entry #1

Parents who have a child who has a disability have many obstacles they need to face and cope with. Two of the major crisis that the book outlines is "symbolic death" and hte second is the chore of daily providing for the child. "Symbolic death" is basically described as a death of the child they were expecting or the child they were planning and hoping for. Many parents react in many different ways when they find out that their child has a disability. Most of the commmon emotions are sadness, anger, guilt, and even denial. THere are support groups out there to help many parents deal with the shock that comes from having such a life altering thing happen to them. THese groups are also out there to help witht the second obstacle the parents have to deal with. Providing for these children can be very difficult to do and requiers a lot of work. Some of these children have trouble dressing themselves, eating, or even simply communicating with their parents. Not being able to communicate is something that can be very frustrating as a parent to have to deal with. The fact that this will be in their day to day life is something that can often weigh parents down and sometimes even the whole household.

Children with a very cultural diverse background can also have a hard time when they are faced with a disability, either learning or physically. The text mentions a certain situation in which a family is from a culture that emphasizes a strong masculine role in the household. If this is the case, the family, and especially the father, will not respond well to a female therapist or any type of professional. He will not have that strong masculine role any more and that could cause some amjor problems. Also, it will weigh heavily on the father if his son will never be able to grow up to be able to fulfill that masculine role.
SOme other situations that children from diverse cltures is the ability to even charaterize them as exceptional. If we get a student that is an immigrant from another country, how are we to know if they are performing above, below or right on track to the kids from their home? Our standards could be higher or lower than ours and it is difficult to tell where exactly the kids are.