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what a shame. how could she end that informative article with such an

ignorant suggestion for tx? and DEFINITIVE blood test???

does anyone know how to write to this woman? i REALLY want to know what this

test is. could it be she knows something no one else in the entire lyme

community (including LLMD) does not know?

thanks for sharing.

peace,

kay

massachusetts

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A nation of disabled citizens?? Hmm, maybe it should include a large portion

of the docs that get paid off by the HMO's to say that there is no such thing

as Lyme Disease. Just a thought.

Biddle

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In a message dated 99-07-13 01:53:30 EDT, you write:

<<

From: McDermott <pattymcd@...>

Message: 16

Date: Mon, 12 Jul 1999 13:52:34 -0400

From: " J & M McCoy " <mlmccoy@...>

Subject: Re: Dangerous Pest of Suburbs Is More and More at Home

>I was stunned this morning when I read something on the Lyme

>newsgroup that indicated that the tick need NOT feed on deer or

>>

Patti.

Where in land do you live? I live in Laurel.. your area seem really

unusually infested.

elizabeth

md

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Hi Patty,

>From: McDermott <pattymcd@...>

>

>I wonder about it too, Marta, but if we can pass it on to newborns,

>it does make sense. Here's something to think about. Suppose an

>UNinfected tick feeds off of someone who has Lyme - does the tick

>become infected? Can it then transmit it to it's next victim?

>The whole thing is very scary and someone better start taking it

>very seriously before we have an entire nation of disabled citizens!

Yes, I guess that can happen too.......If the buggers weren't so damned

small, it would be neat if someone could do a documentary on " A day in the

life of a tick " They could follow one around with cameras and see what

havoc they cause.

>

>

>I'm afraid it's could well be true, Marta. Maybe this used to be

>the habitat for ticks, but with so many this year, I fear that has

>changed. I say that because at least two of the " crawling " ticks

>Skip has found on himself fell from trees. He felt something hit

>him from above, felt around, and there they were - both times.

>I'm not saying this is true everywhere, but the trees are raining

>ticks here at my home. Arrrrrrrgh! :(

Yes, the more I think about this, the more feasible it appears. Birds

carry ticks, birds land in trees, ticks drop off birds, ticks mate in trees,

lay millions of eggs, eggs hatch and grow, ticks fall out of tree seeking

host......Yuuuuccck....Tell Skip I said to carry an umbrella sprayed with

Deet when out in the yard....

Sounds like a Twilight Zone episode to me.

Hugs,

Marta (NJ)

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  • 3 years later...

This is a great article, in my opinion, because it helps me to know that my

decision IS the right one (not vaxing), and I would love to live in a community

such as ASHON ISLAND, WA. too!

Funny how they (who wrote the article) stress what the Pertussis DISEASE can do,

but not what its like to have an Autistic, ADD/ADHD child, or even a dead child,

from giving them the VACCINATIONS for this disease and any others. They mention

it, but that is ALL they do - mention it.

I know that its horrible (Pertussis) cause I remember little Chaela going

through it, and talking to Amy on the phone and hearing the fears and regrets in

her voice, etc. and the " what-ifs " . It was HORRIBLE but Chaela has a very

strong and BRAVE mommy, and she got through it, even as a BABY!! I envy Amy for

what she has dealt with, and for her strength to not give in and vaccinate her

children, after dealing with Pertussis.....In my OPINION - If a parent can deal

with Pertussis, and have the strength to get through it and still not vaccinate

that child, then they can deal with almost anything! (I feel the same way about

DCF too....if you can deal with them, and beat em at their own game, then you

can do anything)

But the same fears and regrets, (of vaccinating for these diseases and a

permanent vaccine-reaction or even death occuring as a result, or of NOT

vaccinating and having to watch your baby suffer through Pertussis, turning

blue, breaking ribs, and the whole 9-yards) will always be something that I, and

many many other non-vaxing parents, will always have to live with I guess -

because sometimes you cant win either way, no matter what you do. We all just

have to think POSITIVE, as hard as it may be, and know that just because you

DONT VAX, it doesnt mean your child or your baby WILL get a " vax-preventable "

disease.....instead we have to tell ourselves that we ARE doing what is best for

our baby or our children, by keeping them toxin-free for starters, and not

deliberately placing them in danger, and that the benefits of not vaxing exceeds

any potential benefits OF vaxing. Is there more chances of them contracting the

disease, or more chances of them developing an adverse effect, no matter how

common, from the shots? This is the easiest way for ME anyway, and everytime I

tell myself this, I feel more confident than I did before, and feel PROUD of

myself for what I am doing for my children! (especially after the HELL they have

endured this year and the emotional ABUSE from the FL baby snatchers!)

