Down Syndrome

Connections:

The quote about Mia Peterson not being able to take classes she wanted because she could only take special education classes reminded me, right off the bat, about tracking. She could only go to certain classes because she was a certain kind of student. The last article, Literacy with an Attitude by Patrick Finn, showed us that the "smart kids" could be in "smart classrooms", while the "dumb kids" had to be separated. There needs to be some way to put everyone together and be able to teach effectively to all students no matter how they learn. I'm still unsure of a way to do this. (Maybe we can talk more about how we cater to every students' needs in class. I am lacking the understanding on this topic.)

I also see a little bit of Allan Johnson in this piece. Jason Kingsley says that "The challenge is to erase negative attitudes . . . [and] get rid of stereotypes . . .." We, meaning all people, need to talk about this issue and make it clear that people with down syndrome are human beings, too. They are capable of doing anything they set their minds to just like people without it. Like Johnson says, we need to talk about it! It seems like lately, that's all I can think of. Just talking about it. It may be difficult, but it is necessary and it helps everyone broaden their horizons, have less tunnel vision, understand the world through someone else's eyes.

Going on a small tangent, I hated the first day of class when Dr. Bogad said that we have to SEE race, gender, and the other major issues. I figured I was going to treat each child in my classroom alike. Well now I see that you cannot avoid these issues and treat everyone the same. This class has blown my mind and made me think of topics I would never in my life talk about. I realize now that I was afraid of opening a can of worms, where now I am excited to open this can and see all different sides to it. I am so intrigued that I am not afraid to ask questions that I would never think to ask before, in fear of insulting someone.

But back to this post. I can pick out authors from many things that I am involved in now, and for this I am happy. It is extremely interesting to see that this down syndrome article, and what the students said, relate so easily with other articles that we have read. I was looking around to see what I could find about children with down syndrome and going to a "mainstream" school and I stumbled on this website. In the summary it says that "Like all children, those with Down syndrome display a wide range of abilities." There you have it, in a nutshell. I know it doesn't have much to say but I liked that the author of the website chose that wording for this article.