Dani

Dani’s Story www.danisstory.org Danielle was found in a filthy roach infested house in Plant city. The police had come to the house on a complaint to child protective services. When they found her she was wearing only a diaper she was alone in a dark room curled into a ball on a mattress laying on the floor. There were stacks of diapers surrounding her, and the one that she was wearing was saturated and leaking urine down her leg. The malnourished six year old was not potty trained, could not speak, and could not feed herself. After six weeks at Tampa General she was released into foster care. A couple named Bernie and Diane adopted her and started calling her Dani. Dani now has a new life with parents who love her, and take care of her. She is potty trained and feeds herself. Though she cannot speak, Dani uses hand signals to interpret what she is trying to say. She gives hugs and kisses and has made progress in the special Ed class at school. She has an older brother who adores her and takes every opportunity to help her learn. He is happy to have someone to play with and keep him company. The possibilities are endless for Dani all her parents can do is love and support her and pray for the best. George Herbert Mead’s “Role Taking” theory states that a child will assume the role of another person and then judge themselves from the viewpoint of that other person. Children first get their values from their parents and teachers, these are specific roles. The “generalized other” stages begin when the children start to learn values from school, community, and society. There are three stages of the “generalized other.” The first stage is imagination. In imagination a child will imitate others without understanding what they are doing. This stage ends around age three. The next stage is play. Children pretend to be someone else because they like something about them. This stage ranges from ages 3-6yrs old. The final stage is games. A child