This paper is an analysis of the book, Ryan: A M
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This paper is an analysis of the book, Ryan: A Mother's Story of Her Hyperactive/Tourette Syndrome Child, by Susan Hughes, a first-person narrative of a mother's struggle to understand, deal with, and correctly diagnose the problems she encountered in raising her second child. The book is especially useful for the social work professional because it portrays a complex and difficult situation from the perspective of the nonprofessional who first encounters it. Hughes shows the frustrations that a layperson confronts in coming to terms with the fact that a problem exists and the obstacles that often stand in the way of getting help from the social work and medical community. The book reminds professionals that the problems with which they are trained to deal originate with individuals who usually do not have the training to diagnose them but who must deal with the consequences every day. The helping professions exist to ease the suffering caused by medical, psychological, social, and economic problems experienced on a personal level, and the caring professional must be sensitive to the needs of individuals and families in trouble in order to form effective working partnerships. Susan and Jim Hughes were the proud parents of a healthy, normal 3-year-old daughter, Julie, when Susan became pregnant with their second child. The pregnancy was difficult; doctors estimated that the baby would be very small at birth, though this estimate turned out to be wrong. Ryan James Hug
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recommendation of medication. She observes, "Although his opinion echoed that of Ryan's pediatrician and what I already knew in my heart to be true, it was the confirmation that I needed at the time" (p. 36).
Her research helped her to notice strange behaviors in Ryan that were not attributable to the diagnosis of attention deficit disorder. For instance, Ryan sometimes began to babble, repeating words or phrases obsessively for several minutes at a time, before returning to his regular activities. He also sometimes reversed letters or words, causing his mother to wonder if he might also be dyslexic.
Because Hughes served as a teacher's aide in Ryan's classroom, she was able to watch his progress as he entered formal schooling situations. Jim Hughes was a public school teacher, experience which made both parents better able to communicate Ryan's special needs with his teachers. Nevertheless, the Hughes family still had to fight hard to get their son the special education help they knew he needed. On more than one occasion, they had to argue against hasty or contradictory evaluations by the expert professionals within Ryan's school system, in order to attain the most useful and effective placements for their son.
They
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Approximate Word count = 1789
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page)
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