Ian fell asleep tonight with his Star Wars mask propped on his head. I tried a couple of times to adjust it or rest it beside him, but each time he work up grumpy and yanked it back over his head. Do Clonetroopers have unique dreams?
Episode 14 show notes
We have another fun week in the community. I saw a movie that got me thinking. Again. I’ll share more about those ideas soon.
First, though, we’re coming to the end of the school year for many students. The end of the year can be a great celebration, a time of letting go and appreciating a few months away from school. Yet, there is an opportunity in this time of year to set up for next year’s success. These strategies are important for all kids, but especially extraordinary kids. They help kids with behavior challenges, with ADD or ADHD, kids with Autism Spectrum Disorder, mobility challenges, or learning difficulties. They are also important for extraordinary parents who may have developed successful strategies with teachers for homework, etc.
Before we walk away from the old year, we need to reflect and think ahead to next year. Extraordinary children may have a team of teachers supporting them from year to year. But most children change classrooms, teachers, possibly peer groups from year to year. These changes can be helpful, or a huge challenge for kids. We’ll talk about tools for starting the year in August. Even now, though, we can do things now to make life easier in August.
Ultimately, parents are a child’s teacher and advocate. Parents are the only ones who see the whole of a child’s life. You parents are the great support for your kids. Teachers can only do so much. And a new teacher in the fall knows your child through forms, through stories they hear at school, and through you. You can build a great beginning by paying attention to this year’s ending.
I speak to these experiences for families because I have been teaching for the past thirteen years. I’ve taught many young kids. I’ve heard before from parents, oh, we finally get a teacher trained in spring, only to move on to another new one in fall. Now, I don’t like to think of myself as being trained, but I’ve picked up tools along the way that can help children in my class meet with success earlier in the year. If we can shorten the time it takes for students and teachers to develop that working relationship, students will gain in all areas.
Meet with Teachers. It can be difficult to schedule a meeting in the last weeks of school, but a few quick questions can give you valuable information for next year. If you cannot meet with the teacher, perhaps they could fill out answers for a few questions on paper or through email. Ask:
Collect Positive Stories There is a phenomenon in psychology called Self Fulfilling Prophecy. A teacher that expects a challenging, difficult class gets just that. And a teacher that expects rewarding, fun experiences gets that as well. It’s important that the stories around children emphasize the positives of working with that student. Collecting those stories about the benefits of working with your student will be valuable for building that positive relationship with next year’s teacher.
Parents can get a little overwhelmed with the needs that our kids bring to a class. This in turn can overwhelm the next year’s teacher, so having a collection of positive stories will help you and your child. The best team is one that is all working in the best interests of a kid.
Summer Support Summer is fun. But it’s important to continue working towards goals with students. Support can be informal and appropriate, but continue teaching your child through the summer months. Keep it engaging- game based, outdoor play, travel, but keep those goals in mind. Play games with reading embedded in the activity. Read together. Play play play. While holding the key skills in mind, like turn-taking, or impulse control. Give your student chances to practice those important skills. This matters for all kids. The more learning skills are internalized, the better prepared kids are for the next school year.
Celebrate Successes It can be easy to focus on challenges and shortfalls. Easy to see where things are difficult. But it means a lot to children when we celebrate their hard work and accomplishments. Even young children respond well to questions like what worked well for you this year? What helped you this year that would be good for next year? Building the positive stories for kids is so important. Again, this builds a self image that they are capable and successful instead of disappointing. Reflecting on the growth of the year with celebration helps build the emotional skills and resilience needed for next year’s challenges.
Write Down What Works Mid-September comes around and I share with parents, Jack sure struggles with lining up, doesn’t he? He wants to be right behind his friend every time. And they answer, oh, yes, last year he was the assigned caboose. That solved the lining up challenges. So then we backtrack and implement reactive consequences instead of establishing preventative solutions before the stress begins.
Every year is a fresh start. And maybe Jack is ready for more freedom in his choices. But it helps teachers when they have knowledge about challenging areas of the day and possible fixes. That way they can build plans before behaviors or challenges flare up, and they are not reacting to the moment as if these things have never happened before. It’s easy to forget over summer. Write down key accommodations that make a big difference for your student.
