The girl in the window

Exactly. My mom's worked in public schools for more than two decades, and I remember her saying the cutoff for special-ed is either 70 or 75.

 

My God.

 

It's 70 for mild mental handicap, although a child with a higher IQ may qualify for MMH with low adaptive behavior scores or as LD with achievement that is less than would be expected.

 

That was quite the read. It affected me quite deeply. Good writing, incredibly moving story. I appreciated how the writer let the story speak without getting in the way. I, too, would enjoy numerous follow-ups. I'm glad I came to this site today, simply because it caused me to read this.

 

The adoptive family is amazing. Feel sorry for brother William, though, who got shunted off to a day bed wedged against the washing machine. Poor little guy was too scared to sleep down there, even with the security(!) of a walkie-talkie. Here's hoping he gets his own bedroom in the new house and doesn't get overlooked.

 

Heartbreaking to hear her brother's description, right in the beginning.

 

The adoptive parents (and the big brother) are saints walking among us. What fantastic people. I hope for all the best for them.

What great journalism, too. Perfect execution of written word and multimedia elements.

 

Personally, people like that really shouldn't be allowed to have children. That was the most surprising thing to me too - not just that she allowed herself to be interviewed, but that she couldn't comprehend why what she did warranted her daughter being removed from the house. She couldn't get the fact that it wasn't just that the house was dirty - the kid had obviously never been hugged in her life. Child abuse doesn't just rest on not feeding a child, not allowing them out in public. It goes down to mentally as well.

I admire him, because he sounded like he was willing to do whatever he could to help his new sister. The part where he said he hopes one day that she'll respond when he says good night...that's what really hit me.

It's well-written and good lord, now I feel like crying. The fact that this is still going on in 2008 makes me incredibly sad for the world we live in.

 

Better than hopes. He knows she will. Faith of a child, sure, but just to have that positive force is going to help her tremendously.

With the family having moved out of state, it's going to be difficult to do follow-up stories, but I do hope they'll make the effort.

 

It's so terrible to hear what this poor little girl went through in her first seven years of life. My mother-in-law is a foster parent for special needs babies (mostly crack babies), but she's never had one quite as disconnected as this little girl.

 

That's because "dusty in here" is used for schmaltzy scenes that are designed to play with your emotions, like when Kevin Costner asks his dad if he wants to have a catch at the end of Field of Dreams or when Bambi's mother dies.

With something like this, which is so obviously heartbreaking and sad (while rage-inducing at the same time), there's no need to make up a silly excuse for why there are tears in your eyes.

 

So no one is going to make a Poynter crack and rail about stories being written just to win contests?