I just try and live my life day to day, and continue, and will always continue,

to educate and inform myself on a daily basis, will stay prepared, and just deal

with things as they happen, if they DO happen to us.....that is all we can do

right?

After fighting a battle for 6 months, with the DCF monsters that stole my

children away just because I tried to save my baby from dying, I feel that I can

take on ANYONE and ANY DISEASE...ANYTIME. And PRO-VAX articles cannot, and will

not, ever scare me and make me even QUESTION my non-vax decision - ANYMORE!! I

have more strength inside me now, than I have ever had before, which is a good

thing that came out of all the tragedy in my life, this year alone. Not only

were my kids taken, and my baby could have died, but I have endured 2 deaths in

my family (and first time I've ever had to experience a family death before)

just in the last couple weeks or so, but I also am dealing with

" Inattentive-ADHD " and " Depression " , and a son who is " GIFTED with ADHD-combined

Type " and ODD (Oppositional Defiant Disorder) CAUSED FROM BOTH OF US BEING

VACCINATED!! I know its a vaccine-reaction, in my heart, even if its never

proven......so I am dealing with all this crap, PLUS the regrets of being in

denial and for thinking that I was one of the " lucky ones " and my child, and

myself, DIDNT have a vaccine adverse effect - when in fact we DID.

This is another reason I feel strongly about my decision NOT to vax my 2 year

old baby girl. Me, my son, my mother, and my cousin, all have Neurological

disorders - and I know its caused by the shots, even though the " experts " say

its something you are born with! (the ADHD)

Anyway, great article Amy....thanks for sharing, and hope you will keep in touch

with me too! I havent even remotely caught up with all my vaccination digests,

so I have no idea as to what has been going on in here lately, because of the

deaths in the family, but I just got online and happened to click on the most

recent digest to see whats up, and there was your post, so I wanted to reply

about it, and say hello to you as well :) so HELLLOOOOOO!!

Hugs,

Ronda from FL.

http://communities.msn.com/VaccinationInformation

http://www.geocities.com/zaynablair/Zaynaspage.html

http://benatarfanclub.com

http://www.cpswatch.com, http://www.fightcps.com

http://www.nccn.net/~wwithin/vaccine.htm

http://www.whale.to

http://www.vaccinationnews.com

NY TIMES Article

When Parents Say No to Child Vaccinations

By DONALD G. McNEIL Jr.

ASHON ISLAND, Wash. — Kate Packard, the school nurse here, has a nightmare

she sums up in five words: " measles coming across the water. " If measles did

make the 20-minute ferry ride across Puget Sound from Seattle — hardly

unthinkable, since a case occurred last year near a ferry terminal in West

Seattle — public health officers say the whole Vashon Island school district

could be shut down until the island's last case disappeared or an emergency

vaccination drive took effect.Advertisement

<A

HREF= " http://ad.doubleclick.net/jump/N2958.NYTimes/B1051241.75;abr=!ie4;abr=!ie5\

