Box 3, Folder 17, Document 51

Dublin Core

Title

Box 3, Folder 17, Document 51

Text Item Type Metadata

Text

THE ATLANTA INQUIRER

RLY 12, 1869

EOA Plays Big Rele



life Presents A Brighter
Side To 1-Year-Old Sharon

For nearly I3. years, Sha-

, -ron Dennis” parents, bro-

,

thers, sisters ami friends

_ thought she was retarded. ~~
She did not attemd school.

She could not talk. And she
could not understand what
was said to her.

Today however. she goes
to school, and plays at the
Suiu-Mec EOA Center beca-
use of the work afMrs, Ber-
nice Miller, an EQA Neigh-
borhood Service Aide. She
found that Sharem was not
mentally retarded but almost
deaf,

The 15-year-old black
youngster from the Mechan-
fcsville area of Atlanta liv-
ed with almost 20 family

“members in a painfully cro-

wded 31/2 room house on
Georgia Avenue.

Her family, like countless
impoverished bkack fami-

lies, earns less than $2000
ayear, —

covered Sharon but she

learned that her mother had
anearnestdesire to enroll the
child in some school, She did
not however, know the proper
procedure. The aide recom-
mended her mother send

Sharon to anearby EOA Cen-
ter until plans could be com-
pleted. The mother agreed,

But Mrs. Miller’s work

with EOA required that she -

temporarily leave Sharon
and Mrs. Harritt Darnell, a
Home Service Technician at
the Summerhill-Mechanics-
ville Center, kept in touch
with the child by frequent vi-
sits to her home and by gi-
ving helpful suggestions to
her mother.

When Mrs. Miller visited .-
the k home, she not only dis- ~

In 1968, Mrs. Miller re-
entered Sharon's life and
_discovered that she still had:

“Snot been enrolled in any

school, Immediately, she
contacted the Bryant School
for a psychological test,

the Butler Health Center
for a physical examination
and Milton Avenue School for
possible acceptance, All
went favorably,

The school putSharon inan
age-grouping since there is
no grading system and im-
mediately Sharon became in-
volved in physical skills,
grooming and oral expres-
sion, Hopefully she will ul-
timately write understand-
ably. Her progress since
1968 has been commendable,

Sharon still lives at the

-crowded Georgia Avenue ad-

Comments

Document Viewer