Kindergarten Roundup Round One: Equity

"Equity means that all people have full participation and access to the benefits and institutions of society – including quality health care and education, safe and affordable neighborhoods, viable employment, the right to vote – and are free from discrimination, hate and harassment."  (This definition, found at www.whatsrace.org, refers to racial equity, but I think it applies more broadly too.)

Let us in.

We attended our first Kindergarten Roundup at our neighborhood school last week. To start the evening, all the parents and kids gathered in the library while the principal and assistant principal gave a little overview of the school using an overhead projector. Anthony looked around at everyone sitting at the long table and signed "birthday cake". He had a good point- cake would have made the evening more festive.

We met the kindergarten teachers. There are four of them; three of the four teach Spanish immersion classes and one is the non-immersion, or what they call the "neighborhood" kindergarten teacher. If we do go with this school, we probably will not have Anthony in the Spanish immersion program. It would be cool to have him learn another language, but we just think it would complicate things too much.

Ms. K, the neighborhood kindergarten teacher, offered to show us her classroom. It was wonderful and so was she.  The room was bright and cheerful, with construction paper shapes hanging from the ceiling-- what I imagine a happy kindergarten class to be like. 

Ms. K. showed us the class photos of the little ones in her class, posted above her door. I've never seen a more diverse group of kids. They were Mexican, Somalian, Ethiopian, Vietnamese, African American, red-haired and freckled. Ms. K. told us, "We talk about differences. We're all different."

Then it was time to walk across the hall to Teacher Dawn's room.

He looks so tiny. My baby!

Teacher Dawn is the special education teacher in charge of the self-contained classroom. She was also wonderful, and obviously loves what she does.There are about 18 kids in her class; kids from first grade up to 5th grade are all together in the same room.  We talked with her about how we want inclusion for Anthony, and feel that a segregated setting would not be right for him. We wanted to hear what she would say in response. She was honest; she said she thinks Anthony would benefit from the extra attention she could give him in her classroom.

Even though "we're all different"and that's okay, only Anthony is so different that it was suggested he would be better off in a segregated classroom. A friend of mine worries that Anthony will feel different if he is put in a class with kids who are all talking, and that being in the special ed classroom will show him he's not that different. Let's consider that. 

Is 5-year-old Anthony more like a 5th grader with cerebral palsy than a kindergartner with no diagnosis, simply because they both have a disability? Why is the child from Vietnam who speaks no English not considered more like the non-verbal kids in Teacher Dawn's class than the English-speaking kids in Ms. K's class? No one suggests the English language learner should be separated from the other kids and put in a class of all Vietnamese speakers so that he won't feel different. And it would be absurd to think that would be the best way for him to learn English. But that is what is suggested for Anthony. He's not talking, so have him spend his days around other kids who aren't talking. We wouldn't want him to feel "different" after all, would we?

If he went to Teacher Dawn's class, he wouldn't really be a part of the school. And right across the hall would be the "normal" kindergarten kids. He wouldn't be a part of that class. He won't get invited to play dates at their houses or to their birthday parties because they won't know him. And they'll be deprived of the opportunity to know him. As the kids grew, they would move on to other classrooms and other parts of the building. But Anthony would stay in the same room, next to the kindergarten classes, until 5th grade when he graduated. This would be done to "help" him.

So we're pretty sure that if we do go with this school, he will be in Ms. K. general education class. She seems great, and if he was in her class, he would probably have a great kindergarten experience.  But right across the hall will be the specter of Teacher Dawn's class. I worry that the first time something goes wrong-- and inevitably there will be some bumps at first -- the first time Anthony doesn't line up for recess or knocks the crayons on the floor or whatever, someone will suggest that it might be "better" if he was in Teacher Dawn's class, where he can get the extra help he needs. And what message is the self-contained classroom sending to the other kids in the school? How can they not view those kids as different- much more different than their classmates, because those kids can't even be in the same class with them. 

Already sucking up to the principal.

The visit confirmed our fears that our neighborhood school might not be the best place for Anthony if we want him included with his typical peers. We're still just starting out in our decision-making process, though. 

As for Anthony, he was not at all intimidated by the school. He acted like he was going to own those halls, and he kept signing "me" and "big school". That's right, kid. You're going to the Big School!  Onward!

Talking Words

Speech can be very slow to develop in kids with Down syndrome. Anthony's a great communicator with his signs and other non-verbal ways, but spoken words are still tough for him.

A couple of months ago, his Early Intervention teacher, Emily, gave us a tip that I think has done more for getting him to use words than years of speech therapy. To encourage him to speak, Emily suggested that we point to our mouth as we say a word to give him a visual prompt as he hears it.  Such a simple thing, but it's worked amazingly well. He'll pretty much try to say any word now when you point to your mouth and say it. He's also using words on his own more and more. It's cute because he puts his own finger by his mouth as he says a word.

Emily came to visit Anthony at school yesterday and sent us this video in which she encourages him to say "Pour in" at the bean bucket. As she puts it she's "working with him on two-word requests." (And you thought they were just pouring beans into a bucket) Notice she first says the words out loud as she points to her mouth, and then she points to her mouth but doesn't say anything, to encourage him to say the word on his own. Small steps, but we know he'll get there!