;sz=300x250;ord=2002.11.30.14.11.33? " >Alt Text</A>

Eighteen percent of Vashon Island's 1,600 primary school students have

legally opted out of vaccination against childhood diseases, including polio,

measles, mumps, rubella, diphtheria, whooping cough, tetanus, hepatitis B and

chicken pox. The island is a counterculture haven where therapies like

homeopathy and acupuncture are popular, and where some cite health problems

among neighbors' children that they attribute to vaccinations. Most families

opting out of vaccination here have obtained " philosophical exemptions " from

normal vaccination requirements — exemptions that in Washington and several

other states, including California and Colorado, can be claimed simply by

signing a school form.Across the country, about 1 percent of all children are

exempt from vaccination, said Dr. Walter A. Orenstein, director of the

National Immunization Program at the Centers for Disease Control and

Prevention. The agency's surveys suggest that more than 90 percent of all

American children have had most shots, except for the new chicken-pox

vaccine.But from Vashon Island to Boulder, Colo., to towns in Missouri and

Massachusetts, there are " hot spots " where many children go unprotected. In a

1999 survey, 11 states reported increases in exemptions.Clusters of

unvaccinated children are not only in potential danger themselves, health

officials say, but are also a threat to the " herd immunity " that walls out

epidemics, sheltering fetuses, infants too young to be immunized, old people

with weakened immune systems and even vaccinated classmates who remain at

risk because no vaccine is 100 percent effective.When only a few parents use

" herd immunity " to let their children escape the small risks of vaccination,

the system still works.But health officials become concerned in states like

California, where it is easier for a parent to sign the waiver form than to

have a child vaccinated. " People take the path of least resistance, " said

A. Salmon, a vaccination expert at the s Hopkins School of Public

Health. " What I do to my child can put other children at risk. " In 1989-90,

measles broke out among unimmunized immigrant children in Southern

California, causing 43,000 cases and 101 deaths.Vaccine resisters cite an

array of reasons. " Sometimes it's distrust in government, feeling it's in bed

with the vaccine industry and `everyone's making money off our kids,' " Mr.

Salmon said. Sometimes the objections are religious, as among Christian

Scientists and some Amish congregations. Sometimes a community is scared when

a child is truly harmed by side effects; the live polio vaccine, for example,

is thought to cause about eight deaths a year.Some parents are upset at the

sheer number of injections a child must get — usually about 20 by age 2.

Others are convinced — despite evidence to the contrary — that vaccines

are

highly likely to cause severe health problems, like seizures and autism.Here

on Vashon Island, a community of 10,000, word spread quickly when the

10-month-old baby of Gail O'Grady, a midwife who also works at Minglement

Natural Foods, died unexpectedly in his crib in 1984 two weeks after his

first immunization; when Pam Beck's daughter suffered four years of

seizures that began minutes after her first whooping-cough shot; when

Soriano's son, , developed autism after tetanus and polio

vaccinations.Some doctors they consulted disagreed, but all three mothers

were sure vaccines were to blame., Ms. Soriano said, changed from " a

bright-eyed, happy, beautiful kid " to a severely autistic 4-year-old who

" lived curled up in a ball, screaming and screaming and screaming. " She says

she has nearly cured him by removing milk and glutens from his diet.Public

health specialists suggest that the resistance to vaccines is a consequence

of the success of vaccinations: People, they say, no longer fear diseases

they have never seen. " I remember how the fear of polio changed our lives —

not going to the swimming pool in summer, not going to the movies, not

getting involved with crowds, " said Dr. P. Rothstein, 60, a

Pennsylvania pediatrician who helps the American Academy of Pediatrics make

immunization recommendations. " I remember pictures of wards full of iron

lungs, hundreds in a room, with kids who couldn't breathe in them. It

affected daily life more than AIDS does today. " Now, with the rare side

effects of the live vaccine, " there's a risk of about eight kids a year

dying, so people don't want to be vaccinated, " he said, adding, " When polio

was around, people gladly took that risk. " Rubella, Dr. Rothstein went on,

" is, for the most part, a nothing disease " — the reason to keep vaccinating

against it is to protect fetuses. " In the 1960's, " he said, " 50,000 to 60,000

babies were born with small heads, or deaf, or blind or with cataracts "

