Friday, November 27, 2009

One Little Girl's Thankful List


One of the little girls I teach is a nine year old profoundly deaf child, for whom language and speech are difficult. I gave her the sentence, "I am thankful for . . . . . ", hoping for 2 or 3 responses to complete it. Instead, this is the list she gave me:
  • everybody
  • life
  • home
  • school
  • family
  • all my friends (followed by a smiley face)
  • foods
  • bed
  • teachers
  • my backyard
  • my peach tree
  • computers
  • tickles
  • seasons
  • books
  • my birthday
  • the day
  • clothes
  • TV
  • video games
  • a rainbow
  • colors
  • chairs
  • tables
  • singing (remember, she is deaf but has a cochlear implant)
  • balloons
  • my bike
  • camping (she has never been camping, yet)

Now that the rush of preparation for Thanksgiving is over, I thought it might be good, to ponder and consider for what I am thankful. I am thankful for this student. Her simplicity; her dreams and experiences listed above seem so refreshingly profound to me.