Coping and Caring for a Handicapped Child

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Kaitlyn Blackburn 03-27-12 Coping and Caring For a Handicapped Child Coping with a handicapped child can be very stressful. Caring for children with disabilities consists of a lot of work. Although there are many cons, there are also pros. As you read through this essay it will explain what you will go through and most of what you will have to do to care for a handicapped child. This article is based upon a toddler named Logan, whom is a survivor of Shaken Baby Syndrome. Logan cannot talk, walk, or eat by mouth. He cannot function like a normal child. He knows people by sound, more than by looking at us. Logan can see, but what he sees does not communicate with his brain. Therefore, he does not know what he is looking at. He is transported by wheelchair and eats through a feeding tube. When Logan was seven months old, his babysitter shook him so hard that it caused him to go into seizures. He did not call 911 until Logan’s father arrived at home three and a half hours later. He did not have the courtesy to call either one of the parents. Logan was suffering from lack of oxygen; this was the start of his situation. When his father called 911, they took him to Upper Chesapeake Medical Center and they medevac’d him to Johns Hopkins Medical Center where he was admitted into the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit. He was then diagnosed with severe brain damage. After two months of being at Johns Hopkins, Logan was transferred to Mt. Washington Medical Center. There, they decided that he was going to be a “vegetable” for the rest of his life. He was under hospital care for a total of three months. Logan had to have surgery to have a tube placed into his stomach. They would not release him from the hospital until he got the tube. The part that goes through to his stomach is referred to as a “button.” He receives PediaSure (liquid food supplement) through a bag,

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