Inclusive Summer Camp Culture

Magen's Bay Beach, U.S Virgin Islands

Inclusive Summer Camp Culture

This summer I had the opportunity to work with a local summer camp done through a local church on Magen's Bay beach on the island of St. Thomas. Your probably wondering isn't this normal as a teacher for me to work at a summer camp or with a likewise program; your probably correct as I normally do, but this one was different. This camp was completely inclusive of children regardless of their developmental delays, disabilities, or economic status; simply put it was amazing!

As a mother and teacher I have not seen any programs that encourage and incorporate inclusiveness for all at this level in any setting. All students were given equal opportunities and activities with the option of opting out for an alternate socially motivated activity. The environment was like a utopia rather than a summer camp. Teasing, bullying, and impatience were practically nonexistent ( as most of us know there's always that one or those few that have to ruin a good thing). The most exhilarating thing for me as a teacher and parent was that even in those rare moments when  a moment may arise the youths, adolescents came to the rescue and aid of their peers recognizing that they are all in camp as one group of all of God's children.

Every time I witnessed these glorious acts that made my heart smile I wondered why was it so hard for all children to understand and empathize as these children had and come to a consensus? Why was the world at large so behind, not mention the little ole island of St. Thomas? I came to one conclusion, our culture.

Culture is derived through the experiences of norms and values held within a society and in the Virgin Islands, we have the 'solid as a rock' mentality. We condition our children to be "hard" and tough inadvertently making them unsympathetic and unable to empathize with others.  As adults and parents we are guilty of the same mistakes accusing parents of not "training" their children and that they need "blows" (corporal punishment) when truthfully we just don't believe that everyone and child is different and most of them can't help their actions.

My fellow Virgin Islands, parents, professionals; by brothers and sisters please let us change this part of our culture and recognize the need for empathy in this world for those who need it and the rest that sincerely deserve it. Children and adults with special needs did not make the choice to do things differently; they actually had no choice.


The views expressed within this blog are solely those of Ms. Child Advocate and does not reflect on any of her affiliations. For more on the youths of the U. S Virgin Islands visit https://www.usviearlychildhoodlearning.blogspot.com . For more on the U.S Virgin Islands youths read Curriculum Choices, Learning Environment & Strategies, My Beliefs on Language Acquisition,  Respect Goes Both Ways: Teacher and Student, V. I Character, and Extra Curricula Activities since IrmaMaria.

Ignorance Is NOT Bliss

I would like to begin this post by first stating that I am an original U.S Virgin Islander, straight out of Savan for at least the last four generations!

Now I would like to state that I am an Autism parent, and damn

 proud of my son for being whom he is all day, every day without remorse.

With these things being said, I need to state just how bad I feel right now to be a U.S Virgin Islander withstanding the fact that we all have been affected some way and going through some thing since hurricanes Irma and Maria. To ALL my fellow Virgin Islanders I sincerely feel the need to state something; #1 being WE WERE ALL AFFECTED, NOT ONLY YOU! I meet a lot of people that seem to think they had it worse than anyone else, ever; child please! We’ve all had trying tribulations in life, your most recent endeavor does NOT give you the right to antagonize others. Secondly, the hurricane is not an excuse for ANYONE, to play ignorant; especially those with financial resources.

I am sorry I wasn’t aware is not going to fly for those of you with positions of power, influence, nor authority including Browine (or A. Ottley of WSTA 1340 a.m. radio). My personal reasons why they CANNOT get a pass is because mental health is not new so they directly were not paying attention (especially when ASD and ADHD is ever-creasing, more rampant than it has ever been in the history of the world). That along with the fact that my son is five years old and I have called WSTA several times to request information regarding services for developmentally delayed and special needs children only to be met with disrespect and disdain each time.

