Student Portfolio
Future Plans
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We picture a future for Kim where she will be a contributing member of society. We hope that she will have her own home and possibly a family. Financially, a home will be possible. A job will be necessary for the structure it will provide.
Will it happen? I think it is possible with some help. It won't be a typical life. There will need to be some supports, but we have seen tremendous growth with Kim, and as she matures, we hope some more of the pieces of information she needs will fall into place.
We can expose her to as many situations as possible and hope for the best, prepare for the worst and teach her as many skills as we can.
If we focus on her strengths and develop them, we
believe she will have a promising future. Kim has po
tential
if we can only find a way to maximize it. As parents we want the best for her
and we realize that our vision for her future will evolve and change over the
next few years. We will do what we must to ensure that she is safe and happy.
In the meantime, let me share a story with you.
There was a young lady with many mental and emotional problems far to numerous to mention. One of the main problems she had was that she was obsessed with smelling people's shoes.
The team that was involved with her supported living had just about given up on finding a job for her. They'd discussed a job in a shoe store but felt it would place the temptation to smell shoes much too close for comfort. After a brainstorming session, they finally came up with a job that would suit this young woman perfectly. Can you guess what it was?
She could work in a shoe repair shop. She had the ability to be able to tag a pair of shoes and give the person a claiming tag. The people could write their instructions on the tag that went on the shoes. When the shop wasn't busy, she could go in the back room and smell shoes to her heart's content. She just had to be taught that there are appropriate times and places for different behaviors and her team felt it was a skill she could learn.
An excellent, creative team was able to work with this young woman and give her a future by working with her strengths and allowing her to be able to indulge in her inappropriate compulsion.
That story gives me hope. We have far more to work with for Kim. In the meantime, I leave you with two quotes that give me hope.
A
glimpse is not a vision. But to a man on a
mountain road at night, a glimpse of the next
three feet of road may matter more than a
vision of the horizon.
---C.S. Lewis
We
must accept finite disappointment,
but we must never lose infinite hope.
---Martin Luther King, Jr.