Melissa Caraballo

Through trial and tribulation and countless failures in finding a schools we have found Curvin McCabe. Within Curvin McCabe we found Mrs. Carcaballo a special education teacher. I will call her a blessing in disguise. I say this without favoritism because my daughter’s teacher is also awesome. Mrs. Carcaballo is just an “out of the box… bubble wrapped and extra stuffing package!”. Let me Rewind a bit, so you can get my full insights on this letter. My daughter’s name is Elizabella “Bella” for short. A overly hugging, excited about life, rambunctious 5 years old that was born premature. She currently Suffers from two different seizure disorders febrile and epilepsy, sleep apnea, asthma, toe walking which requires her to wear braces, ADHD, migraines and is in speech therapy due to the seizures. Bella sustain a head injury at a school camp and was diagnose with epilepsy and migraines after the incident. I withdrew her from that school and enrolled her in to a new school. This school said they did not have the appropriate staff to teacher Bella and lowered how many times she could attend the daycare. So it was on to the next school. Her next school took her on with more patience and added an extra staff for her. But due to her seizures staff became overly scared to work with her. They also lowered her days she could attend the daycare. Bella would ask me how come she couldn’t attend school and if her teachers liked her. Explaining to her that adults are uncomfortable with her conditions is a tough conversation. So my goal during spring and summer of 2023 was to do my research on schools. I found Curvin McCabe; a school that offered speech therapy, occupational therapy and physical therapy onsite. First day of school Bella was double casted; (both feet were casted and she would require some assistance walking). On top of that Bella had a prolonged seizure that admitted her into the hospital that previous weekend. Ms. Carcaballo took initiative to help Bella. She decided to move her schedule around before and after school to make sure Bella had enough time to walk to get breakfast and not pushed and to exit safely at the end of school day. I knew from then this was a good fit. As the week progress I requested an IEP for Bella. Ms. Carcaballo once again was top tier she told me were Bella excelled and where she needed help. During her IEP she expressed my daughter just as I would; from then I knew she knew the feeling of my trial and errors, my ups and downs with Bella but most of all the capability Bella could succeed! She made sure that I was linked to the school’s app where parents and teachers could exchange compliments, ideas or concerns. That was a can of worms for her because I send text messages everyday for updates and she happily replies promptly and in full detail. The first few weeks I was overwhelmed because this was Bella first actually school staying all day. Ms. Carcaballo took all of Bella’s “down falls” and turn them into positive strengths. Encouraging Bella for a positive next day, giving her endless hugs, smiling even when Bella gave her a long day, thinks outside the box by giving her a direction chart instead of yelling across the room for her to come back… but most importantly speaking with her and not at her and remembering that she is a human being and not her list of “conditions”. Being a first time parent with a child with multiple conditions is hard giving them to total strangers. Will they take care of your child? Will they teach your child? Will they protect your child? Will they see the same happy and loving kid you do? Well for me Ms. Melissa Caraballo does! I can now take the superintendent, RIPIN, education board and lawyers number off my refrigerator because this educator has her foundation built on belief in her students, time in her students, individuality in her students and most importantly success in all her students. Hoping parents that are struggling for their child to be accepted like I was finds a teacher and school like this. Because let me tell you it was hard and days were long when Bella was sad she couldn’t attend everyday. So, Bella and I are sending at least our letter as digital flowers to Ms. Carcaballo. I hope she is surprised as I am with her dedication to her students as we are. With open hugs arms, Elizabella and Mom.

Elizabella Nsiah