Skip to main content

Mainstreaming and Inclusion

The hubby and I were discussing the other day how special education students were treated back when he and I were in school.  He remarked to me that in his time, they were "hidden away" from the rest of the students.  When I was in elementary school, I can remember seeing the kids in those classrooms pass by us in the hallway.  I don't ever recall seeing them in the lunchroom or playground.  I'm so glad that times have changed.  Even though Dominic is in a "self-contained" special education classroom, he does get to go to the art, gym and music classrooms.  He also gets to eat lunch in the school cafeteria.  He loves hot lunch on Thursday - pizza!! Given Dominic's abilities, he is able to be "mainstreamed" into the general education classroom for small amounts of time.  Every moment he is able to do that gives me so much hope for his future.  I absolutely love what Dominic's current teacher is doing.  He has started a peer-to-peer program that has kids from the general education classrooms come to Dominic's classroom for structured activities. On Monday, his teacher told me he had a peer-to-peer interaction that lasted 14 minutes!!  While that might not seem like a huge amount of time, it is for Dominic.  It's sometimes hard for me to think back to those times that he didn't talk or make much eye contact.   We were told at his IEP meeting in October that he is right on the cusp of reading on a third grade level. Pretty awesome considering he is in fourth grade :)  Dominic has been reading books to me lately, his favorite one right now is Lady and the Tramp.  Before he learned to read, he would take a book, slam it shut and then throw it across the room because he had zero interest in even looking at the pictures!  I think once in a while, what if Dominic was born the year I was (1963). Would the diagnosis of Autism automatically have meant living in an institution? Hard to say.  So much more is known now that wasn't known then. As a mom, it is the best feeling in the world knowing that my child is "included" in so much at school. I am so thankful this year for how much progress he has made (especially the potty training)!  There are so many people that support and love Dominic and celebrate even his smallest accomplishments. I hope through my blog posts, you get a small glimpse into our day-to-day lives raising a child with special needs.  Dominic is a very important part of our family and we couldn't imagine our lives without him!!

Labels:

Comments

  1. AnonymousNovember 26, 2013 at 1:48 PM

    You are lucky to have him, and he is lucky to have you. Such a wonderful family. Love, Auntie

    ReplyDelete
  2. Cathy B.November 26, 2013 at 1:57 PM

    Thanks for the kind words Auntie - we are all blessed to have you in our lives :)

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Those "Steps" to Independence Can Be Hard

We are heading towards 600 orders for Dominic's business. Since our long-term goal for Baked Goods By Dominic is having a "brick-and-mortar" and hire those with disabilities, it is essential and imperative that I continue to teach him all parts of the business. Since I prompted Dominic for so many years for speech, he has become "prompt dependent." What that essentially means is that he will look at me for a prompt, like, "what do you do next?" I do that one a lot. Dominic has been going to a private speech therapist for over ten years and she reminds me often that Dominic usually will know the answer, if I am patient and wait for him. That has been a very hard habit to break! Dominic has an incredible memory, so I put it to the test this morning. I didn't write out the steps, I wanted to see how much he could do completely on his own. We have a customer picking up his order today, but the only thing that had been done is putting the cookies into t
1 comment
Read more

Why We Pursued Guardianship of our Son with Autism

Last Thursday morning, my husband, Dominic and I went to our county's Probate Court and had Dominic's Guardianship Hearing. My husband and I are Co-Guardians, and we were granted "Partial Guardianship," which means Dominic can make some of his own decisions (future educational and vocational placement options, what to wear and how he wants to spend his free time), but my husband and I will make his medical, health care, legal, contractual and major financial decisions. The subject of Guardianship in the disability "world" has been and continues to be a controversial and divisive topic.  I was a panelist for an Autism Conference this past summer and presented on what it's like to have a child with Autism. Towards the end of my presentation, I mentioned that Dominic had just turned 18 and that we were going through the Guardianship process. When the attendees could ask questions, the first person that went up to the microphone started telling me that I was
Post a Comment
Read more

Presume Competence

Since we have traveled outside of the United States since Dominic was very small, we have had to get him a Children's Passport every five years. Since his current one expires in February of 2024 and he is now 19, we had to apply for an Adult Passport. I don't know why my husband and I picked Dominic's first day of school and Michigan State University moving in their students, but the appointment was yesterady at 3 p.m. We had gathered all of the documents needed and then went into a special room in the East Lansing Post Office just for Passports. The three of us sat down and the clerk asked Dominic his age. He said, "19." Since we were also getting his picture taken for the Passport, he went into a separate room, where she took a picture of him and then let him look at it to make sure he liked it (it will be his picture for the next 10 years)!  He said he did, so he sat back down with us. The clerk filled out a bit more of the paperwork and then she let Dominic s
Post a Comment
Read more