Everyone Grieves: Stories about Individuals with Disabilities and Grief($10.30Value)

Description

The book consists of seven stories about children, adolescents, and young adults with disabilities who experience a death loss. There are stories about individuals with cognitive disabilities, emotional and behavioral disabilities, autism, and physical disabilities. Each story includes ideas and rituals that care providers may be able to use to help others who are grieving. Everyone Grieves Stories about Individuals with Disabilities and Grief By Marc A. Markell Trafford Publishing Copyright © 2013 Marc A. Markell Ph.D., CT All rights reserved. ISBN: 978-1-4907-1723-4 CHAPTER 1 You Will Always BeIn My Heart Sam has brown hair, brown eyes, and has something calledDown Syndrome. He is 7 years old, has a dog named Sniff,and loves to watch movies. He can't learn some things as quickly as other children do, but hedoes learn a lot. He even reads books to his Mommy and Daddy,and usually he doesn't make any mistakes. Sam loves going to his Grandmother's house. He calls her Grammy,and she lives only a few blocks away from his house. He feels veryproud that he can walk to Grammy's house all by himself. Grammy and Sam love playing games together. Grammy is alwaysvery patient when Sam has a difficult time learning the rules. Sam teaches Grammy songs that he learns at school. When theysang one song they both liked, they would laugh and laugh whenthey sang the words, "A peanut sat on a railroad track, His heartwas all a-flutter. Round the bend came number ten. Toot! Toot!Peanut butter! SQUISH!" Grammy and Sam love to sing together.Sam is always very patient when Grammy has a hard time learningsongs. One day when Sam came home from school, his father was at home.Daddy usually wasn't at home when Sam came from school. Daddy told Sam that Grammy had died during the day. Sam couldtell by Daddy's voice that he was very unhappy. Sam asked Daddy what it meant that Grammy died. Daddy told Sam that Grammy's body stopped working. She couldnot see, or hear, or touch, or talk anymore. Sam was confused. He asked Daddy how Grammy would be ableto play and sing with him. Daddy told Sam that Grammy would not be able to play and singanymore. Since Sam and Grammy couldn't sing and play, Sam wondered ifthey could watch movies together. Daddy told Sam that Grammywould not be able to do anything anymore. Sam started to cry. Daddy started to cry too. Daddy told Sam that it wasOK to cry. Daddy said that it is very sad when someone you love dies. Daddy told Sam that even though Grammy was dead, her memorieswould always be in Sam's heart. Sam asked if Daddy was going to die too. Daddy said that everyonedies and that someday he would die too, but it probably wouldn'tbe for a very long time. Sam cried again. Daddy said that if Mommy or he would die there would be someoneto take care of Sam. Even though Sam felt sad that someday hisMommy and Daddy's bodies wouldn't work anymore, he was gladthat if they died, someone would take care of him. The next morning Sam and his Daddy and Mommy went to thefuneral home to make arrangements. Making arrangements meantthat they were getting ready for Grammy's funeral. They were goingto have a funeral for Grammy so that everyone could say goodbyeto her. Sam helped pick out the casket that Grammy's bodywould be in. The casket was a very pretty blue box big enough forGrammy's body. It had a soft satin lining and pillow. He thought theblue one would be pretty. Grammy liked the color blue. Many of Grammy's friends and family came to her funeral. It wasboth a sad and happy gathering. People cried, but people alsotalked about how great Grammy was. Sam liked it when peopletalked about how Grammy was fun and caring, and made peoplelaugh. Grammy's body in the casket looked different from when he saw hersleeping. Mommy told Sam that Grammy wasn't sleeping, and Samremembered what Daddy had told him about how Grammy's bodydid not work anymore. At the church the minister talked about Grammy. The minister saidthat Grammy loved Sam very much. When the minister said this,Sam smiled and then cried. He liked hearing how much Grammyloved him, and he was sad that he and Grammy would not be ableto see each other anymore. Then they took Grammy in her blue casket to a place called acemetery. The cemetery was pretty. Sam thought that Grammywould like that her body would be there below the tall trees andamong the flowers. The minister said some more things aboutGrammy at the cemetery, and then they put the casket withGrammy's body into the ground. Sam cried when the casket was inthe ground. It was very sad for Sam to leave Grammy's body there. After Sam, his Mommy, and Daddy left the cemetery, they went backto the church and had lunch. Sam missed Grammy while they wereeating, but they ate some of the foods that Grammy liked. They hadhotdogs with a lot of onions, potato chips, and chocolate chip cookies. When they went home, Sam felt strange. It felt like Grammy wasjust on a trip, and she would be back, but he knew that w