Year in Review

Happy  New Year Everyone. It is time  once again to look back on my year.

 January 2015   I tried a new school.  I met with a new school consular   who  gave me some exciting news, read through to the end to see what it was.  I did not  start this school but  I  thought about going it would take a few months before I worked up the courage to  go but  I had the confidence to  try  and that has made the  difference.

 February   2015 Beat  our cross town  rivals in basketball

 March 2015  Had a fun  basketball tournament  and went to the Warriors Special needs night where I  scored a ton of baskets Went to Tahoe and celebrated  National CP Day.

April 2015   Started  School and loved every second of it .    I went go Karting and had a fun Easter  with friends.

May 2015   My Grandma came to visit.

June 2015  The  warriors win the NBA Championships. My parents go to Puerto Rico.   I begin Summer Classes at my new school.  Met up with Friends at the  Magical Bridge Playground.  Princess goes to Tonga with her  friends.

July 2015: Find out that I will be a Senior if  I pass all my classes in the  Fall.  I also learn that I will graduate   2016. (more on this soon)

 August 2015 :  I played Unified  golf with a former  Teammate from High School .   Completed a big project  and finished all my summer classes

September  2015 :    Tuned 24. Began Senior Year and  Princess  goes to Italy  for studied abroad.













October 2015 : I have fun at the Big Wave Harvest Festival  and  Carving  Pumpkin Event.  I  dress up as Yoshi for Halloween.

 November 2015  Get some disheartening news about   my future  but  people at my junior college and current school  rally around me and convince me not to Drop out of School.

 December 2015:  Finished and Passed all of my classes and  Princess returns  home safely !  Have a Star Wars Marathon.  I get a ton of clothes for Christmas. I can not wait for the  New Year.  2016  could very well be the best year  of my life.
 I do plan to use my Fb page more often in  the New  Year so Go Like i

Resolutions 

 Caring the  Torch  Spring 2015

 BE  Positive

 Gain Independence

 Lose Ten Pounds  and Eat Better

Stuff  I wrote

 CP Can  Earn Money 
 The Best Word in  a Textbook
 Dear CP 
 The Invisible Student 

The REAL Experts:An partial explanation of why Disabled people are mad at the Mighty

 Hi guys its been awhile but something pressing has come up  that I want to tell you about. For those in the disability  blogging community   you probably have heard of  the Mighty , but what not  may  be as clear is the problem that some disabled people have (using that  for a reason please  bare with me).

 My family and I have  watched all six of the orginal Star Wars over the holidays.  It is a great series  and lends itself  good way  explaining  part of  what is going on.

     If you wanted to know what being a Jedi is like who would you go to for an explaination?

a  R2D2

B A  wookie 

C  Luke Skywalker 

D  Hans Solo 

        If you were  to ask me this at the begining of the month  I would not know  who  to ask because I  do not know the characters.      If I  told you that   Luke  is a Jedi  The answer should be pretty clear  that you were to ask  Luke to explain the Jedi's role.    This  seems like common sense for any other able bodied  question on the experts. 

     When the person has a disability they are thought to have no voice which gives rise  to Parents being  their child's voice.  I am not saying that parents should not advocate for their kids.    What I am saying  is that they aren't the experts on disablities nor  are the doctors  and specialist   or  teacher experts, asuming  that none of them had   a disability, The real experts are the ones that live  it 24 seven or people with disabilities.  The only experts are the disabled. 

   Do Able bodied people   play an important part  in a person's life.?  Yes They are the ones that  use their   skills abilities and privilege in helping their child navigate  this   society.   But they do  have privilage and sometime their use of  privilage  does more harm then good.  For example  when people  poke fun of their disabled kid or dicuss personal issues  online for anyone else to see then they  violate others privacy  in the name  of advocacy.   An example of this  is anything relating to the bathroom  should not  be online for anyone to see. Itpersonal  and  not  for the public.  Another thing is  Insperational Pron.  I will  write a post on it  soon.   This is why disabled people are mad.

Tune in tonight

  For  A and  E  new series  Born this way. Staring Sean McElwee of  Who's The Slow Learner 
  and  six other  adults with Down Syndrome.


 Tonight  at  10 /9 central on A&E

AZ with  Sandra and  Sean

Happy Inclusive School Week

 

Hay  guys between  Finals and  everything I do not have  time  or  energy to come up with a thought provoking  post this year  for inclusive schools week, but I wanted to say Happy   Inclusive Schools Week.

 Classes have  been going ok, but it has been hard to stay  motivated because  there is a good chance that I won't be able to be an inclusive teacher.  So  I am still trying to figure out what I can do   carrer  wise so it has been  a rocky journey these past  two months.  I wish there was  a way but  because  of  my  terrible articulation   it wouldn't be fair to  my students.  

 How  have  I been dealing with this.


   It  depends some days  I am  ok  but  other days  I am  blue.  I'd give anything to be able to speak better but  at this point  according  to a speech thearpist chances are  not good  that I  will improve.  So continuing to push  forward   is very hard but I will keep at it.


