| John's School The most important consideration for us as parents of John was that his social skills would be developed to the best of his ability. Looking back, now that he has finished his ‘education’, his social skills fall far short of what we hoped for. It is more important to us that John is known and understood, accepted, appreciated and participates in his community and community events than it is for him to be able to read a poem or sing a song. In his last two years he had an individual education plan which made a huge difference to him but up until this time it was seen by the school as a ‘babysitting’ service and they didn’t seem to be answerable to anybody. For typical children there is a standard for each year but without the IEP my son didn’t have a measure/standard to strive for. Total integration would have ensured his acceptance within the community. I will never forget one day I was collecting my youngest son, then 6, from his school. I had to take John, then 15, as leaving him in the car was too dangerous. The school kids filed out and each one stared at John as if he had dropped from the sky. It didn’t worry me, or John, but my two young sons 6 and 8 were shell-shocked. What I had done was a no no. What if their peers would mock them because of John and how could they explain away what was the matter with him. I could never repeat my action again. Had John been integrated in mainstream, or had these kids had a child with an intellectual disability in their classroom, then John wouldn’t have been so alien to them. Mainstreaming means children with disabilities have role models – and typical children have an opportunity to understand and appreciate children who are different because of their disability. Mary (March 2006)
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