Prepare for Next Year If possible, learn about next year’s class and teacher. Not all schools will let you know who the next teacher will be. And you do not want to overwhelm the new teacher before summer even starts. But if you can meet the new teacher to start to positive interactions, have your student meet the new teacher, and start planning transitional support, your student will benefit immensely. Challenges and change are part of life. All students need to learn the resilience and adaptive skills to thrive in multiple environments. But our support can make learning those skills more fun and attainable.
And finally, Enjoy the Summer! Yes, enjoy the fun of summertime together. Family is the most important thing for children. Summer is a time to connect, relax, and slow down. After all, we only have about fifteen summers with our kids before they are young adults. Let those summers last a lifetime.
Part 2: New Characters in Our Community!
We saw Iron Man 2 this week. The fun picture of Tony Stark is here. I saw Iron Man 1 years ago when disability wasn’t on my radar. So I was surprised as the movie began and I noticed themes in his character. Wait, I thought as his health became a focus of his life, he’s dealing with chronic issues. Tony Stark has a heart condition that requires an implant that prevents metal shards from reaching his heart and killing him. I won’t give away spoilers, but anyone could guess that his health issues become important in the movie. He hides his challenges and turns to unhealthy coping like drinking and acting out against the people he cares about the most.
What I appreciated about the character, was that he was charismatic, attractive, in great shape, and still dealing with health concerns. In a way, the technological advances made his challenges small. But he still had that underlying knowledge of how fragile he really was under the metal and technology. Pretty interesting stuff.
It got me thinking, too, if there is a compensation, if technology solves the underlying problem, does that negate the disability? Is that person still part of the community?
I know if I were cured tomorrow, I would still be part of the disability community. There is a perspective, a sense of understanding how breakable we really are, that would always stay with me.
I read online that Tony Stark is cured in the comic books. But I hold him in our community all the same. Once you have gone through the looking glass, so to speak, you may return, but you will be changed.
A key component for me is a sense of permanence. Temporary challenges like a broken leg do not give that heavy reality of this is my forever. That’s important to me, that living for a long time with health challenges.
This week also marked 30 years since the Empire Strikes Back was released. Iron Man got me thinking about mechanical prothesis. I quickly connected the two stories.
Here the questions are important. Because Luke is in our community. He has one hand. His mechanical hand is a great replacement, but we don’t know what challenges he has long term, or the emotional adjustment he must go through. It’s definitely a hidden disability. But the fact remains that he has a prosthetic hand. It responds, yes, but it’s also a machine.
And Darth Vader is more machine than man in the end. Anakin loses his arm at the end of the second film and it is replaced with a prosthetic limb. The third film gives him massive injuries that result in the mechanical facade that we all know from the later films. He becomes lost in his mechanized self.
What a appreciate about him as a character with a disability is that he is powerful and a leader. He is not defined as a character with a disability at all.
In fact, though it is well recognized on the web that he has disabilities, very rarely is he cast as a character with challenges. Does it change the story if he becomes part of the community?
The last character is Yoda. He has mobility challenges for sure. He uses a walking stick (cane). In scenes he uses a hover chair to keep up with other people. I found interesting charged discussions in a few forums about whether Yoda had a disability. It touched a nerve with some people, insisting his fight scene proved that he didn’t have a disability. Though I feel it was context. Yoda used the force to have that level of agility. Give me medication and I can walk miles. Yet it doesn’t change my underlying mobility challenges. So I claim him. There were a few comments about his hover chair was not a high tech wheelchair. One commenter on a forum took offense at the suggestion that Yoda could have a disability. But for me, it makes him stronger. And does bringing the disability community to the movie change to story? Or the character?
I think it’s fascinating that these characters are mainstream. Hardly anyone suggests that they have disabilities. My guess is that they do not fit the mold. They are powerful. They take center stage. They take charge. They command respect. And since they are so far from the stereotype, it becomes a surprise to cast their story in terms of disability issues.
Star Wars pictures are here. Pass along the word, especially to any extraordinary kids that you know. We are everywhere 
And that is why I appreciate these characters. We can be strong. Attractive. Powerful. Center stage.
A good week in the community . Enjoy your week!
So if prosthetic supports belong in the disability community, that means we get
And
And another character uses a walking stick (cane), though in his fight scene he’s very acrobatic. Could be context . . .
No question that for most of his scenes he has mobility challenges. He’s one of us
Oh, and he uses a hover-chair. All about perspective