because their pregnant mothers had been exposed to rubella.All 50 states

allow medical exemptions for children who are immuno-compromised or allergic

to vaccines; 47 states — all but Arkansas, Mississippi and West Virginia —

allow religious exemptions; and 17 allow personal or philosophical ones. But

how many children receive the exemptions depends partly on how much red tape

is involved, a study in the American Journal of Public Health found. In

states where parents must go to a state office for exemption forms, get their

signatures notarized or produce letters from a religious authority, exemption

rates tend to be lower.The only states with exemption rates greater than 2

percent, the disease center said, are Michigan, Washington and

Wisconsin.Still, health officials say that in recent years public sentiment

has often run against vaccination. The news media publicize stories of

autism, seizures and crib death that followed vaccination. More than a dozen

Internet sites specialize in describing the dangers of vaccines.Vashon Island

is both a commuters' haven served by high-speed ferries to Seattle and a home

to the counterculture — a place where the telephone company's garage

features

a mural of a Frisbee-catching dog. Millionaires have shore homes while the

self-named Rainbow People live in tents in the woods.In interviews, parents

who have signed forms to exempt their children from vaccination appeared to

be educated, attuned to their children's health and full of opinions about

vaccines, though some cited " facts " that the disease center disputes. Most

parents mixed unconventional therapies like homeopathy, acupuncture and

chiropractic, and conventional medicines like antibiotics and painkillers,

Most said they were suspicious of the vaccine industry. " I consider well-baby

care to be a capitalist plot, " am Steffen, a mother of four said only

half-kidding.If anyone would seem to be a living argument for tetanus

vaccination, it is Camille Borst, 25. When she was 12, she stepped on a nail.

Her mother, who opposes vaccination, did not take her to a hospital until her

foot was so inflamed she could not stand on it. But Ms. Borst says proudly

that she has not immunized her own children, Deven, 9, or Casper, 4.Her

mother, Adrienne Forest, 47, who is home-schooling her grandchildren in a

neat, shingled mobile home in a clearing of fir and alder trees, said she was

sorry she let the hospital give Camille other vaccines. " It was a moment of

weakness, " she said. The nurses who angrily told her that Camille could have

died " totally freaked me out, " she said.From 1995 to 1999, said Ms. Packard,

the school nurse, an epidemic here of whooping cough, which can be fatal in

infants, hospitalized some infants and left some children with chronic

asthma. Ms. Forest's grandson Deven had whooping cough two years ago and, she

conceded, probably passed the disease to 10 other children, including an

infant. " Yeah, that bothered me, " Ms. Forest said. " But I called everybody and

we studied up on what you can do to build up the immune system. " The baby " did

just fine, " she said. " On Vashon Island, you have middle-class people who eat

healthy and keep warm. If everyone was poor-poor, not breast-fed, not eating

right — that might be a reason to vaccinate. " But she and her daughter

remain

steadfastly opposed.Meg White, 45, though, now somewhat regrets not

vaccinating. Three years ago, her whole family, including her infant son

n, had whooping cough " really, really bad " for more than three

months. " My son would turn all shades of purple, " she said. " He stopped

breathing several times and we took him to the hospital. My daughter was

terrified of going to sleep because then it got worse. She would vomit all

over the place. My husband cracked ribs from coughing. " Now, Ms. White said,

she would advise other mothers to vaccinate against whooping cough, polio and

tetanus, but only with the newest vaccines. She still has not vaccinated

n, now 3, against measles, mumps, rubella or chicken pox.n is in

nursery school at Puddlestompers, whose director, Tressa Aspiri, also changed

her mind about not vaccinating after her older children got whooping

cough.She makes no recommendations to parents when they fill out the school's

vaccination form, she said, though she feels that vaccines are safer than

they were when her children were born in the mid-1980's. " I still feel

strongly that it's the parents' choice, " Ms. Aspiri said.

AMY

MOMMY TO 4 KIDDIES

Chelsea 10

Carrigian 6

5

Chaela Noelle 20 mo

When you know better. You do better..Maya Angelo

<A

HREF= " http://www.theforgotten.com/vaccines " >Did you know</A>

<A

HREF= " http://hometown.aol.com/chevy974/myhomepagebaby.html " >The Haskett

bunch</A> <A HREF= " http://babiesonline.com/babies/c/chaela/ " >Chaela, born

12/22/2000</A>

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  • 11 months later...

I am from one of the rural Kansas districts that has been doing this for years.

