The book One Child by Torey Hayden was an excellent story told by a truly compassionate and caring educator. You could tell as you were reading the book that Torey had a heart for special education and emotionally disturbed children. She established her credibility from the beginning and kept me engaged in the story and locked on the story of Sheila’s life and educational journey. This story changed my views on the challenges of special education and melted the stereotypes that educators sometimes accuse special educators of proving them to be true.
Some shocking things that I read were the dialect that Sheila spoke in, the graphic wretchedness of sexual abuse, and the IQ of a six year old who was severely disturbed mentally and emotionally. On page eighty-one, the book describes Sheila as being a gifted child. She tested extremely high and was way above average intelligence. Her IQ test scores were up there with the geniuses of the world. I guess you could say she was a regular “Einstein”. People on the outside could only see the wrong that she had done and did not regard her IQ or giftedness as something special; but Torey say something and proceeded to cultivate it. Underneath that little shell of violence was a deeply, hurt, and a
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Every students learns things different ways, and Torey made sure she taught to accommodate each individual child’s learning style. She also taught them etiquette and manners and defined what typical classroom behavior consisted of. The students, in turn, listened to her and respected her both as an educator and a role model in life. They all had their kinks, but the all worked together and figured them out together. It was sort of a type of family concept. She had a gift for working with these type of students and helping them to reach their full potential and she had a gift for working with their families as well. Everyone has a different calling; for Torey, this was