Pure excitement!

The kids have come so far this year. Not just on paper, but other teachers have commented on how much they've grown in their social skills and confidence. We were invited to the sixth grade awards ceremony on Friday. My teacher friends from the lunch crew told me to choose a few different students for some of the awards (I ended up choosing an award for each student...)

I put them in the other teachers' piles of awards, so that when their names were called, it could be like they were a part of the regular sixth grade class. As each student was called, their faces lit up with smiles as they proudly marched to the front of the auditorium to get their awards. The other students CLAPPED for them, which was usually started by a fellow lunch crew friend. That was my intention for the lunch crew students all along - to build their confidence in their abilities to "show" the other students the way. It worked! The whole auditorium was clapping louder for my kids than for any other kid who was called! It was their exciting moment of the school year.

Well, everyone had been called except my extra special student who moved here from Kenya. She is not very aware of her surroundings and honestly wouldn't have cared if they called her or not. She was sitting there enjoying her OPRAH magazine and clapping in between turning the pages. However, they DID call her. She looked up! (It is amazing that she even responded to her name, which is a feat in itself!) She got up and walked towards the front. Her aide didn't think she needed to walk with her because she figured she understood what was going on. She walked towards the stage, everyone was clapping, she was looking at the crowd grinning from ear to ear. She walked past the first teacher... "Okay," I thought, "Maybe she's just starting on the other end!" She kept walking. And walking. And walking. Right past the teachers giving the awards! She passed all of the teachers and ran straight back stage! Hahaha.

That was her exciting moment. I ran back there to get her and when we came out everyone was laughing. Not "mean" laughter, just "funny" laughter. Believe me, it was a funny sight. Even I was laughing.

We walked up to the teachers and I guided her to shake their hands as she got her award. She ran back to her seat, kicking her legs as she went. That was probably the funniest thing she's done all year. This just confirms her pure joy and ability to enjoy life in every moment, not caring what ANYONE thinks about her.

As the year comes to an end, we can definitely say we've achieved success daily. Even if we walk right past the people presenting our awards.

"The only disability in life is a bad attitude.”

Well, I am very frustrated to say the least. I keep thinking we've made incredible progress with the attitudes of staff members at my school, but then I find things out that prove that is not the case.

 

Apparently, it was a "championship game" of volleyball in middle school gym class. It was "very important." (Correct me if I am wrong, but I never took middle school gym class THAT seriously!?) It was my student's turn to serve the ball. The kids tried to skip him, but my aide said, "Guys - it's __'s turn." He served and lost the point for the team, the other team won, and now it's a huge uproar among all of the gym teachers.

 

I respect all teachers. I know that all subjects are important. However, I highly doubt that the score of a middle school gym class volleyball champion game is going to make any life changing differences. The gym teachers think that our kids "don't belong" and need a "special school" and "keep ruining it for the other kids." Really?

 

What century is this? They obviously do not have any connection to any child with a disability (nephew, grandchild, son/daughter, neighbor, church friend) and it shows by their complete disrespect and negative attitudes towards my kids. It is so frustrating. Is middle school gym really so important that my kids should be skipped when it is their turn to serve? Personally, I don't think so.

 

One of the objectives for the lunch crew program is: To prepare students for an adult life in an inclusive society.

 

The kids are doing a great job! It just doesn't seem like the adults are really contributing towards our inclusive society.

 

I can't teach an old dog new tricks. I have tried to "gain trust" and "build support" for our program by delivering candies on holidays (with baggies made by the kids and beautiful holiday cards - St. Patrick's Day, Winter Holidays, Valentine's Day, etc.) We bring brownies and cookies that we make to all of the secretaries and electives teachers. We wave and smile to everyone we meet.

 

The good thing is that none of my kids have a clue that nobody wants them here. They just get off the bus each morning with huge smiles on their faces. They're excited to see their teachers and friends and they love ___ school. I'm really at a loss for what to do to show these teachers that it is 2010 and there are kids with ALL different kinds of ability levels. They've just been teaching for so many years with these kids in out-of-district placements, and now that they're here, they don't want them here.

 

I think to myself, maybe I could find some training for them. Then I think, maybe I could run a training. But, I realize, that it doesn't seem like they're changing their minds. It's just very sad for me. I guess it's hard, as the soon-to-be pastor's wife, to understand how any human could treat another human in that way, regardless of their differences.

 

We'll continue to achieve success daily... and fight the good fight. It's just going to be a long, long battle.

Ex oo mm, eer eh the buh room?

With our ever increasing Lunch Crew program, I offered another "Lunch Crew Orientation" today.

 

All of the kids introduced themselves (lunch crew kids and my kids) and I asked for someone to try to name all of the students in the room. A few kids did it (one of mine did it!) After introductions, we did an icebreaker to give the kids an opportunity to learn more about autism.

