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!

He's retarded.

I am getting some new students. Three to be exact. One will start tomorrow, one will start in April, and one's start date is to be determined (I am hoping for next year). We had the IEP meeting today for the one who will begin tomorrow.

He moved here at the beginning of February and they thought that the other self-contained class would be sufficient. Unfortunately, it was not a good match. He displays a lot of autistic tendencies and disruptive behaviors and they were unable to manage those behaviors. In addition to that, he appears to lack a lot of basic skills. The other self-contained class is low enough to be self-contained, but the kids read chapter books, do science experiments, change classrooms independently, etc. My new little guy couldn't quite keep up with that.

In the IEP, there is something called the Present Levels of Academic Performance. This is supposed to be where you discuss all of your student's strengths. You may casually mention an area of weakness, but it's generally a place to brag about what the student can do. As other team members went over it, I realized that there was not a single positive comment in it. If I were his mother, I would start crying when I read it. It was incredibly sad to me. I would never think of writing so many negative things about a student on one piece of paper. It was almost as though the other teacher was venting! So, we started off the meeting discussing about how (student name) was not successful in the current setting. Then, for some reason, we moved to the IQ testing portion of the IEP. An IEP team member continued to say, "His IQ is 42, that is in the mentally retarded range. He will always be limited. That's why he's having trouble in the classroom." Every time she said, "retarded," it just made me cringe. It was unreal. And I'm not even his mother.

His mom said to the IEP team, "I will not accept that my child is 'retarded.' Learning disabled, yes. Retarded, no. I think that is you telling me that he can never learn. That he can never be somebody. My boy can be somebody."

I can't imagine what it would be like to have a child with disabilities, let alone see on paper that your kid's IQ is 42. After this, a team member pulled out some book that discussed the definition of each disability. They showed the mother the definition of cognitive impairment and explained that her child was mentally retarded. Again. They would not stop talking about how he "was retarded!" Come on, people! We're teachers! We're a school! We're supposed to be teaching, learning, sharing, making progress! Not hanging on to the fact that there's a number on a paper! Then it was mentioned that he will, "always be limited" and "always have great difficulties with basic skills," because of this "retardation."

Mom just looked at the floor with tears in her eyes. Team members continued to tell her what her child could not do. They mentioned that "because of this" they would be placing him in the Autism Spectrum Disorders program. They made it sound like a sentence! That's definitely not the way to get a parent to even consider a future placement. She immediately said, "Not my boy. No way. I won't have it. I think he will be more autistic if you put him in there!"

I politely spoke up and I said, "I know that all of this is incredibly hard to hear. I think that we are all here because we are trying to do what is best for (student name). I think there is a certain stigma that may be attached to ASD programs, but it's often because people don't know what actually goes on inside the classroom. It's a very individualized environment. I have high expectations for all of my students. I set the bar very high for them. Just because there is a number on a piece of paper does not mean that will determine what a child can or cannot do. I think that with the proper supports, (student name) can make a lot of progress. We just have to give him what he needs to be successful."

She looked up, hopefully, and said, "I like that you set high expectations. Tell me more."

I explained that we are working on reading, writing, money, social skills, and all of the things that the kids need to be independent in society. I talked about our twice weekly community based instruction trips and she was thrilled. She said, "you learn about money while you're at McDonalds? What a great idea."

She signed the IEP.

I'm not sure whether the other team members even have an idea of how negative the meeting sounded, but as a teacher of students who are consistently labeled, "retarded" and "slow," I felt very awkward hearing all of the comments that were being said. I continue to be amazed with how "in the dark ages" my school seems to be.

After the meeting, my supervisor said, "You win an Oscar for that performance." (I am certain she was trying to compliment me, because they were concerned that Mom would not agree to the placement, and they would surely be in a pickle if that was the case). I said, "That was not a performance, that was just me."

I am hopeful that (student name) will have a great first day tomorrow. I will set the bar high for him. His mom told me that nobody has ever taught him how to read, because they think he is "too limited." We will teach him to read. We'll do way more than that. We're going to help her boy "be somebody." We will not even consider the fact that he has an IQ of 42. That information is not something that we get stuck on.

We work hard. We learn a lot. We have fun. We don't let other people stand in our way.

We achieve success daily.

Lunch Crew Success

The program was approved. They were "floored." (Their words).

Next step: homeroom teachers will select appropriate students to see if they are interested in participating.

My wise aunt told me tonight,

"Sometimes our biggest successes come right after our biggest disappointments." Everything happens for a reason.

It's okay that I cried my eyes out last week. This week, I'm grinning from ear to ear.

(our "cool" lunch crew logo with school name blurred)

The Lunch Crew

Tomorrow at 8:10 I made it on the agenda for the school leadership meeting. This agenda is normally very full, but I somehow managed to get a ten minute slot. I will be presenting my idea for the lunch crew program at my school.