When Kaitlyn was in preschool, there were more role model children than kids

with IEP's. It was really great. She had 12 in her class, a teacher, 3 paras,

and a speech path in the classroom. Back then role models were all teachers

kids. By the time my son Grant got into the program there were more IEP kids

but still a good ratio. However, the other parents in the community had heard

of the program and complained that only teachers kids got to be role models, so

they opened it up to everyone with a big lottery to determine what role models

get in. Teachers were really ticked about this. But really, it is everyone's

tax dollar paying for it so they should have an opportunity to receive the

benefit also.

It really is a great program for everyone. It is also nice because the

preschoolers are in a school building and atmosphere like what they will

experience in kindergarten so the transition is that much easier. All the kids

in the program, IEP or not, get bus rides here which is nice.

Preschool has been the best part of special ed that I have experienced so far.

I wish we could make that formula work all the way through high school somehow.

Darcy

NY Times Article

OK. This didn't come through the first time...

Kathy, Liam's mom( 5)

Very Special Ed

November 9, 2003

By SUSAN BRENNA

Far beyond the boundaries of this scrubby, sandy shore

town, word is out about the public preschool here, and

about how good it is supposed to be. Donna Grygiel, a

former kindergarten teacher, moved her family out of their

North Brunswick home and into her mother-in-law's house in

Brick Township so her daughters could attend the school --

or at least have a shot at attending. Svetlana and Dmitri

Mushkarova, a graphic designer and carpenter who moved from

Brooklyn to Brick for a greener life and better schools,

inspected 20 private preschools. But they pinned their

hopes on their 3-year-old, Katya, coming out a winner in

the annual lottery for spots in the public preschool.

''We never thought we would make it,'' Mr. Mushkarova, a

Russian immigrant, says over tea in the kitchen of his

modest town house. ''It's the best thing that ever happened

to us.''

Katya, who speaks only Russian, has just told him an

English word for something she saw growing in the school

garden: ''watermelon.'' It's ''Miss W'' week in her

classroom, and Katya, who has learned many W-words, is

practicing how to sign a W with three fingers. Then she

makes what her teacher, Miss Sue, calls a ''fish face''

with rounded lips and huffs, ''Wha! Wha!''

The free Brick Community Primary Learning Center sits

behind the mud-brown facade of a strip shopping center just

off the Garden State Parkway. Mothers in flip-flops, who

drop off their children before rushing to sales jobs at

places like Pier 1, radiate the earthy opposite of

exclusivity. Yet the hubbub and anxiety that surrounds the

question of who gets in, and who doesn't, would feel

queasily familiar to many Park Avenue families. Four tots

vie for every preschool opening in Brick. To accommodate

the maximum number, the school day has been compressed into

a breathless two hours, so that three classes can cycle

through each room in the course of a day. Even aside from

the attraction of free preschool, ''it's worth it for the

curriculum they cover,'' says Ms. Grygiel, whose 6-year-old

attended the school but whose 4-year-old washed out in the

lottery (after they had bought their own home).

This is a moment of transition for American preschools.

Parents, educators and politicians are focusing on how, in

a world of escalating academic expectations, young children

should be prepared to become grade-school scholars. In

Congress, in state legislatures and in school board

meetings, questions on the table include who needs to be in

preschool, how much tots should concentrate on literacy and

counting as well as purposeful playing, and how students

should be evaluated. Because preschool remains voluntary,

parents play a decisive role in shaping this universe, by

choosing whether and where their children attend.

When parents go searching for a quality preschool, they are

advised by experts to seek a low ratio of children to

teachers, a stable and reasonably well-paid staff that

doesn't keep quitting, individualized teaching and

small-group activities. They're also told that the

curriculum must help children develop socially and

emotionally as well as intellectually. Most important is a

qualified teacher who can do it all -- help 4-year-olds

become readers, attentive learners and junior diplomats --

and that generally means a teacher who has at least a

four-year degree. In America's patchwork of private, public

and community preschools and day care centers, such

teachers are the exception rather than the rule.

