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A memorable assignment that left a great impact on me was in my junior year of high school, assigned by my English teacher. The assignment was a research project on children with disabilities, there were many topics to choose from, and the topic I chose was Autism. The reason being is due to has a sister named Task, who has severe autism. The assignment is so memorable to me, because learned so many great things about children with autism. Researching the disability opened my eyes in a new perspective on life for my sister.
For instance, at the time she was five years old, and the English language was unfamiliar to ere, she was unable to neither read, write nor speak. After researching more on the issue, I was enlightened by the idea that there was hope for her to be able to learn the English language. After three years of being in school she can now speak, and familiarize words with things she needs. ‘What, Me Read” by Seven Briskets informs the reader on important aspects of learning language and becoming an excellent reader as a whole.
His story relates to my story on autism because the author makes it appoint that in order for one to learn to read they must first listen, hear what is being taught, an pay attention. Brisker explains this very well in his essay he believed the inner reach come from hearing what it is your actually reading. His analogies were in fact correct; I witnessed them with my own eyes. My sister wouldn’t have come this far if she didn’t pay attention to what was taught to her, nor if she didn’t listen to the teachers teaching her how to speak. My sister’s situation is very similar to the obstacles faced in “Everything Has A Name” by Helen Keller.
In the essay Helen was a blind and deaf child who faced everyday struggles due to her condition. It was amazing when Helen could anally assimilate the differences between her everyday surroundings such as her doll, mother, father etc. The beginning of a new revelation for Helen is when she assimilated the feel of the water on her hands, with the letters w-a-t-e-r on her other hand. This brings her so much joy when she figures out that there’s hope for her to learn many more words, and she no longer has to live in a world of darkness. Her story was quite fascinating to me, because was able to relate her story with my sisters story.
Both Helen and my sister had hope, and saw the light t the end of the tunnel. They wanted to expand their language to more complex levels, because in fact language is the heart of everyday life. My autistic sister has definitely come a long way with learning language, she still has to overcome many more obstacles such as learning to read and write, but if Helen Keller was deaf and blind and she learned such things, then there is definite hope for my sister. There are many wonders on how powerful language actually is, each and everyday I’m amazed on what can be learned from language itself.