Portland Literacy Launch Pad

You'll see there's new button over on the sidebar...

Click on it and it will take you to the brand new website of our local parent group, Portland Literacy Launch Pad. The website has been a long time in the making, with a lot of hard (and free) labor contributed by some very busy parents. We're very proud to have it blast off and we hope you'll enjoy it.

If you're interested in how our group came about, you can read all about it in the blog post, "How it All Began".

We're a local group, but we're also a Learning Program Partner. The Learning Program, based at the Down Syndrome Foundation of Orange County in California, teaches parents to be effective "first teachers" for their children and prepares children for success in school. Here in Portland, we're in the midst of our first Learning Program course, with monthly classes for parents of preschool-aged children. We have 17 families enrolled for the 10-month session-- not a bad start!

Here's Anthony working on his matching with one of his Learning Program books.

But you don't have to be enrolled in the Learning Program to be a part of Literacy Launch Pad. We have monthly get-togethers so families can connect while the kids play, and an active Facebook Group where we share information and advice. We hope the new website will be a resource for families to learn more about early literacy and to share their experiences teaching their children.

Kindergarten Transition

It's only January, but it's time for us to start planning for Anthony's transition to kindergarten. It seems unreal, but in 8 short months he'll be entering the brave new world of Portland Public Schools.

Going places

Most parents with a child entering kindergarten in the fall start making plans around this time of year. This month and next is "Kindergarten Roundup" time. These are special evenings when parents of prospective students can visit a school, meet the teachers and principal, and find out more about the school. Since Anthony will be getting special education services, we need to have a few more meetings and make a few more plans than usual. Another wrinkle that complicates matters is that we're pretty sure we don't want Anthony to go to our neighborhood public school. Because of that, we need to begin the process of transferring to another school now. And there's no guarantee that he'll get in where we want.

Why don't we want Anthony to go to our neighborhood school? This is a tough one. How will an under-performing school ever improve if all the involved parents transfer somewhere else? That's always what I've thought. But here we are doing it ourselves. Hypocritical? Yes. But there's more to it than the school not having the best test scores. Our neighborhood school has a fantastic special education program. Everyone is unanimous in their opinion that it is one of the best, if not THE best in the whole Portland Public Schools system. The special education teacher is amazing, the program has the latest technology, and kids who have been in the program have made wonderful strides. Sounds great, right? So why aren't we going there?

The fantastic special education program at our neighborhood school is located in a separate classroom away from the other kids, and there's very little interaction between the kids in special ed and those in general ed. It should be pretty clear to anyone who knows us that we believe Anthony should be included with his typical peers in all aspects of our family and community life. And we want him to go to school with his typical peers. He's been doing great in a typical daycare and preschool for 5 years. We never considered sending him to special ed preschool, even when he became eligible for it at age 3. Years of research consistently shows that kids with disabilities who are included in general education classrooms do better both academically and socially than those placed in segregated settings. But it's important that the inclusion process is done right, and that everything possible is done to support the learner in that general ed classroom, or else it won't work (and then everyone will say, "See-- inclusion doesn't work for everyone.").

Why not the general ed classroom at our neighborhood school? Because the special ed program is so good and respected, we believe there will be less acceptance of Anthony being included in general ed there. In other words, we worry the administration's attitude will be, Why have him in general ed when he can receive extra help at this awesome program we have right here? That's not the philosophy we want to be faced with. A lot of this is speculation on our part, but a lot of it is based on talking to people directly involved with the school.

Our house is located an equal distance from two public schools, and we're going to apply for a transfer to the one that's nearby, but not our home school. We know at least four families with kids who will be starting kindergarten at this school in the fall-- three of them current preschool classmates. Having these kids and their families as part of a supportive school community at the start of kindergarten will give Anthony a better chance of having a successful transition, we believe. These families already know Anthony as a person, not a diagnosis.

Everyone has to make the decision that's right for them, and we're going to keep our options open. If our transfer request is not approved, another option is to apply to another school through the lottery system. We've heard good things about some of the charter schools in our area. We'll gather more information, visit more schools (including the special ed classroom at our home school), and talk to more parents and teachers. We may change our minds. In fact, we'll probably change our minds several times between now and September. That's why it's good we're starting this process now. It's going to be a long and interesting road, and we hope you'll come along with us!

In Search of Winter Whales

The gray whales were migrating past the Oregon Coast this week, so we headed to Indian Beach at Ecola State Park to see what we could see see see.

The weather was so nice at the coast. It was even warmer than it was in Portland. We've really been spared the deep freeze the rest of the country is getting this winter.

 

We didn't see any whales, but we did find the mother lode of sand dollars.

This was just the beginning-- we came home with 12 of these.

Anthony loves the beach, just like his Dad. He suggested we go back Monday morning, and I thought that was a good idea, but dammit I had to go to work!

It would be fun to take a boat out to go whale watching sometime. They know where to find the pods, so you're pretty much guaranteed to see some.

But just getting out there and running on the beach was pretty great too!

Merry, Merry, Merry, Merry Christmas 2013

Well, we didn't get our Christmas cards mailed in time, but we had a lot of fun.

  

Halloween Eve