....."developing friendships is important for her students. She thinks young people with disabilities often make "high-five friends" with traditional students. That is, friends who might greet them enthusiastically in a hallway but not invite them to a movie on a Friday night."......
Developing Friendships beyond the High-5 Friends in the Hallways of our schools....developing REAL Friendships that go outside of the School Classrooms...that's what REAL Inclusion is all about. How can we help with this? How can we as teachers, administrators and parents help true friendships go beyond the school building? After-school clubs and activities. Making sure all students are included by inviting students with Unique Learning Challenges to the FUN stuff everyone does after school and over the weekends. This is what fosters life long friendships and allows everyone to benefit from being around those that are a little different than you.
College Campuses today should be an extension of what all students going to College should be used to doing because more and more students with Disabilities were sitting in the same classrooms all throughout Elementary, Middle and High School....hopefully. College should not be the first time students are sitting in the same classrooms as a student receiving Special Ed Supports & Services. By College age...it shouldn't be such a big deal to see a student with Down syndrome, Autism or any other one of a kazillion syndromes out there to be sitting beside you in a classroom at college.
Come on everyone.....let's change our attitudes about INCLUSION NOW! Everyone wants to have friends, everyone wants to be accepted and asked out to be part of any of the group activities going on. Everyone should be allowed to attend college of their choice and be provided every opportunity to LIVE THEIR DREAMS of going to college to land that DREAM JOB! That includes being able to obtain any of the funding sources available to anyone else too! To not always have access to receiving the same grants, loans and other means of being able to finance a college education. Families need to have the same options open to them as the next person. No discrimination attached to those with 'learning challenges' to apply for grants and loans!
My daughter already knows she wants to work at a Vet's office or in and around the Medical Field. As her parent it is my job to help make sure she gets there! It is up to "her community" to do their part as well...to accept & fully include her every step of the way. She needs her teachers and 'friends' of today to help and encourage her along the way.
Won't you be a more than a "High-5 Friend" in the hallway this year and maybe one day even have someone like her as your college roommate? Wow....now that would be a REAL FRIEND!!! It's about making a friend and being a friend.....and some friends we have are for a lifetime!
My daughter already knows she wants to work at a Vet's office or in and around the Medical Field. As her parent it is my job to help make sure she gets there! It is up to "her community" to do their part as well...to accept & fully include her every step of the way. She needs her teachers and 'friends' of today to help and encourage her along the way.
Won't you be a more than a "High-5 Friend" in the hallway this year and maybe one day even have someone like her as your college roommate? Wow....now that would be a REAL FRIEND!!! It's about making a friend and being a friend.....and some friends we have are for a lifetime!
For me to imagine a Roommate for my daughter who has Down syndrome all the way into the future is hard to imagine today, she is only 12 years old. To know for a fact that she will go on after High School to attend College is absolutely a Dream we have for her and she has for herself! To have hopes and dreams of her getting a GOOD JOB of working alongside other co-workers at a Vet's office is her Dream job. It will take more than her mom & dad wanting this for her, it will take MANY helping her along the way.....starting with friends, teachers, administrators in how they thoughtfully include students with disabilities today. The saying, "It takes a Village to raise a Child" is so true!!
Included below is a nice news article about more students with intellectual disabilities, such as Down syndrome, Asperger's and Autism attending College.....because of the REACH PROGRAM. There are more and more Colleges creating similar type programs today for students with disabilities.
To read more about the REACH Program...click on the link below to the original news article. http://www.postandcourier.com/news/2011/aug/21/disabled-reach-college-dreams/
| Disabled reach college dreams Charleston Post Courier When Sam Hazeltine was born, nobody thought a child with Down syndrome would ever be able to attend college. But the 21-year-old sat in the kitchen of his family's home on James Island last week wearing a maroon College of Charleston T-shirt showing off the new laptop he would use for college work… |
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