Last Saturday, my two homeschooling children met other homeschoolers to cap off the celebration of the “Buwan ng Wika” or National Language Month.

They played a lot of games that we as children played when we were younger (and more agile). Due to the influx of high-tech games and gadgets I found it a bit ironic that the rules have to be explained well to them when years (ok, decades) ago, we know how to play these games easily.

Good thing there was a place for events like these. There were electrical sockets for electronic gadgets like the speakers and music player we used. I just didn’t notice though if there were mounts for other things like tv or monitors.

The park where we had the event was very near where we live. In fact it is just beside the hospital where I gave birth to my son.

Last time I went there was more than a decade ago and yes, I can’t remember how it looked like before.

We rarely venture inside, until last Saturday.

And boy, what was inside came as a big surprise!

Lookie here:

It is not just a wonderful surprise, it is breathtaking!

This is in the middle of four very busy highways and a several meters from two very big malls.

I wish we could go back here soon.

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There are some people who, though briefly we have met them, gave a considerable impact to our lives. We may have met them briefly, worked with them or even met them just once but they left a somewhat lasting impression.

Yes, these people are few and far between. In my career as a teacher, I have encountered students who made these impressions with me and very few of them, I worked with very briefly.

This thought came to me last night when we were on our way to our favorite fast food place. My youngest daughter said “orange” in a way that was familiar. Yes, she too remembered a student I once had, IT. It may have been the way he pronounced the word that daughter remembered but it was more than that to me.

IT has been “passed on” to the other special ed teacher in the center where I used to work due to scheduling problems. It has been more than a year since I saw him so it came as a surprise when my youngest daughter remembered him.

IT came to me by accident. He was not referred by a doctor. They came looking for me because his mother was referred to go to that center by an OT they have been seeing in another center. He has been diagnosed with autism but I think the parents are in denial about the condition, especially the father.

He was not too enthusiastic to learn at first. It took a Superman action figure “speaking” to him to make him sit down and do the tasks prepared for him. Later on, it took Mr Potato head to give the instructions.

Together we learned to write his name. Together we learned to do rote counting, reading the number words as we went along. Together we learned about colors and how these are colors names are read. Together we learned about shapes and how these can be drawn. Together we learned to sing action songs.

I am curious how IT is now and where he is placed in terms of school placement.

I am thankful that I got the chance to work with IT. I learned a lot from him and from his mom who is very understanding.

One more thought…

Children with special needs can not be grouped by POS systems like merchandise on display even if they have the same diagnosis because they are all different from one another.

They can not be labeled with precision and related sameness and compared with other children who have the same diagnosis.

On hindsight, perhaps IT was not given to me “by accident”, he was given to me on purpose.

Rippled waters of Loboc River in Bohol. Credits for my then 13 year old daughter (she just turned 14 a few days ago) who has an eye for great angles in taking photos.

See some samples of her photos here. No, she does not want to further develop this skill, I don’t know why. She shies away from compliments and says her photos are blurry.

I have been convincing her of course but she said she would rather be involved in designing things or a business course. Perhaps she wants to be a business plan writer on the side.

To those familiar with the Loboc River Ride, my daughter and our relatives took the smaller boat ride and not the bigger one that’s why the photo was taken at a lower angle.

We are off to an activity with homeschoolers today (which means no teaching load in the morning) -> I will be visiting entries later.

Happy weekend y’all!

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Yesterday while having lunch with my family and a student’s mom, we talked about laptop problems. I was amazed at how expensive repairs can be, almost the cot of a brand new laptop or a cost of a used high-end one.

Student’s mom is a Mac user, so yes, it is quite expensive trip to the service centers if problems are present.

We jumped from one topic to another until we discussed online backup of files which seem to be a good alternative in keeping files.

Why the topic? It seems that hard drives can be unreliable at times. Plus CDs/DVDs as back-up can also be unreliable because files are bound to have problems if ever the disk encounters problems. So it is a good idea to not scrimp the budget for buying these things if you want your files to last.

What kind of file storage do you use?

PHiD-CV vaccine gives broader protection against pneumococcal diseases and extends protection against  acute otitis media.Glaxo-SmithKline (GSK) had the Asian launching in the Philippines of its new 10-valent next generation pneumococcal non-typeable Haemophilus influenzae protein  D conjugate vaccine or PHiD-CV.

The World Health Organization reports that up to 2 million people die  of pneumococcal disease every year and half of this are children under five years of age. Other causes are from serious conditions like the streptococcus pneumoniae are meningitis and blood infection to less severe but prevalent diseases like otitis media, sinusitis and bronchitis.

Around 90% of deaths from these conditions happen to children in developing countries.

So why is it important to have children under five years old vaccinated against pneumococcal disease?

“Pneumococcal disease is the leading vaccine-preventable disease in children under five,” according to Prof. Lulu Bravo, Vice-Chancellor for Research and Executive Director, National Institute of Health, University of the Philippines, Manila.

The new PHiD-CV also gives protection against a common bacterial pathogen called Nontypable haemophilus influenzae or NTHi, which with S. pneumoniae causes around 40% of otitis media. Acute Otitis Media or AOM can be recurrent and harder to treat, which could lead to hearing loss thereby affecting speech and language development, according to Dr. Gretchen Navarro-Locsin, Pediatric Otorhinolaryngologist Vice Chair at St. Luke’s Medical Center.

Why is it important to include the importance of protection against NTHi?

Dr. Norman Begg, Vice President, Medical Governance, GSK Biologicals in Belgium, explained how these overlap and are closely related. Please see the diagram below:

The Research Institute of Tropical Medicine’s, Dr. Nancy Bermal, a Pediatric Infectious Disease Specialist and her colleagues administered PHiD-CV along with DPT/HBV/Hib and PolioVirus Vaccine and got these results:

What does the PHiD-CV cover?

PHiD-CV provides broader protection to children under five years against pneumococcal disease and AOM. It can also help prevent more IPD for three pneumococcal strains 1, 5 and 7F which accounts for a proportion of severe  IPD or about 18% occurrence in Asia.

Who can  have this PHiD-CV?

Active immunization of infants from six weeks to up to 2 years of age against disease caused by S. pneumoniae strains 1, 4, 5, 6B, 7F, 9V, 114, 18C, 19F and 23F and against AOM caused by NTHi.

Would you want a love one to be one of which the statistics in the case fatality rate?

Of course not.

Ask you doctor about PHiD-CV now.

Good thing it was artificial. Here is a part of our artificial Christmas tree with some home-made trimmings.

But still, younger kids would be frightened when they see a big one like this. I don’t know if its just me. I don’t like these kinds of things. Too fake.

Have a great weekend y’all!

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