by Rob Edwards
She opened door number five and walked in. Through the window she saw Noah still turning the chair.
The following is the article that appeared on michigan-online.com, June 3, 20xx.
Unique Special-Needs Program Begins Today
Posted 11:32 am
By Jason Kitchener [email protected]
The parents of 10 children with special needs such as autism, cerebral palsy, and muscular dystrophy are bringing their kids to Two Rivers today to be part of an ambitious sociological project coordinated by Marmont State College. Each child is to be paired with an inmate from Two Rivers Correctional Facility in a combined special needs/rehabilitation program. Dr. Warren Fitzpatrick, Sociology Professor at MSC, describes the project as “raising the bar” of what is capable in a rehab program. “It takes a much closer look at the extraordinary successes of programs like Puppies Behind Bars and hopes to build on those,” Dr. Fitzpatrick said. “And at the end of the program, the inmates will be able to test for certification in the area of their child’s disability.”
A team of assistants and counselors are working on the project. “We have a graduate assistant for each child and they will be observing and recording every day,” Dr. Fitzpatrick explained. “In each case it is a student focusing primarily on that specific special need in their studies at the college.”
Along with the student assistants, Two Rivers Correctional Facility has assigned each inmate with their own counselor. Taysha Williams, one of the counselors, explains her role. “It can often be frustrating to work with special needs children. We are there to guide the inmates, help them understand what is going through the mind of the child, and help them work through their own frustrations too.” Mrs. Williams explains that it is not always the needs of the children the inmates have to concern themselves with. “You have to keep in mind that this is also a big step for the parents as well. The counselor may have to step in and handle any issues that may arise between the mother and the inmate.”
Sadie Hanson, mother of one of the children is excited about the project. “It gives the mothers a break from the constant care we have to give.”
“It is truly a unique collaboration between families and two state institutions,” Dr. Fitzpatrick explained. “It’s a great example of what is possible when everyone shares the same vision.”
The program is scheduled to last for the next six months, but Dr. Fitzpatrick said it could take much longer to judge the value of the project. “It will take another year or two after that to sift through and organize all the data, to determine the level of success of the project.”
COMMENTS:
Tigerfan25: Am I the only one who thinks this is a bad idea?
EWarner: Negative Tigerfan25. I can’t imagine anyone putting there kids in a room with a prisoner. Seems like there asking fro trouble.
Guinesslover: WTF! Did this doctor just compare special needs kids with dogs?!?!
roseglass: Actually I know a Iraq War vet with terrible PTSD who has a stress dog from the Puppies Behind Bars program. The dog has been great and he has said many times that he would have probably put a bullet in his own head if it weren’t for that dog. It has saved his life and that is because of the effort put in by an inmate. I’m excited to see what these guys are capable of when given the chance!
Chapter Sixteen
Noah turned the chair the remainder of the morning. There was nothing that would dissuade him—nothing else that interested him.
Delton checked all the stuffed animals to see if any of the others made noises. Only the duck squeaked. He lined them up neatly in the corner, the bigger, taller ones in back, and the shorter, smaller ones in front. He remembered hearing Rena say something about Noah having Legos at home, so that was where he headed next. He built buildings, bridges, little cars to drive over them, and set up the little Lego people along the edge of the table. Noah never looked up once, from his circle tour, to see what was happening. However, Delton had to admit, he enjoyed the time. As a kid he had heard of Legos, but his mother would never have spent the money on such things. This was the first time he had ever seen them, let alone, touched and played with them. He could understand the draw. The bright clean colors, and the millions of ways they could go together and allow you to build anything you could think of. He wished he could get Noah involved. He was sure they could have fun together.
Eventually he lost interest with the Legos and put them all away. He disassembled everything and then swept his arm across the table, pushing all of the Legos back into the bucket making a racket doing so. He looked over at Noah. The boy never slowed.
Returning the Legos to the shelf, Delton decided to get out the Play Dough next. This was a toy that he’d had as a kid, and when he popped the lid off the blue, he caught a whiff of that unique smell. It instantly took him back 12 years. He raised the can in the air, tipped it and let the dough plop onto the table.
No response from Noah.
Delton opened the other jars and started rolling out logs, and flattening pancakes. He made little Play Dough people, dogs, horses, and trees. Each time he finished another creation, he set it at the edge of the table in front of Noah, hoping it would spark his interest. Noah showed none.
Then Rena’s voice came from a speaker in the ceiling. “Lunch in fifteen minutes.”
Noah stopped, looked up, stood for a moment staring at the ceiling, then continued spinning the chair again.
“Little dude, I can’t believe you can do that for so long,” Delton said. “I can’t do anything for that long except sleep.” He got busy disassembling his dough people, and putting the colors back in the correct cans.
On cue, fifteen minutes later, Rena opened the door and walked in with two trays. Each tray had a plate with macaroni and cheese, applesauce, and peas and carrots. Taysha followed her with two drinks.
Judith leaned against the door jamb.
Noah stopped and looked back at his mom.
