From JB's (father) Private Blog. Taking Felipe, a special needs boy, to the public park, "I got a chance to hear Felipe interacting with a couple of calm looking boys around his age. Felipe asked one of the boys... "You want to build a mountain of sand?" The boy looked puzzled and Felipe continued, "I can show you how to build a mountain of sand it is real easy, let me show you how to do it." The boys then looked at each other trying to figure out what would be so difficult in building a mountain of sand? Felipe then stoops and starts using the park sand to make what is about a six inch mound of sand. Felipe was very excited with this accomplishment and I guess he felt it would be entertaining to do for the other boys. The boys looking on smiled at each other and then sort of drifted into something else. It was nice of them... at least they did not make fun of him or say something insulting. Later, I saw Felipe trying to interact with the same boys, but they were not taking him on and Felipe just drifted into doing his own thing by himself - so sad, brings a tear to my eye just writing this."

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About Felipe

Felipe is a very social eight year old with special needs. He is one of three kids and lives with both parents who love and care for him. From a very young age Felipe would not stay still. Even during the night he would move around the house while everyone was asleep. At the age of five he was diagnosed by two psychologists with ADHD. At the age of six that was changed to PDD-NOS (a form of Autism) by a Neuro Psychologist. The fact is Felipe has many challenges, and though he is high functioning some of those challenges he does not recognize. What others may consider 'odd' behavior is quite natural and normal for Felipe so he often is isolated by his peers. We have tried to get both private and public education for Felipe, but in three instances it did not work out because of corporal punishment, a primitive method used in schools locally*. He is now home schooled by his mother, a registered teacher. There are no adequate facilities within the country for special needs kids and you can read some of the sample entries from his parent's blogs below to see what we often go through. Also see our FAQ.

Felipe In A Sunday Class

Blog entry: He attended the 8-11 Primary class Sunday and it became more evident how far behind he was in understanding what is going on. As he puts it... "I hear what they are saying but I do not understand". Of recent he has become very aggressive in wanting to do everything his way, this may be due to frustrations. His listening and patience skills are almost gone and we fear that he is regressing in some areas. We are hoping that something will give so he can get the proper evaluation / treatment he needs.

Felipe Interacting

Blog entry: I have such concerns over this child. I watch him try to interact with other children, but because he 'pushes' himself on them he gets a lot of strange looks and stares. The sad thing is he just does not see it. Twice I had to call him over yesterday because it reached the stage of the other children trying to hit him, and he thought it was a 'game'. Of late he has been talking more than ever, he just will not stop talking, and I must admit at times it leaves me so stressed that I literally cannot think.

Corporal Punishment

Blog entry: First of all, we took Felipe to a school that we felt may be the one only place that he could interact with other kids because it is a school that caters for special children. Mind you, it was not cheap and took about an hour and a half to two hours of traveling each day to get there. Then, after only two days Felipe started talking about teachers beating the children - we pulled him out immediately. I spoke with the principal and although I feel she was not directly involved she did admit they had to release a teacher their who could not deal with the kids. Nevertheless we will continue to home school him as it is the only SAFE place to do so.

Blog entry: Well, school found from last entry above was actually a dungeon found. We had to remove Felipe from the school because of their views on discipline. It took only one day for Felipe to inform us of how he was treated and how he saw other pupils handled. I specifically asked the principal about their methods of discipline before I enrolled Felipe and she claimed all discipline happens in her office and they do not use physical punishment with special needs kids. A teacher slaps a kid across his face for everyone to see on the first day of school is part of her office? I cannot stand this place, it makes me sick to my stomach, not only because we are having such trouble with the most BASIC of services, but we are also facing a culture that sees all of this as acceptable. What a waste of money too. She charged me an evaluation, we bought all the school books and uniform and now we cannot take it back because consumers have little to no rights here! LDS_forever figures she can make good use of the books homeschooling Felipe. Needless to say we are done with looking for any schools.

Our Hope For Felipe

We wish to give Felipe a better future where; 1. He can receive proper medical and care, 2. Be in a social environment that is healthy for special needs children where corporal punishment is not used and 3. Where there is a chance for him to 'survive' later in life. It is our hope to eventually migrate to accomplish this. This site sells some of his art to help in this process of migrating to a better future. Do you have questions about questions? Check our FAQ page. Go to Felipe's page for Donations / Art.

* T&T, a country in the Caribbean