Antonio and his ripple effect...

Antonio’s Report

This morning I’ve just returned from a one hour consultation with a child psychologist who happens to be a very strong Christian woman. She has been evaluating Antonio for 3 weeks; giving him tests, talking with him, and measuring his various capabilities. This morning she gave me the following report summarized in my own words:

Antonio has a very high level of ADD, is epileptic, and has moderate retardation. These situations can never be reversed or ‘fixed’ and so, we must do the best we can to enable Antonio to live with these handicaps. That means continued visits with the psychologist, a tutor, and private sessions with a linguist and emotional therapist. She suggests that we continue Antonio in normal schooling for the time being so he can learn basic math, reading, and communication skills; but she warns us that the other kids will quickly outdistance Antonio and he will begin to rebel against a formal school setting.

Her evaluations show that Antonio, who is 11 years old, is functioning at a 6 years, 5 months level…and his linguistic skills are much lower than that.

He demonstrates the following emotional traits:

· Consumed by irrelevant details

· Is negative

· Displays anxiety toward school work

· Is hostile toward school work

· Tends to give up easily

· Suffers mental blocks

· Rebels against authority figures

· Strongly dependent

· Impossible to control impulsive behavior

His personality shows:

· Fights for no reason

· Fantasizes

· Does not feel affection in the home; doesn’t believe the home is permanent

· Doubts

· Feels inadequate

· Indecisive

· Defensive

· Feels isolated

· Dependent

· Insecure

Corporate Image:

· Feels fault

· Inadequate

· Rejects authority

· Rigid

· Tense

· Abandoned

· Loss of autonomy

· Sexual preoccupation

· Impulsive

· Doesn’t adapt well

·

Antonio’s verbal skills and vocabulary recognition levels are at 4 years, one month!

Achenbach test indicates:

· Depression

· Anxiety

· Impulsiveness

· Hyperactivity

· Low self esteem

· Immaturity

Overall conclusion:

· Moderate mental deficiency

· Heavy language retardation

· ADD & hyperactive

· Emotionally unstable

· Bed wetter

She tells us that Antonio’s problems are long term and that we cannot expect to see much change in the immediate future. Her first recommendation is to get Antonio a room of his own and to separate the other boys as well. You all know the problems with this: no room and no money!

Joyce and I have recognized for quite some time that in order to move the children further ahead in their developmental skills they need to have some separation so they can begin to get a sense of “self”. As it is now they are all crowded into rooms meant for one person and it retards their individual development and lends to their doing things they know they shouldn’t be doing. As you all know when children are always together in a confined area they will encourage each other to do silly things they know are not acceptable. Hence we have punishment instead of rewards for good behavior.

These kids all have so many deep, deep problems to overcome that are not easily discerned at first blush. Building confidence, trust, reliability are difficult tasks when we are constantly fighting with them to try to maintain control. They have come a long, long way and are all great kids; but if we are to carry out this assignment as we feel God intends we must do much more. We don’t believe we were sent here to simply ‘socialize’ these children…to get them to the point where they can ‘fit into’ society. We believe we were sent to raise disciples of Jesus who can make a difference in this country. In order to accomplish that; or to have a better chance to accomplish that we need to make some serious changes! The first is we need a much larger home!

Joyce & I recently looked at home in a great neighborhood with a huge walled yard. The house is in excellent shape, very spacious, filled with closets and storage (which is impossible to find here), 5 bathrooms, and the ‘down side’ only 3 bedrooms. However, there is ample room to build a simple wing where we could add seven single bedrooms and utilize the existing baths. The home is closer to both of the children’s school and the neighborhood has a great park/playground inside the guarded, fenced neighborhood. The asking price is $265,000, but we’ve been told we could get it for $240,000. There is enough land with the home to park the drill rig, the air compressor, the truck and still have a huge play area for the children; larger than the park they go to at our current location.

So, how do we make this happen? We don’t know, but we feel as if it’s what needs to happen. Are there people out there who would make an investment in this home and allow us to pay rent on it? Are there benefactors who will purchase the home? Are there people who will write grants for the purchase of the home? We don’t know what the answer is, but we do know we need your help, your ideas, your support.

We believe God has a special plan for these children…look at all that has happened for them and to them already. And look at all of you who have been knit into their lives already…together we are making a difference, but it is only the beginning and we need more partners to help us reach the goals God has set before us. Please share this, please appeal to your friends, your churches, your business associates to join us in this work of God!

In Him,

Bob & Joyce