[nagdu] La Vergne welcomes 'classmate'

[Ginger Kutsch]

January 13, 2010
Source:
http://www.tennessean.com/print/article/D4/20100113/NEWS01/113032
6/La-Vergne-welcomes-classmate
La Vergne welcomes 'classmate'
The Tennessean
BY CHASITY GUNN

LA VERGNE - Sixth-graders at La Vergne Middle learned how to
interact with their newest classmate Tuesday afternoon.
 
This new student is a little different from the other middle
schoolers. Salsa won't have to take tests, do homework or read
any books. Instead, her only job is to follow student Destiny
O'Brien around and to warn those around her when she is about to
have a seizure.
 
The golden retriever is considered Rutherford County Schools'
first service dog.
 
"We don't touch the dog," Shirley Bell, special education
coordinator for County Schools, told the students.
 
Students also cannot feed the dog.
 
O'Brien, 11, has Landau-Kleffner syndrome, an extremely rare
epileptic disorder that attacks the language center of the brain
and causes life-threatening seizures at random. Salsa can sense
the onset of O'Brien's seizures about 40 minutes before they
occur. She'll circle around O'Brien alerting those around her.
 
A teacher will contact the school nurse who will put O'Brien in a
comfortable area, explained Dirk Ash, principal.
 
Last Monday, the school sent out a letter to parents notifying
them of Salsa's arrival.
 
"We've have no complaints from parents," Ash said.
 
He said no students have listed dog hair as an allergy.
 
"We have the ability to put them in one or two mini schools (if
that ever became an issue)," Ash said.
 
Karen Nelson, an orientation and mobility specialist, and Jessica
Beecham, who works at Special Kids, taught the students how to be
around service dogs and how they should respond to them.
 
Beecham, 24, has limited vision and has a guide dog, Pippen. The
German shepherd sat quietly beside her as she talked to the
sixth-graders Tuesday.
 
"It should be like your dog was not here," she told the students.
"He shouldn't be a bother or hindrance to anyone else."
 
Beecham said service dogs receive a rabies vaccination every
three years and must be properly groomed.
 
"Awareness of service dogs is very important," she said. "I hope
that the students understand that service animals are valuable
tools."
 
-----------------------------------------------------------------
---------------
 
 
 


Ginger Bennett Kutsch
Morristown, NJ