Sharing with classmates

[Guest guest]

Aubrie's teacher for next year initiated an opportunity for her to speak to

the kids at the middle school in town. You may remember that Aubrie has

been at our local school preK thru 2nd grade but attended ISD in a nearby

town as a day student for 3rd grade. We've decided that she'll go half and

half next year: mornings at ISD, afternoons at the middle school here.

Aubrie visited the school here one day earlier this year before we made the

final decision. She visited the 4th graders to see the different teachers

(especially the one that she'll have next year) as well as all of the 3rd

grade classes to see her peers and what they were doing in 3rd grade

(compared to what they were doing in 3rd grade at ISD).

Since then, the 4th graders have been asking many questions that Aubrie's

future teacher can't answer. She asked that we speak to the kids to catch

them before they develop an attitude in 5th grade :-)

This morning, Aubrie gave a Power Point presentation " All About Me " to all

of the 3rd graders. When I asked if she'd prefer to tell her story once to

the large group or have to repeat herself over and over to each class, she

didn't hesitate in choosing to repeat herself because " I want them to listen

to me and they won't listen in a large group " . What a smartie!

The presentation takes about 15 minutes. We used a PPT she'd done as part

of her coursework at ISD. All the kids presented themselves to each other

at the start of the year. So we updated it, inserted more photos, and added

" Some things you might wonder about " answering FAQs like " Why do I have

CHARGE? " " Why do I wear hearing aids? " " Why do I bump into you sometimes? "

and " Why do I have braces on my legs? " . The final slide says " I am just

like you. I'm a person. I like to have friends. If you have questions,

ask me " with lots of photos of her and her local friends through the years.

It was so cool! The kids listened so well. The last group asked tons of

questions. After the presentation, we did a simulation. We gave each kid 2

cotton balls and a Post-it Note. They plugged their ears to become hard of

hearing and they covered their left eye with the Post-It so have vision

similar to Aubrie's. They lined up and walked back to class with their ear

plugs and eye patches.

Tomorrow, we speak to the 4th graders. I am so proud of Aubrie and so

pleased that the teacher is the one who made it happen. I'd brought it up

in the past, we'd talked about it at IEP meetings, the aide was supportive,

but I would have lost track of time and let the opportunity pass before the

end of the year without her prompting. Great stuff to have people like that

on our " team " .

Michele W