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Home > Clarke Jacksonville > A Family's Story
A Family's Story
Frank, Monica and Zane Benintende's Story:
My name is Monica Benintende and my son is Zane. I would like to tell you my story. We came to Clarke Jacksonville from Miami, Florida. Zane, Apple (Zane's four-legged hairy sister, the Golden Retriever), and I have worked very hard at Clarke Jacksonville for the last two years.
Zane came for testing in May 2000 with Susan G. Allen, director, when he was 4 years old with VERY few words (i.e., mom, dad, Apple, yes, no, no more and a couple of choice not so good words). Susie thought summer school would be a good testing ground so we came. Zane made amazing progress in a short time! Zane has motor planning and processing issues, among others, that make learning difficult for him.
Between Susie, Alisa Beard, Cynthia Robinson, and Carolina Portocorreo, and a cast of others, Zane is amazing. My best friend once said that when we get Zane started, he's never gonna stop and that couldnąt be more true! All this work has been no easy task as my husband, Frank, lives in our house in Miami, along with our family and friends.
Going to Clarke Jacksonville is no different than any regular school. We have spelling, speech, math, science, and social studies.
One afternoon after school when we finished our work, I started making dinner. Apple was sitting under the dining room table and Zane was sitting on the floor next to her. Out of the mouths of babes, Zane has this one-sided conversation with Apple:
"Apple, you are three years old now and not speaking yet. I am going to send you to Susie for testing and then I want you to go to speech with Alisa and Meg." Then, it gets better. He asks me for the pots, pans and wooden spoons that I was not using. He proceeds to give Apple speech and brings out the skillet: "Here is a pan, Apple, and we make pancakes with it." Then he picks up the brown pan and says, "This is the brownie pan and the baking pan for chicken. Repeat what I just said." Then he promises Apple a biscuit if she does a good job.
From this little story, I guess you can see that the Clarke Jacksonville "formula" for learning to listen and speak is working for Zane, just not dogs yet.
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