We rented two rooms of a house. The woman still lived and owned the rest of the house. Her parents were both in wheelchairs and lived in this house until they both passed away. The woman decided to move upstairs, so Dad and Mom rented the rest of downstairs.
Lisa went to 9th District School which is only around the block from our house. And Redwood School was about 2 blocks away from our house. I started Redwood School at the age of 4. I was scared and cried every morning when Mom dropped me off, for I had never been away from Mom before. Redwood had three floors. The first floor was just for preschool. The second floor was where the children learned after being in preschool. Then in the basement was the workshop, for young adults that had gone as far as they could.
I was not in preschool very long until I was moved to the second floor. A new teacher named Mrs. Nancy White came to teach after teaching in a regular school. We had a very small room in the back of the building. There were only four of us in the room. I will never know how Mrs. White could understand Mary Alice Cooper. She really had a bad speech problem. She would sit there and make loud noises. Then there was Johnny Redden. He was in a wheelchair with a speech problem, and he could only type with one thumb, and his head was bent backwards. Jimmy Geotz was spastic like me, but not as bad. He could type with one finger and could walk. He also had a speech problem, but could walk. And for some reason Jimmy and I would fight and hit each other when Mrs. White went out of the classroom, and I really don't know why.
Then there was me, I didn't have any control in my hands or arms, didn't know how to read or anything else. Mrs. White said, "I don't know what to do with her". But Mrs. White taught me how to read, spell and do math in no time. The biggest problem to acheive was typing. Mrs. White asked me one day, "do you know where the letter "A" is? I looked all over the keyboard but couldn't find the letter "A", so Mrs. White pointed the letter out to me. Mrs. White would stand me up and hold both arms down, then guide my left index finger to the letter that I wanted to hit. There was a keyguard over the entire keyboard, each hole was made for each key, so nobody could hit or trip other keys while trying to type.
Some times I would fake being sick, so I wouldn't have to go to school. Mom's low blood sugar was getting worse and she wouldn't be able to put my braces on me and get me ready for school. And, as for both sides of the family, there were no offers of help. (And to this day there are still no offers of help.) So every morning Mrs. White would come to the house putting my braces on me and fed me my breakfast before going to school. And she would bring me home after school was out. Tuesday was "Staff Meeting day". And we all went home at 1:30, so Mrs. White would bring me home from school early on that day. I can still remember walking up the stairs to our little classroom while Mrs. White held me up, then walking downstairs after school was out, with Mrs. White holding me, and walking back down the stairs in the afternoon.
I still had "retarded" on my medical records, although I wasn't. I remember one day, Dr. Sawsberry was at Redwood School. Mrs. Wood and Mrs. White kept telling Dr. Sawsberry that I wasn't retarded, but he did not believe them. Mrs. White came to the classroom and took me downstairs where they had P.T. When I saw Dr. Sawsberry sitting there, I was scared. I think Mrs. White asked me if I remembered what we had read out of my reading book, and I told her yes. So Mrs. White knelt down beside and held my hands, and some how I read for him. When I was finished, Dr. Sawsberry did not say a word, I think that he was shocked. He had to take the word "retarded" off of my medical records.
I wondered what Dr. Sawsberry said after I left the room.
Mr. Wood had a old Model T car, and Mrs. White and Mrs. Woods drove me over to the house to show Mom. Well I had a red, white and blue flag in my hand, but I dropped it on the way back to school.
I could read, spell and do math very well, but the only way that I could type, was for Mrs. White to home my arms and hands down. Everybody tried everything to hold both arms down so I could type on my own, but nothing worked. I remember Sister Charles put something heavy on my left arm to try and hold it down, but when she came back in the classroom, Mrs. White just shook her head, "no"..
Some man was at Redwood School one day. I don't remember who he was, or why he was there. Mrs. Woods brought him into our classroom and Mrs. Woods told him the problem that I was having trying to type. The man made a board to lay my arm on and attach the board to the front of the typewriter, then he put a metal peice across the board like a sliding door. A strap was made to go around my left arm so my arm would not fly backward, and a heavy weight was put on my right arm to keep my right arm from flying around. I couldn't hold my finger out to type, so Mrs. White put a pencil in my hand, and I would slide my hand back and forth hitting each key with a pencil. (I have to admit one thing. I did not like it when Mary Alice used the typewriter, for she could not swallow very well and her drool would get on the typewriter. And I really felt like that was "MY" typewriter.
I remember that I wanted a watch. Mom and Dad had bought Lisa one and they just got me a Mickey Mouse watch. They thought that I would break it because I was so spastic. Well, my Grandma bought me a Timex watch. Mom and Dad really did not want me to have it. Grandma said, "if she breaks it, she breaks it". Well I was very careful with it, and Mrs. White took the watch off of me every time I typed, then would put my watch back afterwards. Well, I did not break the watch, it finally just wore out. I still have the watch for a keep sake.
Well, Sister Frances was going to quit teaching and work in P.T. So when we came back from summer vaction, we would be in a bigger classroom with Mrs. White.
... Chapter Three