Abram Wiebe's Started From The Bottom

He was often punished when his brothers weren 't, even if they were doing the same thing. He was able to be adventurous but instead was stuck with guilt. Throughout his years he also faced the emotional toll of abuse in many ways. One way his mother did this was by no longer calling him by his name, and not referring to him as a human. Dave states in his book, “that death would be better than my prospects for any kind of happiness. I was nothing but an “it”.” Children and adolescents go through a stage where they are trying to figure out who they are. With an abusive mother who takes away your identity it would be really hard to figure out who you are and you would be confused on what roles to play. Erikson’s stages emphasize family and culture. Erikson noted that psychological conflicts, especially in childhood within families, affect people lifelong.

His life was obviously not a walk in the park. His family, a single mother home with another sibling, was devastatingly poor, therefore just being one of the many challenges he had to conquer. Being

I have learned that being able to utilise good communication skills is fundamental when working with children. It is so important to building and supporting ongoing relationships, which, along with listening,

Communication isn’t just about talking. There are so many different elements to communicating in society. How a person gestures, the tone in an individual’s voice, an expression on a person’s face, how a person listens is all a part of communicating. As we all know, in order to communicate with one another we must be able to listen. I think in society people think that communication is all about speaking but in reality it is just a little piece to a bigger picture. In today’s society, listening seems to be a skill that is being neglected. Even though it is basically the first communication skill that we are exposed to, we have pushed it aside and chose speaking to dominate our lives. Researchers have discovered that fetuses can process incoming sounds during the last trimester of pregnancy, and that by 12 months children have learned sounds of and rules of their native language(Worthington, 3). This shows that children’s abilities to speak, read, write and reason are influenced highly by how well they are taught to listen. As parents we can all be teachers to our children so that they can grow up to be well-rounded communicators.

had to raise his two brothers because their father wasn’t able to care for them after he became an alcoholic because of the passing of his wife.

children to raise. He was not getting enough attention as he wanted at home, he got his

Communication is one of the most important things we learn throughout life. Communication is the ability to transfer

the lives of his family exceedingly, “...he scrupulously avoided contacting either his parents or Carine, the

Throughout the book, it was also emphasized many times that he felt separated from his parents because of the difference in their education level. “I was

was a significant turning point in his life. He was in his late twenties and excited for the

“My father gave me the greatest gift anyone could give another person, he believed in me.” Jim Valvano. My dad is the best guy in the world. There are two main reasons that I would like to pay tribute to my dad; my dad was there for me when I needed him the most, and he also believed in me when I did not.

When I asked him what his idea of what a man and a woman was supposed to be growing up he replied “I guess a man was supposed to go get a job, find a wife, have a couple of kids and provide for the family. Women stayed home and looked after the kids, they didn’t work as much as today”. As expected women were your typical stay at home parent who took care of the cleaning, cooking and the kids while dad did all the money making.

His mother and his father were also apart

Communication is one of the central building blocks of brain development. A child's ability to communicate begins at birth with crying. The more words an infant hears the more brain connections are made. Interaction is essential in order to master the skill of language.

Everyone that he has been in contact with always enjoys being around him. He has definitely complimented my attitude when it comes to my outlook on life. He is an ideal role model for anyone that has met him.