Yi's Voice

Mom: If you have two minutes at the IEP meeting tomorrow, what would you tell the IEP team? Yi: I want you to know that I am capable of learning. But I need support to stay calm. To do that, I need people to not stare at me when I am stressed out and act out. I need people to give me the time and space to calm down. I need your kindness and patience. I need to know that you care about me. I need to not feel like an intruder. All that I need is the ability to stay calm. I can thrive with your help! I love my aide Alexa. But she needs support. She needs more training to help me communicate. For example, I was not able to do math the best way because she asked me the wrong way for the LCM problem. It is hard for me to correct her with spelling on letterboard.

Yi: When were you born and where? G: 1945, in a little town, Puning. It's in Guangdong province in China. Yi: What is your favorite food?  G: Too many... I like steaks, baked fish, asparagus, apples and bananas.  Yi: What was your childhood like?  G: I was born in poverty. I was able to go to school for only six and a half years. I had to work in the farm since I was fifteen years old to support my family. We cooked with dry grass and sticks. As a teenager, I had to go to the mountains to collect dry grass and sticks for my family. I didn't have any toys, except for one that I made for myself with wires. It was a circle and a stick. I used the stick to make the circle wire roll forward. I played a game with friends. We drew grids on the ground and jumped between the grids. We could not afford having rice everyday. Instead we cooked congee. Meats and fish were available only for holidays. Having meats and fish daily was simply impossible back then.  Yi: It sounded rea...