Jeremiah's Circles

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Jeremiah was born with extensive brain damage including absent of the corpus callosum, porencephalic cyst of his brain, hydrocephalus, spastic quadriplegic cerebral palsy, a seizure disorder, and multiple visual deficits-including no depth perception. Jeremiah also had an unfair start in life having experienced the trauma of child abuse. Later he developed scoliosis as well.

Jeremiah was adopted at age 8. The doctor said it was surprising that this child could roll over by himself. At age 8, he was still wearing diapers and slept in his crib. Jeremiah was functioning at about 20 months. His new parents were told he would probably not function past 2 years old. But -Jeremiah had this smile, a smile you could never forget. He did learn to walk and he could mimic phrases. He asked repetitious questions and some delightfully surprising.

I remember one day, he was sitting with his new mom in the kitchen. He looked toward a newspaper on the table. "What's that?" he asked, pointing to a word. His new mom smiled. "That's a word," she said. That word is more. "Say more." And of course, Jeremiah could mimic words. "More," he said. That's when his new mom knew he could learn to read. And so it was. As Jeremiah read a word, mom wrote another word. Jeremiah was learning to read before he could say a meaningful sentence.

In middle school, mom integrated a condensed State Required Curriculum which only requires filling in easy multiple choice circles (Scantron test taking skills) versus writing sentences which was proven to be unsuccessful. What she realized she did, she broke the barrier and found a way to teach the labeled unteachable. They called his program Jeremiah's Circles. And that's how the spark of hope grew. In high school Jeremiah continued to revisit Jeremiah's Circles to promote self accomplishment and reinforcing his abilities.

Update: Jeremiah graduated from high school at age 21 with James, his assistant dog, leading him to the stage to receive his diploma. James wore a purple robe, just like Jeremiah. He found an excellent day program. He's doing well working on independent living skills and using new exercise tools and techniques. His new program is working with and building on his individual strengths.

The best news yet: He's developing in so many areas that it's difficult to document them all. Some abilities that no one saw previously are now being awakened. He is functioning more in the "real" world around him. Jeremiah continues to educate himself as he now has the tools to do so. Since he likes to make people feel good, he shares his accumulated knowledge and his enthusiasm with others.

And so his story continues on....