My Best Friend and Me

Pam Harless
Assignment 2
Section A # 2

Crisis Situation
My daughter was diagnosed with epilepsy when she was 5 years old. Her first seizures were around her little friends. Seizures are very scary to see even to adults. I spoke to some of the neighborhood kids and tried to explain to them what was happening to her.
  I told them that she was just like them except that her brain sometimes sparks (lack of a better word) and she looses control of her body. I told them she would not hurt them because she didn’t realize what she’s doing when it happens. They asked me why she would let her tongue roll out and I said that was just something that happened, but not to be scared. I told them they could help a lot if she ever had a seizure to come and get me or any adult closest to them. I also explained that she would probably go to sleep but that was ok.
  I told them that it was like someone having an asthma attack and needing to use a machine to help them breath better, or wearing glasses because they can’t see good, or wearing a hearing aid because they can’t hear good. I told them that she has medicine but that sometimes it doesn’t help.
  I also went to the school and talked to the teacher about her condition and what to expect so she could tell the other children.
  I never had to tell a classroom but I did tell her friends. At age 24 she had brain surgery and they removed the affected part from her right temporal lobe, and she has been seizure free since. She is still on medication and always will be to be on the safe side. The down side was she lost a lot of her short term memory with the surgery.

Pam Harless
Section B # 2 and 3

If I understand motherese it’s talking in a light higher pitched voice. You automatically talk to an infant this way, it’s just the way you do, and it’s like the natural thing to do. It’s like talking in baby talk; I even talk to my dogs like that. I work in the infant room and my room is across from the 1 year old room so... [continues]

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