 

I asked for a volunteer and ALL of the kids raised their hands to come up front. I picked on a cute little curly haired girl. I gave her an index card that said, "I would like to order a hamburger without pickles, please." I told her that she had to tell everyone what she wanted without using any words. She stomped her feet, she put her hands in the "please" sign on her chest. She tried to make a sign for hamburger, but none of the kids had any idea of what she was trying to say. Finally, I said, "Read the card to everyone to tell them what it said." She read it out loud and they all put their hands in the air and said, "Ohhhh! We never would have gotten that!"

 

I asked the little girl if it was frustrating that she couldn't use the words, even though she knew what she wanted to say. She said, "Yes, the sentence was right here, but I had no idea how to tell everyone!" I explained that this is what it could be like for a child with autism - to know what he wants but not know how to use words to get it. At this point, one of my students was used as a prime example as she used her PECS book to say, "I want tickles from Mrs. Smith." The kids were impressed - "She uses the pictures to talk?"

 

We did a second activity very similar to the first. This time, the index card had letters underlined that were not allowed to be said.

 

The card said, "Excuse me, where is the bathroom?" When the little girl tried to say it, it came out like this, "Ex oo mm, eer eh the buh room?" The kids all laughed. They said, "What did you say?" They didn't have any idea. She read the card out loud and they all laughed. I explained to them that this is also what it could be like for a child with autism, to be able to use words, but for the words to not sound the way they are supposed to sound. I showed them one of the communication devices we use in the classroom. They said, "Oh cool, he gets a computer?" One of the kids actually asked me how he could get one. We didn't go there.

 

The very last activity was a little "reflection" activity in which the students were asked to answer several questions (anonymously) on index cards.

 

One of the questions was, "What do you know about Mrs. Smith's class?"

 

One of the kids wrote, "Mrs. Smith helps kids with special differences feel like everyone else."

 

I couldn't have said it better. Here's to another amazing group of lunch crew kids! Achieving success daily - and feeling like everyone else while we do it.

Lunch crew update - Gaining Popularity!

Well, the lunch crew has been a major success. The kids love coming to lunch crew so much that they often stop me in the hall to ask when the next meeting will be. We try to have one every two weeks, but it's hard to keep up with just that!

The word spread like wildfire (it might have been the king size skittles I handed out, but hey!) and now other kids have come to join the lunch crew. We have four lunches at my school (A, B, C, D). We now have a D-lunch crew and a C-lunch crew. Perhaps an A-lunch crew and B-lunch crew will start in the near future! There are a total of 11 kids involved (6 in one crew and 5 in the other). It is so fun to see how excited they are to hang out with us.

We talk about movies, sports, skinny jeans, Justin Bieber, you know - the important things in middle school life.

They say hi to my kids in the hallway. They even say, "Yesterday, we got to hang out with Mrs. Smith's class" to their friends - as though it is a privilege.

It is a privilege. I am so proud of these little middle schoolers and how they've embraced my students. The next step is to start a lunch crew for the teachers, so we can show them how cool we are.

Achieving Success Daily - and promoting an inclusive school environment as we do it!

The pee pee shoes.

I came into school on Wednesday morning to find that our bathroom smelled horrible. I noticed that one of the kids' gym shoes were on the floor next to our gym cubbies. There was a yellow puddle underneath. I hesitantly moved my face towards them because I was pretty sure I knew what it was. It was pee.

I called in my wonderful aide who performs all of the "mom" duties in the classroom (cleaning stains off shirts, sewing pant leg holes shut, buying socks for the kids who have torn ones, etc.) She said she'd clean them out. Thank goodness for that! At first I thought it was pee from a leak or something, which had just gathered under the sneakers. After my aide checked the shoes out, we realized that they had legitimately been peed in.

I was fairly certain that it wasn't one of our kids who did this. Why would they pee in shoes? We watch them like hawks all day long, and they know better than this. But, who else would go into the ASD bathroom to pee in a pair of sneakers? That's absolutely odd. So, I decided that I was going to find out who did this.

I went to the front of the room with a very serious look on my face.

"Boys and girls, I just found something very yucky in the bathroom. I found that somebody peed into [student name]'s shoes. That is very yucky. Because this is so yucky, I wanted to know who did it. I took the shoes to the science lab, and I know which one of you did this. If you raise your hand and tell me that it was you, I won't write a naughty note home to your mom."

(My aides were laughing hysterically and covering their faces in the back of the classroom as I discussed the urinalysis that I had completed in the middle school science lab.) The kids all just looked at me with serious faces. Then, they looked at each other. The kid who had his shoes peed in raised his hand and said, "Mrs. Smith? It wasn't me. Why would I pee in my own shoes? Nasty."

I said to them, "Now is your chance. You can tell me now and you won't get in trouble." One of the boys stared at me and said, "I didn't make the pee pee shoes." I said, "I am so glad you did not make the pee pee shoes."

We didn't end up with results from my plan. I am hoping that it wasn't any of them, because that is disgusting. I am hoping that it was some little middle school kid who thought he was funny. My aide cleaned the shoes out and let them dry in the sun - they're ready for gym class on Monday.

Pee pee shoes. Who knew that would be something I'd be dealing with? Let's hope that doesn't happen again, because we are way too busy for that. We're busy achieving success daily!