Jordan succeeds with help from both mothers, life skills classes
By SHARON KERR

JORDAN JACKSON helps Brandon Sims fold a blanket in the JJHS life skills class. Kids learn to help themselves as well as care for each other.

Jordan Jackson is an eighth grade student at Jasper Junior High School who is very popular with her peers, sings with the choir, is creative and is always on the honor roll. Both of her mothers are very proud of her.

There is her first mother, Joann Jackson, who has been a first grade teacher at Few Primary for 23 years. She proudly says, "Jordan has never met a stranger. She is so people oriented, she is always the social greeter."

Jackson gave birth to Jordan and her twin brother Keith 12 weeks prematurely. Jordan only weighed 3 pounds 2 ounces. She dropped as low as 2 pounds, 14 ounces, but she pulled through. Her twin brother didn't make it.

Jordan was diagnosed with cerebral palsy (CP), one of the broad spectrum disorders that affects a person's development and ability to move. It's frequently accompanied by deformities like scoliosis of the spine.

There is no cure; medical treatment can only aim to prevent complications and aid physical dysfunction through therapy.

THE JOY OF LEARNING is evident on Jordan's face, and the The Other Mother's pride shows in Stacie Hanson's. First Mother Joann Jackson says her daughter is such a blessing.

By the time Jordan was three, she was in a wheelchair, didn't speak, and only ate oatmeal. Jordan's other mother, Stacie Hanson, said, "When I met her, the experts told me not to expect very much of this child."

Hanson, also known as T.O.M. (the other mother), came into Jordan's life as a new hire for the Jasper Independent School District.

Hanson had been a substitute teacher in Silsbee. Now she works as a special education aide, and expects to take Jordan all the way to graduation.

Jordan has her own plans after that. "I want to be a therapist," she said. "A physical therapist like Ms. Rice (Louise Rice) and help people who need to exercise."

Jackson said Jordan has met therapists at Texas Children's Hospital who are handicapped. "A doctor there told me 'don't shortchange that child and think she can't do something.' Jordan will prove you wrong."

But that's jumping ahead of the story.

First there was the threeyear old in the wheelchair who didn't speak. So, Hanson said, "For the first year I spoke to Jordan constantly, talked her through every step of every day, never shut up."

When she wheeled her to the computer for games, she would say things like, "Now we are opening Windows. Now we are clicking this, and then that...."

The breakthrough came when she was called away briefly at the start of a computer session, and came back to find Jordan had started the program all on her own.

Hanson says, "Jordan's memory and her love for music are the two things that have enabled and motivated her to learn. When she was very young, I would make up a song and just sing what I needed her to do until she actually did it.

"When she was in third grade, (teacher) Rebecca Dougharty tried to incorporate music into her classroom as much as possible and taught the children many skills through music."

Jackson says she remembers the first few grades, when teachers at the beginning of the year wondered what they would do with Jordan, but by the end of the year they were enthusiastic supporters.

"Teachers tell me she's such a blessing," Jackson said. "She teaches other students compassion ... I get misty when I think about the wonderful teachers she's had."

These days Jordan's reputation precedes her. She's good at reading and spends half her day in regular classes with other students, and half her day in life skills classes with the special population students. There, classes and therapy are tailored to each child's needs.

Hanson, her proud other mother, is with her most of the day even though Jordan is quite independent and knows all the routes her motorized chair can navigate at the JJHS campus.

At home, Jordan has support from her first mother, her father who works for Federal Emergency Management Agency, her brother Fred, the 16-year-old athlete, and Gran, who spends a lot of time teaching Jordan skills like cooking.

Jordan never misses a chance to be in the spotlight. At recent pep rallies she has dressed an an Indian maiden, in a 1950's poodle skirt, and as Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz, complete with her little dog Toto. Jordan likes to help

friends with math and grammar. She loves the water, where aquatic therapy in a weightless environment allows her a greater range of movement.

Several famous people in history have overcome the obstacles associated with CP. Christy Brown's palsy so severely compromised his ability to move that he could only control his left foot. Nevertheless, he became a famous painter and author. He wrote a book titled "My Left Foot" by typing with his toes.

Stephen Hopkins, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, also had palsy. When putting his name to the famous document, he said, "My hand trembles, but my heart does not."