APRIL 2011 PAGE HILLTOP SCHOOL
School Counselors: Dr. Jayne Garrett: Preschool through Grade 2
Mrs. Betsy Dolan: Grade 3 through Grade 5
Phone: 978-772-8600; PH Guidance website: www.phguidance.weebly.com
Teaching Acceptance and Understanding of Differently-Abled Children
April is Disability Awareness Month, and
although it is important to teach acceptance as a community year round, this
month gives us special pause to highlight for children ways to show understanding
and acceptance of everyone around us - no matter what the differences.
Tips to promote acceptance and understanding for your family:
The following is an inspiring writing from over 20 years ago by a Ms. Emily Kingsley. It is quite eloquent, and will offer a view of the life process that parents of disabled children experience during their journey. You can also view this writing as helpful advice for any life-long adversity you face in your family. Hopefully the next time we are in a restaurant, grocery store, or other public place and witness a family with a differently-abled child, we will think of this writing and share a warm smile or hello, in order to offer understanding. For those parents with a child in their family with a disability, I hope this passage offers some amount of peace within…
Tips to promote acceptance and understanding for your family:
- Children often are afraid of what they do not know – take time during car rides, nightly reading, nature walks for example, to talk about differences and disabilities.
- Let children know that a disability is only one characteristic of a person. People have many facets: likes and dislikes, strengths and challenges.
- Inform children that people can be born disabled or become disabled from an accident or illness, and that you can't "catch" a disability from someone else.
- Let children know that others with disabilities are just like us -they want friends, their feelings get hurt, they want to be accepted and loved just like them.
- Inform children that kids with disabilities can do many of the things your child does, but it may take them longer. They may need assistance or adaptive equipment to help them.
- Children do what we do as example, not just what we say – role model acceptance and understanding by volunteering as a family for local special needs events or state wide Special Olympics events.
- Reinforce with your child that name calling, even if meant as a joke, is always unacceptable as it hurt’s people’s feelings.
- Visit the Ayer Public Library and ask for age-appropriate books, to explain what life is like living with a disability.
- Point out shows that routinely include children with disabilities. “Sesame Street," for example, routinely includes children with disabilities in their episodes.
The following is an inspiring writing from over 20 years ago by a Ms. Emily Kingsley. It is quite eloquent, and will offer a view of the life process that parents of disabled children experience during their journey. You can also view this writing as helpful advice for any life-long adversity you face in your family. Hopefully the next time we are in a restaurant, grocery store, or other public place and witness a family with a differently-abled child, we will think of this writing and share a warm smile or hello, in order to offer understanding. For those parents with a child in their family with a disability, I hope this passage offers some amount of peace within…
"WELCOME TO HOLLAND"
I am often asked to
describe the experience of raising a child with a disability - to try to help
people who have not shared that unique experience to understand it, to imagine
how it would feel. It's like this......
When you're going to have a baby, it's like planning a fabulous vacation trip - to Italy. You buy a bunch of guide books and make your wonderful plans. The Coliseum. The Michelangelo David. The gondolas in Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It's all very exciting.
After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The stewardess comes in and says, "Welcome to Holland."
"Holland?!?" you say. "What do you mean Holland?? I signed up for Italy! I'm supposed to be in Italy. All my life I've dreamed of going to Italy."
But there's been a change in the flight plan. They've landed in Holland and there you must stay.
The important thing is that they haven't taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place, full of pestilence, famine and disease. It's just a different place.
So you must go out and buy new guide books. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met.
It's just a different place. It's slower-paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you've been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around.... and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills....and Holland has tulips. Holland even has Rembrandts.
But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy... and they're all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life, you will say "Yes, that's where I was supposed to go. That's what I had planned." And the pain of that may never go away... because the loss of that dream is a significant loss.
But... if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn't get to Italy…you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things ... about Holland.
When you're going to have a baby, it's like planning a fabulous vacation trip - to Italy. You buy a bunch of guide books and make your wonderful plans. The Coliseum. The Michelangelo David. The gondolas in Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It's all very exciting.
