IDOLS

This is a bulletin board of auto badges that I took for a foster boy that we took back in 2004. This child had severe mental problems. We had no idea how serious they were until we tried to teach him anything. He was ten years old with absolutely now foundation in his mind upon which to build. It took us about a year and a half to teach him how to tell time. It took that long to teach him how to tie his shoes. It was evident, as we worked with him that he had been abandoned by the family that he grew up with as he had never been to school, had to find his own food and anything else that he wanted. As we would take him for walks around the city, we would see him pluck certain grasses and leaves and eat them. He knew which ones were good and which ones would harm him.

In every other respect, he appeared as any child of ten. If we took him to a playground, he would swing to a point where he would nearly go over the bar that was holding the swing, unaware of the danger he was putting himself in. This child was a real challenge. The auto badges on this board were photos I took in order to make a match game we could play with him. This worked to an extent as he loved to be around cars and could name nearly all of them.

When we finally had to give him up for several reasons, he went to an institution where he had 24 hour surveillance. We visited him about a month after he left our home and he had no idea how to tie his shoes or how to tell time. We felt so distressed about him as we obviously were not able to help him.

The Cadillac at the bottom of the board was the one I gave away before I came to Israel 26 years ago.