But all those qualities can currently be found in an

unexpected place: public preschool classrooms like Brick's,

which are actually designed for the benefit of special

education students but invite children of typical abilities

to attend. Here, teachers are highly qualified, instruction

is individualized, and both social and cognitive

development get their due. Responding to the demands of the

Bush administration's No Child Left Behind law, with its

emphasis on having every child demonstrate fluency in

reading and math, as well as local demands to prep children

for academic kindergarten study, teachers at Brick work

letters and numbers into every session. But they also

encourage children to play, and to try the kind of social

experimenting that preschool experts fear is getting

squeezed out of some programs. Here, teachers are

specifically required to nurture social skills by the

individualized education plans of some of their disabled

students.

Brick is one of the rare school districts in the United

States to adopt this practice of ''reverse mainstreaming,''

which allows districts to meet federal directives to

provide disabled 3- and 4-year-olds with schooling in the

least restrictive possible setting. In each class of 18, 6

children are classified as disabled, most with speech

delays or other speech problems. In Brick, in many parts of

Connecticut and in more rural states like Kansas, children

of typical abilities are placed in these classes to serve

as language and behavioral models.

Of course, the reality in reverse mainstreaming classrooms

is blurrier than that. In (Miss Sue) Suzanne Piszar's class

in the Brick school, one tall 4-year-old is the verbal

star. The first to call out the answer to every question,

he is also a ''bus rider,'' which is how teachers refer to

the disabled children who get free yellow bus

transportation. The typical children like Katya, who win

places through a lottery, are called ''walkers'' because

their parents must get them to school.

More than half a million children ages 3 to 5 received

special education services in 2002, and federal officials

expect that number to grow as toddlers are diagnosed at an

earlier age. School districts meet the requirements in many

ways, including paying tuition for disabled children to

attend private preschools and providing services at home. A

federal count found fewer than 9,000 disabled young

children to be in reverse mainstreaming classes in 2002

(though the number is probably more, as districts are not

required to report that they use the method). Brick

Township officials say they consider the approach to be

both cost effective and educationally sound.

In reverse mainstreaming classes, teachers point out that

walkers have an opportunity to develop the social agility

that is critical to later school success. ''When the

typical children are trying to engage with some of the

children with disabilities, they're thinking, 'How am I

going to play with him, what would he like?''' says

Synodi, coordinator of preschool special education for

Connecticut. But that is a minor factor in what makes these

programs so popular among parents whose children have no

diagnosed disabilities.

In suburban Waterford, Conn., school officials post

witnesses when toddlers' names are pulled from a paper bag,

to provide assurance that no favors go to ''the child of a

doctor or the mayor,'' says Rick DeMatto, Waterford's

director of personnel and special services. In Kansas,

according to Marnie , who coordinates preschool

special education services for the state, some districts

dangle slots in reverse mainstreaming preschools for the

children of new teachers as a recruitment tool.

''The classroom is just so rich,'' says W. Barnett,

who directs the National Institute for Early Education

Research at Rutgers University. Mr. Barnett believes these

classes can serve as models for states that are writing or

refining guidelines for what, and how, young children

should be learning. His institute is studying Brick's

lottery winners and comparing them to those children who

applied but were not randomly admitted to determine which

benefits middle-class children gain from a high-quality

preschool experience.

''There's a belief that special education has this box of

tricks for teaching that no one else has access to,'' Mr.

DeMatto says. ''What special education is is a very

individualized education that looks at a child from many

points of view, delivered by a team in a familiar and

supportive environment. Parents sense that their kids are

getting more of that attention in these classrooms and that

it's more intense.''

Ann Ceres, Brick Township's assistant superintendent

for elementary education, says her teachers ''know how to

use different strategies and techniques to teach different

children in different ways.'' She adds: ''Our aspirations

are to have children who are classified as special

education meet all the requirements for kindergarten in a

mainstream class. So our standards are high for every

student.''

But there is another issue here, one that resonates with

President Bush's recent demands for Head Start and other

preschool programs to place greater emphasis on letters,

numbers and reading. Particularly in schools like Brick's,

where preschoolers and kindergartners are all in one

building, teachers at the two levels tend to work together

to tailor their teaching to what children are expected to

know. Teachers here say kindergartners are expected to be

able to write their names in the first week of school, to

understand how a book is read, to know the alphabet,

numbers, shapes and colors, and to independently follow a

sequence of directions.

