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Contents:
by Bill
Plaschke Bill Plaschke predicted doom for the Dodgers. Plaschke criticized… Plaschke compared unfairly. The Dodgers need encouragement, not negativity… That was part of a 1,200 word email received among many in December 2000. It was not much different from the many negative letters I receive but for two exceptions: This note contained more details than usual. It included on-base percentages and catchers’ statistics. It was written by someone who knew the Los Angeles Dodgers as well as I thought I did. And this note was signed, Sarah Morris. I was impressed and wrote back. Little did I know this would be the start of a most unusual relationship. May I ask you a question? For two years I have been running my own web site about the Dodgers. How did you become a baseball editorialist? That is my deam.” This was Sarah’s second email and it figured. Every time I smile, someone asks me for a job. But the part about, “my deam” – made me respond once again. Maybe Sarah was a lousy typist or maybe she was truly searching for something. It was worth one more response. I asked her to explain. I am 30 years old…Because I have cerebral palsy, it took me five years to complete my associate’s degree. During the season I average 55 hours a week writing game reports, editorials, researching and listening and/or watching games. Sarah called her web site Dodger Place. I clicked. It wasn’t fancy but she covered the team with the seriousness of a writer. Still, I wondered, is anybody reading? Nobody ever signs my guest book. I get one letter a month. Sarah’s “deam” was missing a lot more than an r. I started my own web site in hopes of finding a job. No luck. So what if my maximum typing speed is eight words a minute because I use a head pointer to type? My brain works fine. I have dedication to my work. That is what makes people successful. A head pointer? I did something I’ve never done before with an Internet stranger. I asked Sarah to call me. When I was young and my mom explained my disabilities, she told me that I could accomplish anything if I worked three times as hard as others. In my second year at Blair High, a baseball coach asked me to be the team statistician. I did it with a typewriter and head pointer. Baseball gave me something to work for… I could do something that other kids couldn’t. I now live in Anderson, Texas, about an hour and a half from Houston. By now it was spring training and I would have forgotten the whole thing except Sarah kept sending stories. Every day, another story. Game stories, feature stories, some with missing words, others with typographical errors, but all with obvious effort. The Lakers were involved in an NBA play-off series with San Antonio. I had a free day in Texas and she lived three hours away. I asked if I could visit. I drove east across the stark Texas landscape onto a winding dirt road. I spotted what looked like an old tool shed but it was a small house where Sarah and her mom lived. I walked out into the sunlight, where Sarah and her mom greeted me. Curled in a wheelchair and weighing all of 87 pounds, she began shaking with excitement, emitting sounds. I thought she was coughing but she was, instead, speaking. Her mother interpreted. “I want to show you something,” Sarah said. Lois rolled her up to an old desk on cinder blocks. On the desk was a computer. Next to it was a TV. Her mother fastened the head pointer around Sarah’s head and fastened the chin strap. Sarah leaned over the computer and used her pointer to call up a story on the Dodger Place web site. Peck by peck, she began adding to that story as she looked up and smiled with joy. Her mom explained that this shack was an inheritance from Sarah’s grandmother. When Sarah’s parents divorced, Lois and her daughter moved here. “The hardest thing for Sarah was leaving her Dodgers,” Lois said. So she didn’t. She used her disability money and loans to buy the computer and the satellite dish, allowing her to watch every game. I asked what her Dodgers web page represented to her. Freedom. I asked how she feels when she is working. Happy. Useful. As we said goodbye, I found that while I was first hesitant to visit, two hours later I did not want to leave. I climbed into the car and rattled down the dirt road. Through the rearview mirror, through the rising dust, I could see the back of Sarah’s bobbing head as she was wheeled to her cinder block desk. For she, too, had a game to cover. After this story first appeared in the Los Angeles Times, the Dodgers hired Sarah Morris to write for their web site, dodgers.com. Her own site, renamed dodgerplace.com, now gets 500 visitors a week. Charter Autism Foundation Awards Grant for Software Development The Charter Autism Foundation has awarded a $7,500 grant to Lekotek of Georgia. The purpose of the grant is to develop software to meet the needs of children with autism and developmental delays. It is difficult for children with physical, sensory and/or cognitive disabilities to navigate, master and learn from commercially available software. An abundance of visual and auditory stimulation that enhances the learning ability of a child without disabilities can be distracting and overwhelming for a child with special needs. For children with fine motor difficulties, small hot spots are difficult to select. Lekotek leaders are developing software with larger targets. In addition, the cost of commercially available software can be expensive for families with therapy and medical costs. Software will teach cause and effect, cognitive abilities and story completion. Peggy McWilliams has completed the first in a series of LekoBear software. This software helps youngsters create stories, specifically about LekoBear who lives at Lekotek. Children select sentence endings to determine if LekoBear is playing in the toy room, on the computer or working in the executive director’s office. All staff created software can be paired with adapted input devices that include intellikeys, single switches and touch windows. With adapted input devices and appropriate software, the computer is an invaluable tool. The Foundation’s grant will fund the development, production and dissemination of thirty educational software programs. Software will be widely distributed to teachers and parents throughout Georgia and to each of the forty Lekotek affiliates. Lekotek thanks the Foundation for its generous support.
