Inclusion - It's the Little Things

Teddy spends part of his time in an intentional classroom where he focuses on educational goals in his Individualized Education Plan (IEP) because he's nowhere near his typical peers in terms of typical classroom comprehension and skills. He spends a portion of his time, though, with his typical peers in 4th grade. We're beyond blessed that his 4th grade classroom teacher happens to be someone we've unofficially adopted into our family who knows him extremely well, cares deeply about him and understands how to help him be as successful as he can be in the classroom along with his typical and atypical peers. 

I got a message from his teacher today sharing that Teddy had a turn reading poetry today in her classroom. She indicated that another classmate called on Teddy to take a turn, and he was very excited to head to the front of the class, sit in the teacher stool and have his paraprofessional assist in reading poetry.

He may have been so excited by the experience that after he returned to his seat, he felt like he should have another turn sitting in that cool seat as the center of attention. 

Still, I love that he got this opportunity. My favorite part is that a 4th grader in his class simply called on Teddy, a non-verbal child, to take a turn reading poetry simply because he raised his hand to volunteer. (He's figured out that when other kids raise their hands for turns, he should raise his hand, too.) This, to me, is proof of the power of inclusion in the ordinary, everyday moments. 

A completely unrelated photo that illustrates that interactions with Teddy may look a little different.

I've seen adults with limited experience with people with disabilities unsure of how to interact, uncertain what to say or do. Teddy's classmates interact daily with 3 peers who are very different than them in their educational skills, how they communicate and how they interact. Yet they have learned to simply treat their peers as peers, to include them and to lend a helping hand where needed. They know it takes a bit more patience sometimes and that things might not go quite as expected, but that's true of this journey called life.