DMITRI MUSHKAROVA says he is impressed by the projects

Katya brings home every day, as well as the daily note from

her teacher, Mrs. Piszar, enumerating that day's

activities. ''They keep the children so busy, and that's

good,'' Mr. Mushkarova says. ''In Russian schools, there is

no multiple choice. You can't guess, you have to study. I

want her to learn this. I have

figured out the secret to America, which is to finish

school and go to college, and then you have everything.''

He and Svetlana found out about the preschool

lottery

from the Brick municipal clerk who issued their beach

passes. They read in a child-rearing book that for

3-year-olds, there should be one teacher for every six

children. At Brick, each class of 18 has a teacher and 2

paraprofessionals, who often split the class into groups of

six, all doing different activities.

They are joined intermittently by other teachers. On a

September day, the science specialist brings a green

swallowtail caterpillar on a native Jersey milkweed plant

for the children in Alisa Sternberg's class to examine.

Speech teachers, occupational therapists and

English-as-a-second-language specialists all pass through

these classrooms, including Impellizeri, who makes

friends with Katya by speaking the few words she knows in

Polish, which have a familiar sound to Katya's ear.

All the students -- bus riders and walkers -- are included

in the group lessons designed around the bus riders' needs.

They trace letters in shaving cream to help children with

sensory deprivation, and practice fine motor skills by

picking up pompoms with tweezers.

While Katya's father is impressed by the ambitious pace of

instruction, Katya, at the beginning of the school year,

seems to be in a state of saucer-eyed shock. She sits in a

circle of students on the rug while Miss Sue coaxes

children to ''use your words to say, 'I'm here.' ''Much

time is devoted to singing the days of the week and

counting the days of the month.

''Will we go outside?'' one boy interrupts.

''Yes,'' Mrs.

Piszar answers, ''but I can't think about outside now

because I have to think about Miss W.''

Then the tall 4-year-old wants a drink, so Miss Sue decides

everyone will visit the classroom water fountain and

practice pushing the button. Katya, though, goes to her

backpack and takes out her water bottle. ''Put it in the

backpack, Kate,'' her teacher says, pointing to Katya's

Hello Kitty bag. ''Put it in the backpack. Put it in the

backpack.'' Mrs. Piszar explains that a paraprofessional

taught her that she could get most preschoolers to comply

without raising her voice by using the broken record

technique. Few can stand to hear directions for a fourth

time. True to her prediction, Katya puts away her water,

and wanders over to the kitchen corner.

The class then splits into groups. While Miss Sue assesses

the state of her students' motor skills by having them

trace, then cut, then paste a handle on a construction

paper watering can, a paraprofessional works on short-term

memory. She has children match pictures of clothes they

have just seen in a book called ''What Would Mr. Bear

Wear?'' with pictures on their bingo cards. Katya points to

one and, with a bright smile, announces ''poncho.'' Miss

Sue looked over in surprise -- the word she caught on to

was ''poncho''?

Snack time brings its own challenges when the children try

to open their drink cartons. Ms. Sternberg tells her class

to ''pinch your fingers like lobsters.'' Finally, for the

last 15 minutes, the children are released to the

playground. Several girls immediately run to the ''talking

tubes,'' while Katya busies herself opening and closing the

shutters of a playhouse. ''Occupational therapists will

tell you that the best thing you can do for children this

age is to let them play outside, and some of them with

working parents don't get much chance,'' Mrs. Piszar says.

Just beyond the playground fence is the school garden

planted in eight color plots -- yellow sunflowers, orange

pumpkins, red tomatoes. Ms. Sternberg has run out of time

before she can take her class weeding. The color lesson

will have to wait for tomorrow.

Brenna is a freelance journalist who writes

frequently about education.

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/11/09/edlife/1109BRT.html?ex=1069565938 & ei=1 &

en=aba585727e5d0e86

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  • 1 month later...