“Time to eat, honey.” Judith said.
Noah pushed the chair back to the table and sat down.
“Man,” Delton looked up at Judith. “I’ve been trying to get him to do that all freaking morning long.”
Judith smiled.
Rena set the trays on the table. “I hope you like mac and cheese. Judith said that Noah liked it.”
“Sounds good to me,” Delton said. “If it ain’t prison food it’s a gourmet meal as far as I’m concerned.”
Noah took a bite of his mac and cheese and set down the spoon. With both hands he flapped his fingers back and forth against his palms.
Rena stepped back from the table. “Eventually you will probably feed him without us in here, but today, being the first day and all, we wanted to come in and give you a little company.”
“I appreciate it.”
Taysha set the small drink in front of Noah. “Here you go, honey.” Then she set a large drink in front of Delton. “How you doing?”
“I feel about as useful as…,” He shrugged. “As nothin’.”
“You’re doing well,” Judith said.
Delton stopped chewing for a moment, surprised at her positive response.
“Patience is the name of the game here, and quite frankly,” Judith shrugged. “I’m pleasantly surprised so far.”
“I was sorry about getting him all upset.”
Judith smiled. “That wasn’t a problem. All kids get upset now and then. Autistic kids get upset even more than that.”
“There will be times,” Rena added, “that he will be very upset, either by something you did, said, or inferred. You can’t let that stop you from trying.”
Noah picked up his spoon and scooped up some applesauce. He continued his finger flapping with the other hand.
“What’s he doing there?” Delton asked, nodding toward Noah. “That thing he’s doing with his fingers like that.”
“That’s his stimming response,” Rena said.
“His what?”
�
��It’s a self-stimulating activity,” Rena explained. “It helps him cope with his anxieties.”
Delton must have looked completely confused because, Taysha continued with the explanation. “You know what it’s like when you drop a bottle of soda pop. You have to twist the cap off slowly and let the fizz escape so it don’t explode?”
Delton nodded.
“That’s what he’s doing when he flaps his fingers. He’s letting his fizz out.”
Delton watched Noah closer. The boy made no eye contact with anyone in the room. He looked only at the food in front of him, but when there was nothing in his hands his fingers flapped madly.
“So he’s coping just fine,” Taysha said. “How are you doing?”
“I’m all right,” Delton took a drink and swallowed. “Just frustrated is all. I feel so useless. He don’t even know I’m here.” He pointed over at the stuffed animals with his burger. “Other than when he walked in here, he never looked at me again until I made that duck quack over there. He stopped for two seconds and then,” He swirled his finger in the air. “Around he goes again, for the rest of the morning.”
“A typical autistic response,” Rena said. “Especially in an unfamiliar environment, to find a new activity like this that is safe, time consuming, and all encompassing.”
“You think he’s gonna do that all afternoon too?” Delton asked.
“I’d put money on it,” Judith said.
Delton sat back and threw his hands in the air. “What good am I, then?”
“Easy tiger,” Taysha said.
“I don’t want you to be frustrated,” Rena said. “This is a long journey, and the first steps are the hardest ones to take. It’s important that you’re here, in the room with him. He will get used to you. This is his way of doing it.”
“So what do I do the rest of the afternoon if he plays merry-go-round with the chair again?”
“Read to him,” Judith said. Everyone looked back at her. “Let him hear your voice.” She stepped forward. “It doesn’t matter if he doesn’t respond to it. He hears you. And the more he hears you, the more he will get used to you, and the more comfortable he will become around you. Eventually there will be interaction between you two. I can’t tell you how long that will take. It took months for him to get used to my own sister. But it happened.”
Delton nodded to her, and ate a spoonful of mac and cheese.
The three women stayed with them until they finished eating, then they cleaned up the table while Delton and Noah took bathroom breaks.
As soon as lunch was over, they left the room for round two to begin.
It started promisingly enough. Noah sat at the table staring at Delton, hands flapping madly. The boy looked at him as if he were from another planet or something, but that was okay. If the boy was looking at him that meant he had his attention, even if for the briefest of moments. “Do you want to try the Legos now?” He reached over, grabbed the Legos bucket, and dumped it out on the table, letting the pieces rattle loudly across the fake wood surface.
At the sound, Noah sat back in his chair. Then he jumped down and turned it. The back of it hit the table again. He pulled it away and began to turn with it once more.
Delton crossed his arms and sighed. He looked up at the window, hoping for them to come back in and take him away now. Obviously if this was all he was going to do today what was the point in keeping it going? End the torture. But nobody came in.
He struggled to his feet, grabbed every book off the shelf, trudged over to the bean bag chair, and plopped down, sitting back as far as he could. He set the stack of books on the floor next to him and picked up the top one. “Red Fish Blue Fish, by Dr. Seuss,” He looked over at Noah — nothing. Still turning. Delton read the whole book and picked up the next one, “Is your Mama a Llama.” He’d never heard of that one, and to be honest found it silly but he read the whole thing nevertheless.
