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Everything I Ever Needed to Learn . . .

For those of you who read this blog regularly, you know that Penny started kindergarten two months ago, and you know that we couldn't be more pleased with her situation. With that said, as I've also mentioned, Penny has had a tough time "controlling her hands" and following directions in school. Her teacher gave up one of her planning periods in order to help Penny on the playground. She broke the day down into ten minute segments, with Penny earning a sticker for every ten minutes that she kept quiet hands and prizes every so often within that structure. And we realized a few weeks ago that paying attention to the positive goes a long way. Penny came home one day and said, "Mom, I've got to show you something!" She proudly pulled out the worksheet that recorded her behavior for the day and pointed to each of the x's, ready to tell me all of her infractions in detail.

I realized then that all of our careful and long conversations in which we had her explain what she had done wrong and how she could do it differently weren't working. "Penny," I said, "I'm not interested in your x's. I am interested in your stickers. Tell me about those."

It seems to be paying off. Penny's had a week of "great days!" including one where her teacher escorted her to me and said, "You need to buy Penny some ice cream!" At least at this moment, no more pushing or hitting or running away or hiding under the table or rolling around on the rug or (the list goes on...).

I have a new post on her.meneutics (A Real Christian Education) about the gratitude I feel for Penny's education, for her inclusion in this classroom, as well as my hopes that her presence there will be a blessing to her classmates and not only to her. It begins:

Our daughter Penny started kindergarten six weeks ago. At the end of her first day of school, she greeted me with, "Mom! I didn't miss you!" She's loved every moment since. I'm sure much of her experience is typical—she walks to school, she works on spelling and reading and basic math concepts, she plays on the playground at recess. And yet Penny's experience also highlights significant changes in American education over the past few decades because Penny has Down syndrome and an Individualized Education Plan (IEP) and regular therapy sessions. Hers is an "integrated" classroom, with two teachers and a classroom aid. Forty years ago, she might not have been eligible to attend public school at all, much less in a classroom alongside her typically-developing peers.

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