Sometimes a doctor might reccomend laminectomies for us, but it seems

that a revision specialist would not recommend it, in my experience:

I have Harrington rods and flatback, and at the bottom of my fusion,

stenosis in L4-L5. A couple of Neurosurgeons I consulted (before I

knew how specialized the problem was) wanted to do laminectomy at L4-

L5 to free up the nerves, but when I later consulted some real

revision surgeons, they said it would be very dangerous, weakening my

spine at exactly the place where it takes the most stress (below the

9 fusions). Removing bone from a vertebra probably always weakens the

spine; ---maybe the argument in the article is that removing a small

amount in a healthy person wouldn't be dangerous, but that is quite

different from doing it with flatbackers. Jackie

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  • 2 years later...
Guest guest

Hi Everybody. The attached was sent to me by a friend. He doesn't have HEP C that I'm aware of, just a nice guy that that thinks of others. Antone else read this? Any comments? Deliman Note: forwarded message attached.

Use Photomail to share photos without annoying attachments.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/19/opinion/19crichton.html?_r=1 & th & emc=th & oref=slogin

Del you should see if you can read that article.

in part it says:

" The entire genome of the hepatitis C virus is owned by a biotech company. Royalty costs now influence the direction of research in basic diseases, and often even the testing for diseases. Such barriers to medical testing and research are not in the public interest. Do you want to be told by your doctor, " Oh, nobody studies your disease any more because the owner of the gene/enzyme/correlation has made it too expensive to do research? "

I wonder if that's why medicine for things like Hep C and diabetes is so expensive.

Ken

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Guest guest

Havent read this but nothing anymore surprised me...Everything has a damn price!!...and really the price is everyones lives, not their bank accounts!!!!!..errrrr

Fwd: NY times article

Hi Everybody.

The attached was sent to me by a friend. He doesn't have HEP C that I'm aware of, just a nice guy that that thinks of others.

Antone else read this? Any comments?

Deliman

Note: forwarded message attached.

Use Photomail to share photos without annoying attachments.

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Guest guest

Sounds like your out of the hospital Del.I hope you are doing ok.Fill us in so we know how you are.Take care.

Gail

Fwd: NY times article

Hi Everybody.

The attached was sent to me by a friend. He doesn't have HEP C that I'm aware of, just a nice guy that that thinks of others.

Antone else read this? Any comments?

Deliman

Note: forwarded message attached.

Use Photomail to share photos without annoying attachments.

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  • 1 year later...
Guest guest

The link did not work for me. Anyone else?

Karyn

Sharon <huie@...> wrote:

This link is to an article in the New York Times, about the efforts many

parents are making to reach parents whom have received the news of Down

Syndrome prenatally.

www.nytimes.com/2007/05/09/us/09down.html?pagewanted=1 & _r=1

Sharon H.

Mom to , (15, DS) and , (11)

South Carolina

" Be kinder than necessary, for everyone you meet is fighting some kind of

battle. "

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  • 2 years later...

Yes I read this and it is great I even replyed to there thread.

Co-Moderator

Phil

> From: k0cm <Randy@...>

> Subject: NY Times Article

>

> Date: Sunday, January 17, 2010, 10:58 PM

> I highly recommend this NY Times

> article:

>

> http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/17/magazine/17antiaging-t.html

>

> Randy Hoops

> Springfield, MO

>

>

>

> ------------------------------------

>

>

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  • 5 months later...
Guest guest

Thanks for sharing this Laurie, wow is all I can say.

H.

NY Times article

FYI, this is long, with hundreds of comments, but worthwhile reading if you're

nterested in thinking about the costs of special education and what goals are

eally important as our kids age out. It's a fairly bleak article, so read at

our own risk! The comments are fascinating, too, and for the most part, very

rticulate on both sides.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/20/education/20donovan.html?emc=eta1

L.

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  • 1 month later...
Guest guest

Here's an article from the NY Times.

Note the mention of toxic mold, all the way at the bottom.

It's mentioned almost as an aside, even though the person had no health problems

before moving into the apartment with the mold and nothing helped him until he

moved out.

*

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/07/20/for-a-celiac-sufferer-a-new-mystery-ill\

ness/?emc=eta1

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