While she was still filled with joy over her chance to compete, and though she knew she had done all she could, part of her seemed embarrassed that the crowd had risen to its feet to help push her across the finish line.

“I was happy the people were cheering and encouraging me,” she said. “But I would have liked to be cheered because I won, not because I needed encouragement. It is something I will work on. I will try my best not to be the last person next time. It was very nice for people to give me that encouragement, but I would prefer the winning cheer.

She shrugged and smiled.

“I knew it was an uphill task.”

And there it was. While the Olympics are often promoted for the fastest and strongest and most agile champions, there is something to be said for the ones who finish out of the limelight. The ones who finish last and leave with their pride.

At their best, the Olympics still signify competition and purity, a love for sport. What represents that better than two athletes who carry their country’s flag into the Games despite their country’s inability to carry them before that moment? What better way to find the best of the Olympic spirit than by looking at those who endure so much that would break it?

“We know that we are different from the other athletes,” Samia said. “But we don’t want to show it. We try our best to look like all the rest. We understand we are not anywhere near the level of the other competitors here. We understand that very, very well. But more than anything else, we would like to show the dignity of ourselves and our country.”

She smiles when she says this, sitting a stone’s throw from a Somalian flag that she and her countryman Abdi brought to these Games. They came and went from Beijing largely unnoticed, but may have been the most dignified example these Olympics could offer.

:.: LIFEST 2008 | OSHKOSH, WI :.:

:.: LIFEST 2008 | OSHKOSH, WI :.:

Here are some great photos and video from Lifest in Oshkosh, WI. Take a look. We have about 15.000 people at the festival on Friday. It is an awesome event and lots of people are having a great time!

Arizona Again

Wow! I just popped into my blog and realized how long it has been since I entered anything. I guess time got away from me. Well, here is some things on a trip to Arizona Judy and I took.

Judy and I love Arizona and found that we needed to go somewhere for a while where there was not piles of snow. It was really nice when we got to Phoenix, but we were amazed to see people walking around in stocking caps and jackets! I guess it is all in what you are used to. We arrived in Arizona on January 19th. If you remember it was well below zero in Wisconsin. But, when we got to Arizona the temperature was in the 50s and 60s most of the time. To me that is pretty nice.

Judy and I rented a place in a quite area just south of Sedona. It was very nice but much smaller then we took last time. We had a giant bedroom and a comfortable kitchen where we were able to enjoy the best meals of the week. Eating out just never holds up to Judy's cooking. We had everything we needed there including wireless internet, satellite TV and a huge whirlpool that was well maintained and comfortable. Our bedroom had a large king sized be that was comfortable to sleep in. The night was so quiet that it was almost deafening. The quiet was so loud we slept late every morning.


Waking to a comforting whirlpool and coffee was a plus every day.



It was nice just to spend some time with Judy and be lazy about every day. We did have several good hikes in the beautiful red rock around Sedona. Take a look at our photo album for lots of neat pictures from our hikes.

We also took a fantastic tour of the Red Rocks by helicopter. It was exciting and worth every penny of the cost. Check out the photo album to see some of the great pictures we were able to get from the air.




We spent almost a full day on the Verde Canyon Railroad in a first class car. The ride was great and the scenery stunning! There was an open car where you could stand and take photographs, so I took two pictures of everything!



We found there was so much to do we had to find time to relax. Well, we did do pretty good at relaxing and neither of us put pressure on the other to do anything in a hurry. It was just a real relaxing time in weather where we did not have to put on three layers of clothing to step outside.

If you would like to take a look at our pictures, just click on the slide show at the beginning and end of this blog, or follow this link.




http://picasaweb.google.com/twinscher/Arizona



Until soon!