The first time was before hurricanes Irma and Maria to request an on air/ live opportunity to request anyone catering to these disadvantaged youths to call in or leave information so I can find services for my toddler at the time so I could continue work and finish school. In my thirty years of life I have NEVER EVER called that radio station and gotten a negative response until asked about the most disadvantaged youths in the U.S.V.I.  The embarrassment didn’t stop there as my grandmother is such a fan that she continued to encourage me to use the radio station as an outlet for help. So after hurricanes Irma and Maria I called three times; the first to ask if they could request to public school officials that called in daily ( if you listened during this time you would empathize) to discuss options for special needs children if there were any. The response I was met with was ‘Ms. I ain’t asking nobody to do nothing; if they had something to say they would’ve said it (that was Brownie). Then I asked Ottley if he could ask the commissioner, of whom was calling every day and recently on the phone discussing Lockhart Elementary (my son’s school) if she could elaborate on the progress, if there was any, on special needs classrooms. His response was, “NO!” Then he stated “Ms. I don’t work for department of education!” The final straw was last month when my son ( diagnosed with ASD, ADHD, and an undiagnosed seizure disorder) was in R.L.S. hospital and I called crying frantically for someone to put a plea on the radio so that a pediatric nurse would hear to come to the hospital to assist as there were none and the ending result was my son having to wait nine (9) consecutive hours from morning to get his blood drawn properly (apparently its harder to draw blood from kids than adults, I heard the veins are smaller so some have the gift while others end up spilling blood to no avail like the nurses in the ER handling my son that day). But the response from the woman answering the telephone was “We don’t get into that politics!”

What I still find funny is from habit and through my mother and grandmother I still listen to WSTA daily, regardless. Imagine my dismay to learn that some woman in the Natural food grocery FINALLLY enlightened one of them only after he tried to call her a bad mother because she couldn’t control her son’s tantrum BUT as a fan she followed him out to the parking lot, by his car, to explain Autism. Excuse me if I’m NOT surprised nor do I feel relief.

To my fellow U.S Virgin Islanders I would like to say ‘Ignorance is not bliss, nor is it an excuse; elevate yourself and your mind through ACCEPTANCE in its purist form’.

The views expressed within this blog are solely those of Ms. Child Advocate and does not reflect on any of her affiliations.

Extra-Curricular Activities since Irma; Why They Are Needed

Extra-Curricular Activities since Irma; Why They Are Needed

As a community our territory has been through a tremendous ordeal. Two category five hurricanes have made life as we knew it impossible to return to as almost everything has changed. With change comes the good and the bad as we all know; the good part is that we get to rebuild. It is a chance for change, to learn from our countless mistakes, to push forward, and a time for atonement. The bad part is the restoration phase and the inconveniences that we all have to suffer in order to make our futures brighter. One such inconvenience is the lack of extra curricula activities and adequate after school enrichment programs to sustain the new half day of school that we have adopted to ensure the needs of all are met.

 These half days of school are very strenuous on families and make it hard for parents, as well as students to actively participate in various ways. Yes, parents are allotted two hours a month to check in with their child’s teachers and schools, but many parents have more than one child and two hours may not be enough. Transportation and number of children should be taken into account as well as the needs of the child or children in question. Parents of students with delays or disabilities need to actively participate to learn routines and techniques to attribute to their child’s development. This too is true of students who exhibit challenging behavior due to emotional trauma/stress, parents need to be involved to ensure resilience is built upon with a support system; in this case the home and school community.

Every child on this island or in the territory at the times of hurricanes Irma and Maria have suffered a traumatic experience that WILL stay with them throughout their lives. When you really think of the ordeal we have faced as a community it must have been extra hard on the children. They did not have prior knowledge and experience that came with past hurricanes to mentally prepare for the storm (I got my experience with Marilyn and those after and still was in shock and dismay).

Every outlet for recreation that still exists has been ‘modified’ somehow leaving nothing much to help the youths cope. This is the time when we need those “Big Brother” enrichment programs to detour youths and adolescents from participating and engaging in self destructive behavior which can become the beginning of the path to becoming the next degenerate on the street corner.

The views expressed within this blog are solely those of Ms. Child Advocate and does not reflect on any of her affiliations. For more on the youths of the U. S Virgin Islands visit https://www.usviearlychildhoodlearning.blogspot.com . For more on the U.S Virgin Islands youths read Curriculum Choices, Learning Environment & Strategies, My Beliefs on Language Acquisition,  Respect Goes Both Ways: Teacher and Student, V. I Character, and Curricula Standards & Benchmarks