K

K is for Kindness

The act of being generous, friendly and compassionate.

We are taught from an early age these 
qualities. For children with special needs 
these are "concepts" that are achieved a 
bit more slowly. This year we have been 
working closely with the general ed pop-
ulation to be "peer" models to our kids.

As I spoke about in the integration post, 
those of our kids that can spend time in 
their grade level with their peers do so. 
We have had sixth grade "helpers" in
our classes working with the kids on a 
variety of things-recess, PE and activities
within the classroom.

Being in class with their peers gives our 
kids time to observe, interact, play and 
learn from each other. It also gives the 
peers time to learn and understand
that our kids aren't scary. For some this 
is their first experience with a child with 
special needs.

Our "helpers" benefit from their inter-
action they have with our kids too. This 
is where generosity, friendliness and 
compassion come in to play. Again they 
come to realize that our kids are not bad, 
mean or yucky. Yes, they make noises, 
they act differently, they don't
seem to listen or understand anything 
but as time goes by our kids prove them 
all wrong!

With this post I post I do have a request: 
when you or your family are out and about 
and one of my kids is near give them a smile 
it will make their day and if they are with their parents they will appreciate it too! Thanks!!


~Keep on Dreaming~