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Showing posts from March, 2014

A different kind of athlete

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   A different kind of athlete We found out that Jenny was hearing impaired, when she was four and a half years old. Several surgeries and speech classes later, when she was seven, we found out that Jenny had juvenile rheumatoid arthritis (JRV).  She could not put pressure on the heels of her feet, so she walked on tiptoe, and when the pain became unbearable, I carried her. Jenny was fortunate, though, because she did not suffer the deformities, often associated with JRV.  All through grade school, and on into high school, Jenny suffered, yet never complained.  Jenny, a beautiful blonde, with warm brown eyes, was never a cheerleader. She never competed in a sport. She took the same health class four years in a row, just so she could pass with a substitute credit each year. No one in the Charleston, South Carolina School System knew what to do with Jenny. The perimeters were, simply, not in place to deal with a student, who was both active and handicapped.  S