Program Objectives:

ASD Students:

• To benefit from role models for social and behavioral skills
• To increase social initiations and relationships
• To promote inclusion of students among their peers

Team 6D Students:

• To provide (school name) students with an opportunity to take on a leadership role of promoting good citizenship and disability awareness
• To prepare students for an adult life in an inclusive society
• To create opportunities for students to serve as positive speech and behavior role models and 
offer acceptance, tolerance, patience and friendship

Student Agreement

• I understand that I am volunteering to be a part of the (school name) Lunch Crew. Each lunch crew meeting is completely optional.
• I understand that (school name) has students of all different abilities. I understand that as a member of the (school name) Lunch Crew, I will be expected to be a role model for my peers and offer acceptance, tolerance, and friendship to other students at (school name).
• I understand that if I accrue five lunch punches, I will be eligible to attend a community trip with the lunch crew. My teachers and parents will have to sign a permission slip in order for me to attend.

The lunch crew motto:

Tolerance, Acceptance, Friendship.

Despite major hurdles at our school so far, I think we're on our way. We might just need to invite a few of the teachers to lunch crew meetings, so they can experience the joy.

Facing Intolerance Daily

in·tol·er·ance [ in tóllərənss ] (plural in·tol·er·ances)

noun

Definition:

1. refusal to accept differences: unwillingness or refusal to accept people who are different from you When I posted "Everyone Needs a Shot" back in August, I was very aware that there were many people at my school who had simply not been exposed to students with severe disabilities. They were fairly negative not only about having these students in their classes, but even at their school. I have continuously noticed the differences between New Jersey and Texas, and have been very surprised. Everyone talks about New Jersey being "well known for special education" and "one of the greatest states for autism services," etc. I am not impressed. I am happy that my school district has started an autism program at my middle school, but for all of the years before this year, these kids were sent to special schools out of district. This is not the case in TX. I have a feeling it has a little to do with finances, but TX has been including kids with significant disabilities for many years. Teachers don't have an option to say, "I don't want that kid" or "put him in someone else's class." They get their rosters, and they teach. That's how it should be. That's not how it is in New Jersey. I've been facing some significant challenges at school, especially with the electives teachers. Back in December, their elective teacher told me that it was too much work to have them in her class. We started looking for another class for second semester for them. The chorus teacher had a negative reaction and also concerns about them "in her concerts" because it was a "performance class" (although it is open for any sixth grader to enroll). Several other teachers cited "space" concerns (despite having more than ten spots remaining until the class could be capped). After going around and around, we finally found a computer class for them to be in. The teacher did not have a negative reaction, but did not have a positive reaction. This was the best response we'd had so far, so we enrolled them in computer class. It's an excel/powerpoint class, but we figured we could get some special software that the ASD kids could use, because it's a very individualized class anyway (the kids all sit at their own computers and go at their own pace). On Thursday, we were in a faculty meeting and I turned around and told the computer teacher how excited they boys' were for computer class. She responded with, "I still don't understand why they're in my class. They won't be able to do anything that I'm teaching." I told her that I was having a very tough time finding a class for them, and none of the other teachers would take them. She responded with, "So why did I get stuck with them?" My eyes got wide, my jaw dropped, and I started crying. Through my tears, I said, "Because they deserve to be in your class just as much as any other student at this school." I have worked so hard to try to fairly and effectively integrate my kids into this community. It was at that moment that I realized HOW MUCH the teachers really don't want my kids around, as evidenced by us not being invited to school-wide events, grade level field trips, elective class options, etc. I sat in the meeting with tears in my eyes, sniffling, and feeling sad that these teachers have not *ever* been able to experience the joy that is autism, and are STILL denying themselves the opportunity to learn new things and open their hearts and minds. Is it sometimes challenging? Yes. But, this is middle school, folks. Every kid is challenging and weird. From my observations, my kids sometimes have better behavior than the other kids in middle school. At a break in the meeting, the teacher apologized (repeatedly) and said that, "she didn't mean it the way it sounded" and really "she was concerned about being able to meet their needs." I understand when someone is scared about meeting their needs, especially if they know nothing about autism, but saying, "Why did I get stuck with them" is not the way to go about it. I've been repeating it in my head all weekend. I had a conversation with my wise aunt on my drive home on Thursday. She said that the fear of the unknown is probably what took over in this situation. The computer teacher shouldn't have said what she said, but she apologized and felt embarrassed. I know that she was embarrassed by the way she kept saying she was sorry so that other people would hear. They knew that I was crying because of what she said. My aunt left a message saying, "You're a civil rights activist for these kids. You're out on the edge and doing what you need to do." It's hard to change the views of old-fashioned teachers, especially without the support of my administration. They say they "don't have the training" to work with them, yet they aren't willing to attend a training session. I can't believe this is something that I am facing in the year 2010. I guess I just need to keep fighting the good fight. And continue to achieve success daily in our little self-contained classroom while I do it. "Look, Mrs. Smith. Our hands make a pretty rainbow." -One of my students, who could probably teach a class on tolerance "The highest result of education is tolerance." - Helen Keller