MOVE

MOVE provides moving stories

Thursday, June 21, in Bakersfield was hot -- 90 degrees plus. The kind of day that would motivate very few people to walk outdoors let alone take on a strenuous activity. Inside the Kern County Superintendent of Schools Office (KCSOS) on 17th Street, three youngsters in assisted walking apparatuses were giving it all the energy they had so that someday they might be able to walk outside on their own. Observing, helping and taking notes were 36 adults who had come from as far away as Jasper, FL and Rifton, NY to take part in a two-day training offered by an organization called MOVE (Mobility Opportunities Via Education) International. MOVE operates through KCSOS, where it originated in 1986 through the vision and persistence of special education teacher Linda Bidabe. Smiling eight-year-old Jazzmin Samuel had gathered quite a crowd around her in the hall. Standing straight up, supported by restraints, she slowly moved forward with great effort in her wheeled-apparatus with the encouragement of dozens. Each time she did, her father Eric and mother Tegdra smiled broadly. It was a long trip from Jasper, FL to Bakersfield for the Samuels. But, then the road has been long, ever since Jazzmin was diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy (CP) at birth. More
Posted: 6/25/07; 1:57:38 PM | Permalink(#)


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