This is the first project of its kind to take an off-the-shelf toy and re-engineer and produce a modified version making it accessible for children with disabilities. It helps to close the gap between traditional toys and commercially adapted toys, which are often expensive, and not what friends and neighbors have. This project is funded through the San Diego Foundation. The Capable Commander is available to Lekotek families for loan during play sessions. Pictured above, Dalton Tate enjoys driving his rugged remote controlled trucks through the recycling center during a play session. We could only imagine what fun he would have at home playing with his big sister and Dad. Included with the set is a small nonadapted remote control for the child to share with parents and sisters. Our beautiful daughter, Avery, was born on July 8, 2000. We were in Atlanta, when we received the phone call from St. Louis that my sister had delivered our baby girl. Unable to have children, my sister offered to be a surrogate mom and carry Avery as she did our four year old son, Ross. We weren’t expecting the call as the scheduled C-section delivery was still two weeks away. With all the miracles that made it possible to have our own biological child, we ruled out amniocentesis. And when Avery was born with Trisomy 21 (Down syndrome), we weren’t prepared. I remember the shock, fear and nonstop crying. I also remember the moment I realized that Avery and we, her parents, were exactly who and where we needed to be. And with that came acceptance and peace. In addition to Down syndrome, Avery was diagnosed with VSD (Ventricular Septal Defect), a hole in her heart. She underwent open heart surgery at five months and has blossomed since. During one of our follow up visits to the cardiologist, I met a mom whose family participated in Lekotek. She told me that Lekotek was the only thing that “saved her sanity”. I really had no idea what she meant until I visited Lekotek and met Helene, a burst of energy and light. Helene selects toys to match Avery’s developmental level and to facilitate the development of new skills, all while having fun. In fact it’s so much fun, the kids hate to leave. Ross’ Lekotek motto is “no pitchin a fit” when it’s time to go. Originally from IL and PA, Atlanta has been home for fifteen years. Sherri is a software programmer and Todd is in telecommunications sales. Recently, Lekotek was featured in John Wieland Homes’ annual report as a grant recipient. We were asked for a quote from a family. Sherri said, “After six days of therapy every week, Lekotek is a breath of fresh air.”
Lekotek Wants Your Cell Phones! We’re very excited about a new fundraising opportunity with CollectiveGood, a company that generates funds for charities through cell phone recycling. Mobile phones contain hazardous materials such as mercury, cadmium, nickel and gallium arsenide. Donated phones are kept out of landfills, refurbished and put into use in developing countries. Please bring your phones to any Lekotek location. Let us know if you can help collect cell phones at your office. Donate Your Old Car or Boat to Lekotek! Call Charity Auto Donations at (770) 944-2011 or the Lekotek office at (404) 633-3430 if you have a vehicle you’d like to donate.
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Georgia, Inc.
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The
National Lekotek Center is partnering with Rokenbok Toy Systems and
Crane Industries to make the Rokenbok Play Systems accessible for
children with disabilities. After extensive assessment and research with
children with disabilities, this project redesigned the existing remote
control to use larger hand movements such as pushing, pulling and
twisting rather than fine motor movements needed to push multiple
buttons.