Celebrate the Children
  • Home
  • About
    • Why Celebrate the Children? >
      • Our Philosophy
      • Our Mission
      • Approach >
        • Best Practice Guidelines
        • DIR®
        • Functional Emotional Developmental Levels
        • FCD® & The 5 C's
    • Staff >
      • Our Leadership Team
      • Board of Directors
      • Staff
      • PSO- Parent Staff Organization
      • History
    • Testimonials
    • Academic Calendar
    • Careers
  • Academics & Programs
    • Extended School Year 2025
    • Developmental Preschool Program
    • K-12 Programs
    • Transition Program
    • Young Adult Program
    • After School Program
    • Sara Ann Rickles Center For independent Living
    • CTC Outreach Program
  • Events
    • 1st Annual Neurodiversity Walk >
      • 2025 Digital Program Book
    • Spring Concert 2025: On the Road Again! >
      • Spring Concert 2025: Sponsorship Opportunities
      • Spring Concert 2025: Program Ads
    • Ride for Autism 2025
    • Open House
  • Admissions
  • Support
    • Stanley's Pantry
    • Tree of Life
    • Gift Bricks
  • Newsletter
    • Student Spotlight
    • Staff Spotlight
    • Letter from the Executive Director
    • Community Spotlight
    • Education HQ
    • Floortime
    • Behavior Team
    • C.A.R.E.S. Corner
    • Physical Therapy
    • Occupational Therapy
    • Speech-Language Pathology
  • Media
    • Read
    • Watch
    • Listen
    • Blog
  • Resources
    • Dr. Temple Grandin at CTC
    • Recommended Reading, Resources & Materials >
      • Profectum Parent Toolbox
    • CTC Connections
    • Proud Partners
    • Certificate of Employee Information Report
    • Lead in Drinking Water Report >
      • Contact
  • Blog

Blog

Life Lessons

4/12/2017

0 Comments

 
I've had a problem with my hip for the past year.  I tried everything alternative to surgery that I could think of:  physical therapy, acupuncture, chiropractic, and deep tissue massage.  While all of this was wonderful and may have delayed surgery for a while, it came to the point this past summer where the pain and lack of mobility was getting to be too much.  The pain increasingly got worse and I finally gave in and decided to get hip replacement surgery - something I was terrified of.

I never had major surgery in a hospital in my life.  I had three children but I did so as natural as I could - never even had an epidural - even though I had them in the hospital.   I had to surrender and trust this doctor and hospital basically with my life.  I had to trust that this would be the best decision I could make for myself and that was really hard for me.  The world would tell me every horror story possible about why this could possibly not be a good choice - and I had to stay focused and not be swayed by what I heard or read or saw.  Time passed and the time for surgery came - I had to surrender and trust.  

I woke up from the surgery feeling amazing - my experience in the hospital was amazing.  Everyone was kind, efficient, and really cared about helping me get better.  I was up walking that night with hardly any pain - certainly much less than I had before the surgery.  I learned to go up stairs, get in and out of my car, and go from a walker to a cane within a day.  I was home the day after surgery.  There was recovery of course, learning my limitations, and learning to let my body heal and just slow down.  I had to let others take care of me (boy was that hard!!!!).  Many times I had to look at things and tell myself - "not yet".  I also had to take things much slower and give myself extra time and figure out how to support myself through difficult movements.  Physical Therapy was so hard and painful, but my body was responding, and I was able to SLOWLY move easier.
​

This whole experience made me a better teacher at Celebrate the Children.  I looked at my student's through different eyes.  I knew how it felt when my body wouldn't work the way I wanted it to.  I now understood what it was like to have to look at a location and figure out how I could get there and how long it would take or if my body could do that yet.  I understood how hard physical therapy was and making my body move the way it didn't want to move and the processing time involved.  I understood the frustration, the fear, and foreboding of certain situations and movements.  My body heals and gets stronger every day and many movements are much easier than even before the surgery. I am thankful and grateful for the whole experience and feel so much more connected to our students and how they often feel. Now I can let them know I understand.

Paula Paglione, Teacher, Celebrate the Children
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Authors

    Contributions to this blog are made by Celebrate the Children's highly talented, interdisciplinary team and wonderful families.

    Archives

    January 2022
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    November 2019
    July 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    November 2016
    October 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013

    Categories

    All
    Autism
    Community
    Development
    Engagement
    Experience Based Learning
    Experience The World
    Joint Attention
    Meaningful
    Parent Perspective
    Relationships
    Respect
    Self Regulation
    Self-Regulation
    Sensory Processing
    Sensory-Processing
    Social
    Special Needs
    Trust
    Unique Profile

    RSS Feed

OUR SCHOOL
About
Academics & Programs
Admissions
School Calendar
Support
Events
Media
Blog
Resources
Careers
UPCOMING EVENTS
School Closed- Memorial Day
Friday, May 23, 2025- Tuesday, May 27, 2025

Save the Date: Ride For Autism
Saturday, June 7, 2025

Save the Date: Spring Concert
Wednesday, June 11, 2025

DOE-Approved E.S.Y. Program
July 1, 2025- August 1st, 2025


CONTACT CTC
​230 Diamond Spring Road
Denville, New Jersey 07834    
ph: (973) 989.4033      
fax : (862) 244.4969

Interested in learning more about our program? 
Email Our Admissions Coordinator
Picture
Picture
Picture
2025 Celebrate the Children
  • Home
  • About
    • Why Celebrate the Children? >
      • Our Philosophy
      • Our Mission
      • Approach >
        • Best Practice Guidelines
        • DIR®
        • Functional Emotional Developmental Levels
        • FCD® & The 5 C's
    • Staff >
      • Our Leadership Team
      • Board of Directors
      • Staff
      • PSO- Parent Staff Organization
      • History
    • Testimonials
    • Academic Calendar
    • Careers
  • Academics & Programs
    • Extended School Year 2025
    • Developmental Preschool Program
    • K-12 Programs
    • Transition Program
    • Young Adult Program
    • After School Program
    • Sara Ann Rickles Center For independent Living
    • CTC Outreach Program
  • Events
    • 1st Annual Neurodiversity Walk >
      • 2025 Digital Program Book
    • Spring Concert 2025: On the Road Again! >
      • Spring Concert 2025: Sponsorship Opportunities
      • Spring Concert 2025: Program Ads
    • Ride for Autism 2025
    • Open House
  • Admissions
  • Support
    • Stanley's Pantry
    • Tree of Life
    • Gift Bricks
  • Newsletter
    • Student Spotlight
    • Staff Spotlight
    • Letter from the Executive Director
    • Community Spotlight
    • Education HQ
    • Floortime
    • Behavior Team
    • C.A.R.E.S. Corner
    • Physical Therapy
    • Occupational Therapy
    • Speech-Language Pathology
  • Media
    • Read
    • Watch
    • Listen
    • Blog
  • Resources
    • Dr. Temple Grandin at CTC
    • Recommended Reading, Resources & Materials >
      • Profectum Parent Toolbox
    • CTC Connections
    • Proud Partners
    • Certificate of Employee Information Report
    • Lead in Drinking Water Report >
      • Contact
  • Blog