With a Lot of Love and Patience.

My first steps as a professional were in special education. They were years of working life that I dedicated my time with commitment and vocation to education. Little by little, as time went by, they turned into a total of 25 years dedicated with heart and care in the special education modality, where I was armed with a lot of patience, tolerance, empathy and love. These are qualities that over time I polished, or rather, transformed my character. It is not easy to work in special education. I did it for 25 years with a population of children and adolescents with mild and moderate mental retardation. And some years with learning disabilities in elementary schools. Although I also treated blind children, adolescents and adults and deaf mute school population, but only in brief activities such as in sporting events where special competitions were held or in verbenas to expose works that they made.

Most of the population I treated had difficulties in one or more areas. In general, I could summarize 25 years of love and patience as follows:

I worked with a lot of people with Down syndrome, they are the most caring and loving people I have ever met, they have no evil in their hearts, they are angels from heaven. Some years I had one or two teenagers with mental retardation and motor disabilities, with mobility limitations which made it difficult for them to move around the facilities and to get them on the transport we had to carry them between several adults and raise the wheelchair. And then we had to take them down among several adults when they arrived at their stop at home. Every day we had to do the same thing, since the school bus did not have a wheelchair ramp. Several educators had to be on duty on the school bus accompanying the bus driver. In this transportation, there were always eventualities with the students that required the accompaniment of the staff. On many occasions, a student suffered epileptic seizures inside the transport unit. There are many stories that could be told later.

Sometimes I dealt with ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder), I especially remember an impressive teenager, I keep beautiful moments of him, especially I remember that he knew all the important dates, the birthdays of personalities worldwide, countries of the world and their capitals, it was incredible his level of concentration to repeat the date that was asked and instantly, after repeating the question several times as a way of searching in his memory the information, he gave the answer to the question. I also treat cases with Asperger syndrome, which is a difficult population to treat, since they have limitations in social interaction and in the acquisition of communication skills, it is very difficult to know how they feel since they do not openly express their emotions. But like the ASD cases, they have a privileged memory even though their disorder affects their brain development.

Where I was armed with a lot of patience and tolerance was with the population with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). I think it was with these kids that my hair started to turn gray. Because these kids are super physically and emotionally draining. And I wasn't dealing with one at a time, but with several, at the same time because I had a lot of population and I couldn't individualize the therapies, it was exhausting. At the end of the workday, I would get home and I didn't want anyone to talk to me for a long time to find my essence again... hahahaha.

I remember several cases of adolescents with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). To my memory comes the memory of a young man who could not be near a light switch control. It was annoying that every time I turned on the light the young man would turn it off. I sometimes let him do it freely, without any control over him, especially because he repeated that behavior all the time, and sometimes when I was concentrating on writing the report of his personal case I let him be, it was when he turned on and off the light repeatedly, it looked like a Christmas tree ... hahahahahaha.

I remember with much love a child with moderate mental retardation and sensory impairment. He was a beautiful 9-year-old boy, who was visually and hearing impaired in his right eye and ear. His right eye was completely white, blind. And completely deaf in his right ear. These are cases that touch my heart and that I will always remember because in their time I dedicated a lot of love to connecting with them....

Then I worked for about 5 years with learning difficulties in children and adolescents in elementary education who presented comprehension and communication problems in the areas of reading, writing, and mathematics. In this modality my work was a little easier, I did not arrive home so emotionally exhausted. This population was not mentally retarded but had difficulty in comprehension and communication in some academic areas.

Those were times of much love and patience that I lived to the fullest. They helped me to grow and develop in a work that I have always carried in my heart, serving people with special educational needs made me grow as a human being, I learned to be tolerant and to have empathy with other human beings, especially towards the needs of others. My profession as an educational psychologist is marked in my heart until the end of my days.

Then I began a stage in andragogic education as a teacher at the undergraduate and graduate levels. And as a teacher in graduate thesis juries. Many stories to tell as a teacher in research methodology, stories of much pain and tears from students who were in their last semesters of their university careers. Many stories will be told in due time.

I look forward to reading your comments.

Thank you to my followers and sponsors for always supporting me. You are the best.

Pictures from unsplash.com