Magdalena is an eleven year old girl who resides in Casa San Antonio here on the farm. She is well known for her great energy and amazing smile. Due to some cognitive and intellectual disabilities she has struggled in school since her arrival to the farm 4 years ago. Over the years many teachers have spent hours upon hours to help meet her individual needs.
Over the past year, as the special education teacher in the school, I have been blessed to be able to continue this work. Recently she has focused on reading a book all by herself. I consistently tried to give her very basic books to read; and in true Magdalena fashion, she consistently chose a different book to read from my classroom, always proving more difficult. She is a smart girl, and knew that when she was ready, the book would be there, but until then all would just have to wait.
On Tuesday, September 6, 2011 that book finally arrived. After finishing up her homework during her tutoring with me, she asked if there was still time to read. Since we still had some time, I told her of course, and she proceeded to choose the book Spot se pasa la noche (Spot spends the night). She asked me how to pronounce the name Spot from the title, and then proceeded to page one reading every word syllable by syllable.
When she reached the half way point I asked her if she realized that she was only 6 pages away from reading it all on her own. She simply smiled and turned to the next page.
I do not know if she or I was more nervous when we finally arrived at the last page. She was literally only a sentence away from her big goal. She continued on word by word like the calm champion she is.
When she finished that last word, I turned the page for her to show her that she had finished the book all on her own. She gave me a semi blank stare; then when she saw me begin to literally jump in excitement for her, she broke out one of her infectious smiles and began to laugh in pure joy. She then gave me a big hug, and ran off to her house yelling for her tia (house aunt) wanting to share her exciting news.
That afternoon Magdalena and I both told everyone we encountered the joyful news. She continued to exude pure joy ad pride in her grand accomplishment for the rest of the week to come. In a moment of such grace and joy, one cannot help but to grow in hope for Miss Magdalena, and all our kids here at the farm. They are truly amazing kids, and blessings in our lives.
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