He would pick up a book from the pile on his left, read it, and drop it onto a pile on his right.
One book, Where the Wild Things Are, he read twice. He’d never heard of that book, but he liked it very much. He read it two more times before dropping it onto the completed pile. When he had finished the last book on his left, he reached around, flipped over the pile on his right and began all the books again.
Eventually he was too weary to read anymore. He settled back and closed his eyes for a moment.
“Delton, honey,” Taysha called to him.
He could feel his shoulder being nudged.
“Come on, Delton. It’s time to go.”
Delton opened his eyes, saw Taysha staring down at him, took a second to remember where he was, then jumped upright and looked around the room. “Where’s the boy?”
“You missed him. He just left with his mama and his aunt.”
Delton slapped his hands over his face and sunk back into the bean bag. “Oh my God. How long have I been sleeping?”
“A couple hours now.”
Delton looked up at her. “Am I out?”
“What?”
“Am I out of the project? Did I screw it up for myself?”
Taysha shook her head and walked to the door. “Hell, no. But you didn’t impress anybody this afternoon either. Now get your butt out of that chair, and get on the bus before the guards come in here and drag you out.”
Delton jumped up and scrambled out. The guards had them line up in the hall next to their doors, and then walked them all out and onto the bus. The counselors didn’t ride back to the facility, so the inmates had the opportunity to sit where they wanted.
Delton saw Hector sitting alone staring out the window and took the seat next to him. “How was your day?”
Hector looked over at him, his eyes red. “It was one of the most amazing days I’ve ever had in my life.”
“Really?”
Nodding, Hector gazed off into the distance. “Me and the little guy—his name is Sammie—me and Sammie connected right away. Like immediately after I walked into the room we were best friends. Sammie likes board games, so we played all kinds of board games most of the day. He has like this cerebral palsy thing, right? So I would have to help him move his pieces on the boards, and every single time I did, the kid said ‘thank you.’ Imagine that. A kid that polite.” Hector shook his head. “It blows my mind how happy the kid was. He has so much going against him, but he was the happiest little guy I’d ever met. And then when we decided to take a break from playing games we both sat in these bean bag chairs—which I think is the most comfortable chair I’ve ever sat in in my whole life—anyway we sat in these chairs and talked. He has these dreams—not dreams, goals. He plans on being the very first astronaut with cerebral palsy. I told him ‘you can do it little guy, I believe in you.’ And you know what he did? He got out of his bean bag and he hugged me. Can you believe that? He hugged me.” Hector’s eyes were watering. “I don’t have any kids of my own, but if I did, I don’t think I could love them as much as I love Sammie. And after only one day too. What do you think of that?” Hector gulped in air and wiped his eyes. “I am going to hate it tonight. I have to wait all night long to see him again.”
Delton looked forward. Would he admit to his friend that he had slept through most of the afternoon?
Rick Simpson sat to his left. “Damn, I’m glad that’s over, aren’t you?”
“My day was fine,” Delton said.
“Oh shit, man. If I would have had to spend one more minute with that retard, I think I would slit my own throat. I guess I gotta settle in for the longest three months of my life.” He slid down and put his knees on the back of the seat in front of him. “I’ll tell you this though, the mother was a total babe. We kind of hit it off pretty good too. I’d sure like to bang her when I get out of this joint. Can’t live with her though. Can’t deal with living with that retard the rest of my life.”
“Cut the shit man,” Delton said.
“What the fuck is your problem?” Simpson said.
“You don’t call them retards for one thing. They kids with problems and issues. It ain’t their fault they like that. If you don’t want to be around them, then drop out of the program.”
“Shit, Hayes. Take the stick out of your ass.” Simpson said. “I’m just making conversation. And anyways, there ain’t no way I’m dropping. This shit is going to get me out sooner, and if I get to spend the next three months on the outside of those walls it’s worth hanging with a kid, no matter how fucking stupid he is.”
Delton glared at Rick. “Get outta my sight, you piece of shit.”
Rick sat up. “Hayes, you are one high-strung mother-fucker.” He stood and moved farther back in the bus.
Hector nudged Delton with his elbow. “Relax, man. Don’t let that asshole get to you.”
Delton sat back and sighed.
“You didn’t say how your day went.” Hector said.
“It went fine,” he said. “I had a good day.” But he couldn’t help feeling disappointed—in himself—in his day—in the program. After listening to Hector, he felt cheated somehow. He knew he never expected to feel that deeply at the end of the day, but knowing that it was possible made him feel ripped off. It was the luck of the draw, and he got screwed one more time. Not only did he have the nightmare mother, he got the kid who can’t communicate, and lives in his own world, on his own planet. How would he be feeling right now if he’d had a kid like Sammie? He was sure he wouldn’t have slept through it.
Chapter Seventeen
Taysha was not on the bus the next day. She and Rena met Delton once he got into the room. “Are you well rested?” She asked.
“Yeah, I guess so.” Delton said.
“We’ve made a couple of changes,” Rena said. “There are a whole new selection of books on the shelves.”