Great Teachers

Among other topics, this week we are discussing what makes a great teacher. Can you tell us about some of Cooper's teachers that you thought were great? What made them great teachers?

Manifestation Determination Meetings

We are discussing disability and its impact on student behavior this week. Has Cooper ever engaged in behavior at school that has required suspension according to school policy?

Also, what is Cooper's Least Restrictive Environment (to what extent is he educated with his non-disabled peers)? How was it determined?

Unmet Expectations

Beth,

You mentioned in one of your comments that the life you thought you were going to have did not materialize. The grandchildren that your parents thought they were going to have did not, either.

If you don't mind, would you comment on the effect this had on you emotionally?

Transitions

One of the topics we're discussing this week in class is transition. Could you comment on Cooper's transition from elementary school to junior high? And also his transition into adolescence? Any difficulties with either of the above?

For me, having a child with Autism is summed up in 1 poem..

*many of you will have heard this poem by the time you become teachers.. it is a very important poem because it sums up what most of us experience at one time when we are told that our child will never be "normal/ typical", we have to give up a life long dream to come to terms with a lifelong disability.

WELCOME TO HOLLAND
byEmily Perl Kingsley.

I am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with a disability - to try to help people who have not shared that unique experience to understand it, to imagine how it would feel. It's like this......

When you're going to have a baby, it's like planning a fabulous vacation trip - to Italy. You buy a bunch of guide books and make your wonderful plans. The Coliseum. The Michelangelo David. The gondolas in Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It's all very exciting.

After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The stewardess comes in and says, "Welcome to Holland."
"Holland?!?" you say. "What do you mean Holland?? I signed up for Italy! I'm supposed to be in Italy. All my life I've dreamed of going to Italy."

But there's been a change in the flight plan. They've landed in Holland and there you must stay.
The important thing is that they haven't taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place, full of pestilence, famine and disease. It's just a different place.

So you must go out and buy new guide books. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met.

It's just a different place. It's slower-paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you've been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around.... and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills....and Holland has tulips. Holland even has Rembrandts.

But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy... and they're all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life, you will say "Yes, that's where I was supposed to go. That's what I had planned."

And the pain of that will never, ever, ever, ever go away... because the loss of that dream is a very very significant loss.

But... if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn't get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things ... about Holland.
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