Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Opinions Please

Cameron starts 4K tomorrow at the same elementary school where he was in EC. He is going to be fully included in a "typical" classroom and pulled out for therapies.

I just got a message from Cameron's EC teacher who will be helping out in his classroom this year asking me if I wanted her to talk to the classroom about what makes Cameron "special". She indicated that last year they had a little girl who was visually impaired and a little boy who was significally autistic.  Telling the classroom about their differences helped everyone understand and help out if necessary. However, other than being very tiny and his speech a little delayed Cameron is pretty typical.

Although I want the other students to understand I also don't want him to be thought of as different (not yet anyway). The teacher said this in her message that she didn't think it was necessary but wanted to get my opinion.

I would love to get everyone's opinions on this.

3 comments:

Kari said...

I can't wait to hear what everyone thinks. Good luck! I'm a little torn... I feel like kids are more accepting than adults; but last year the kids did know she was different and thought of her as a baby instead of understanding the reasons behind her delay. Knowledge is power- but how much do young kids like that really understand? And why point out that he is different when we are trying to fight for equality? Like I said, tough! Looking forward to hearing others :)

Stephanie said...

I did a presentation in Aiden's class. I pointed out some of the differences and then pointed out the similarities

Becca said...

Yes, that's an interesting dilemma. I have wondered the same thing. Samantha has just started in a "typical" pre-K class this year, and will be in Kindergarten next year. I, too, don't want to make her stand out as being too different, but do want the other kids to know she's not a baby. I look forward to hearing how that goes for you.