After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The stewardess comes in and says, "Welcome to Holland."
"Holland?!?" you say. "What do you mean Holland?? I signed up for Italy! I'm supposed to be in Italy. All my life I've dreamed of going to Italy."
But there's been a change in the flight plan. They've landed in Holland and there you must stay.
The important thing is that they haven't taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place, full of pestilence, famine and disease. It's just a different place.
So you must go out and buy new guide books. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met.
It's just a different place. It's slower-paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you've been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around.... and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills....and Holland has tulips. Holland even has Rembrandts.
But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy... and they're all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life, you will say "Yes, that's where I was supposed to go. That's what I had planned." And the pain of that may never go away... because the loss of that dream is a significant loss.
But... if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn't get to Italy…you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things ... about Holland.
APRIL 2011 LOCAL LECTURES
Thurs,
April 14th: Sarah Ward, M.S. CCC/SLP; A Presentation on Executive
Functioning; 7:00PM - 9:00PM; Location: North
Central Charter Essential School; 1 Oak Hill Rd. Fitchburg; Ms. Ward will
present on how executive functioning skills impact children's lives each day, socially
and academically. Ms. Ward will provide strategies for parents and educators to
assist their students in initiation of tasks, self-regulation, organization of
information and materials, and logical thinking skills. This event is open to
the public. Babysitting services will be provided. Sign up is not required.
This event is partially funded through a grant from the Autism Resource Center
of Central Massachusetts.
Tues, April 26th: Parenting, Teaching and working with Challenging Kids:
6:30-9:00pm; Location: Ottoson Middle School Cafeteria, 63 Acton Street, Arlington; This two hour workshop provides an overview of the approach described in the book: Treating Explosive Kids: The Collaborative Problem Solving Approach. The innovative, evidence based approach provides a new way of understanding and helping these kids. Please RSVP to [email protected]if you plan or attend or have questions.
Wed, April 27th: Understanding My Child’s Learning Style:
7 pm; Free Lecture sponsored by Westford Seepac;Location: Crisafulli Elementary School Library, 13 Robinson Rd. Westford; Presenters: Lois Goldstein and Alisa Barton. The different ways people take in and generate information can greatly affect how and whether they succeed in school and in life. This workshop delves into different learning styles and discusses how they can be understood and harnessed to achieve success in many different environments, including the classroom. Ms. Lois Goldstein and Ms. Alisa Barton from Barton Goldstein through the Federation for Children with Special Needs will be presenting this workshop. All parents, staff and community members are invited to attend this community workshop. This meeting is free and open to the public. For more information please contact Kathy Healy Norton, Westford SEPAC Chair at [email protected]
Happy Spring!!!
Tues, April 26th: Parenting, Teaching and working with Challenging Kids:
6:30-9:00pm; Location: Ottoson Middle School Cafeteria, 63 Acton Street, Arlington; This two hour workshop provides an overview of the approach described in the book: Treating Explosive Kids: The Collaborative Problem Solving Approach. The innovative, evidence based approach provides a new way of understanding and helping these kids. Please RSVP to [email protected]if you plan or attend or have questions.
Wed, April 27th: Understanding My Child’s Learning Style:
7 pm; Free Lecture sponsored by Westford Seepac;Location: Crisafulli Elementary School Library, 13 Robinson Rd. Westford; Presenters: Lois Goldstein and Alisa Barton. The different ways people take in and generate information can greatly affect how and whether they succeed in school and in life. This workshop delves into different learning styles and discusses how they can be understood and harnessed to achieve success in many different environments, including the classroom. Ms. Lois Goldstein and Ms. Alisa Barton from Barton Goldstein through the Federation for Children with Special Needs will be presenting this workshop. All parents, staff and community members are invited to attend this community workshop. This meeting is free and open to the public. For more information please contact Kathy Healy Norton, Westford SEPAC Chair at [email protected]
Happy Spring!!!