Tom

Thanksgiving 2007

David and the Leprechaun
Thanksgiving 2007


Click on the slide show to see the album larger









My Thanksgiving proved to be very fun and interesting. Judy took a trip to San Fransisco, so I had my first Thanksgiving to myself in 32 years. So I was off to my sister Anne's house right after work on Wed where I spent the night. I was surprised by the weather on the way down because it suddenly started to snow. I found I could only see a short distance in front of me. The highway of course was really busy because of the holiday and I was giving thought to stopping and waiting out the temporary blizzard. About the time I was looking for a place to stop, suddenly it stopped snowing and the weather was only cold, windy and miserable. So, I pressed on. The snow proved to be interesting because sometime during the evening someone suggested that we build a snow man. So, we all put on our coats and went out to build a snowman. Most of the work was done by the women (no comments needed here) as they dragged snow off anything that it accumulated on, they developed a neat snowman that was about three feet high. Yes, a leprechaun snowman!

It was then off to an exciting game of "balderdash". I was teamed up with my sister and we ended up winning the game. Yeah team!

I then went to bed and was wakened by a bunch of noise in the downstairs. At first it sounded to me like just banter, but I came to realize that it sounded serious. My niece was walking into the kitchen when she found that there was a man trying to breaking into the kitchen window. She got a pretty good description though. He was short with a cap and he was Mexican, Asian or white. (OK, that may be a bit thin!) He ran away when she started screaming "He was looking right at me, he was looking right at me". The police were called and as they searched the area I commenced to fall asleep on the couch. By that time it was way past my bedtime, so most of the conversation from then on is a blur. I think this guy should be on the "stupid criminal" list trying to crawl into a window where there are people walking around and three people sitting in front of an open window watching TV. Maybe the guy was just hungry? I am convinced he was just after my bottle of "3 Moose" wine.

Our Thanksgiving day was great made even greater by a Packer win over Detroit. Jeremiah and Katie joined me on Thanksgiving day, so the whole family was there except for Judy.

I have included some pictures on my site which can be accessed here. There are no pictures of the burglar. I was going to do a drawing of him, but I was stumped how to make up a Mexican, Asian white guy with a cap.

It was a wonderful day full of love and food. Thanks to everyone who did the work to make for a great meal and wonderful time!

Picture as below.

http://picasaweb.google.com/twinscher/Thanksgiving2007





Our Leprechaun snowman

Belize, the relaxing part

In every trip, even a mission trip, you need to take some time to relax. So, MaryJo and I did just that. We took the last two days of your trip on San Pedro Island.

It was lots of fun although very short. The weather was sunny and warm, windy and wet, cloudy and calm, and almost every other extreme each day. It could be cloudy one minute and burning sunny the next. If you do not like the weather, just wait a while and it changes. Actually, it was refreshing. The frequent rains made it cool down a great deal.




We had some great food and an abundance of drinks called "panty rippers". They kind of taste like a pineapple drink with not much kick to them. But, they were refreshing. We thought picking up a bottle of wine would make things inexpensive, but the cost of wine at the store was about 6 times what it costs here. A cheap bottle of wine was about $30.00. Too much for my taste.

We did spend a day out snorkeling. That was an awesome experience and I recommend it to any one. We hired a guy named "Biggs" who took us to a nature preserve over the top of a coral


reef. The coral was absolutely beautiful. The only other place I had snorkeled was in Mexico. This was so much more beautiful. The fish were astounding, although I was a bit nervous about getting in the water when we had sharks swimming all around the boat.

But, our guide jumped into the middle of them and showed us that they just swim away. Well, I was pretty convinced, but I was feeling pretty stupid as I propelled myself overboard!

I was glad I had however, because the scenery was spatacular. I was sorry I did not have an underwater camera with me. There were some beautiful fish there not to mention the brightly colored coral. It was a tiring but well worth while experience. If I went there again, it would be high on the list to things to do!





We also found some great places to eat on the island. We did one night out on the town and Mary Jo dressed to kill. I was feeling pretty special walking the island with the best looking girl around! Not only was the company great, but the meal was outstanding.

Although it was short, it was a fun stop on the way home. I certainly did not want anyone to think that it was just all work!


That is all for now.

Tom