 Do I still belive in inclusion  despite this  News


    Yes there have been  many  happy times throughout my school carer  where inclusion  has  been  great. I read some good books  played on playgrounds, explored my world.   I have met  so many great people  and  gotten  lots of  awards because I was in inclusive education.    Here  are some of them

  Kindergarten

 Award  Second Grade

 Student of the day

 Senior  Prom  Spring 2010

 T and  I    Junior College  Graduation

  DK and  I  chilling out    summer 2013

 Go  Carting for a project  April 2015

  Playing  Unified  Summer 15

    Me and  Dr B   wearing green for World Cerebral Palsy Day 2015

Who is the Slow Learner Giveaway: The Winner

 Thanks everyone for commenting on that  post.  I will be doing another giveaway in the future so stick around .



Still want to read  the book Click Here to order the book.


   Jennifer V  please contact me  so I can  put you in touch with the author my email is azchapman1991@gmail.com

31 for 21 Day 31 Happy Holloween

 Me and  Princess  before we  go beg for  Candy.   October 2005

  Happy  Hollween  guys.  I hope you guys have  enjoyed  31 for 21.  Its  been a lot work but very fun. 


  Mid night tonight is also the  last day to enter the drawing  for  Who's  the Slow  Learner, Leave a comment on day  6 and tune in  Wednesday for the winners to be announced



 What are your  kids  for  Halloween.  Let me know in the comments  below.

31 for 21 Day 30 Memories from Third grade

  In third  grade I remeber...

   Learning  Cursive.  Everyone thought that cursive was  going to be easier for me. In the end  I  like   printing  better.


    Times tables and number charts. See  Tuesday's post.

  Bike  riding with my teacher on Saturdays


   Learning about  Indians.


  Being in charactor  when  I was Rosa  Parks  I  told  Martin  Luther  King that " it  was nice to see him again. "      I became  known as a future   actress unfortunately, I  did not act again.


  Going to the recycling center and landfill.


  Saying announcements  on the loud speaker. I worked really  hard in  ST to  be able  to be clear.

31 for 21 Day 29 : A video everyone needs to see

   This is the  video that started Spread the Word  to End the Word.  I  really  like this video.

31 for 21 Day 28 Rude customers scare me

            The biggest fear I have at work is that  a customer will call  me the r word.  You may be wondering why  I have that fear since I do not have an intellectual  disability.

      I work  in the college  bookstore.  I  work the cash  register, see  below for money handling tips, and sometimes it gets busy.   I  do have  unclear speech and  problems   using my hands at times, so  uneducated people  could  assume  that I have an intellectual disability.  Being in fear of  a word being used  towards me should show  how  bad  the word is.  The word stings   and  should not be used.


 The closest thing that I have come to the r word was a customer  trying to grab his  merchandise.  from me.  It really  rattled me up.   My boss is  really great  and has told me that he would defend me.  My boss is the best boss ever.




 Here  is  a related story about  having others back  at work.

31 for 21 Day 27 : Money handleing tips

 

   So today I am  going to be  talking about two  strategies that help me   work the cash  register at the   bookstore.  When  someone asked me what is something you did not think that you would be doing  I  said working  the cash  register.   I was able to surprise myself and work the  register. 

 Here are  two   tricks   I  use.



 One      I  picture an  100  chart in my head.  This helps me a lot.  Also   skip counting  helps a ton as well. I am  glad  I was exposed to this  in my gen ed math class.




 Trick  two


 I have a  hard time telling the difference  between a quarter and a nickel, but  I can  read those words.   On  the  quarter  it says   Quarter  dollar so  I  find that and then  I know its 25 cents.


  I will say that working the cash register has  been THE BEST  way for me to  handle money. 

  Do you guys have any  tips  let me know  in the comments  below

31 for 21 Day 26 : Ten things you should know about my grandfather

     Today is a really  hard day for me to blog about.   For those  long time readers you guys know that two  years ago  I lost my grandfather.   Here are a few things you should know about my  grandfather.

1  My grandfather loved old cars.  He kept an assortment of old cars. To this day  there are still  old cars   at my  grandparents home.  He loved to fix them up.  He gave my brother one of his cars  for his 16th  birthday.


2  My  grandfather loved  my  grandmother.    They were together for a long time,   The  rasied  six  kids  together. They  may have gotten  in  fights but they always made up

3 My  grandfather  was an extremly hard  worker.   He  had to quit school to help his family when his father died  when he was a young boy.

4  My  grandfather  valued education.   Four out of his six kids  went to college.  One of my anunts   owned her own buiness.  My other anut  works  for state farm,  My mother became the first   Black  vice chancellor  at UCSF.  

5  My grandfather  was in the Army  when it became integrated .  It  was a hard  time but he  had an excelent work ethic,

  My  grandpa,  My father, Princess, my grandmother  and me in the overalls

6  The day after my  Grandfather pased a peacock  came  to visit my grandparents house.   Ever since  Peacocks have been very important to my  family.

7  I wish   he would have been here to watch me graduate college, move out and  have kids.

8  I wish I could be able to have my mom  talk to him  in heaven.

9  I  wish he could have been here to   hear about  my Princess  trip to Italy when she gets back  in December.

10   I  miss hearing his voice.


 Love you grandpa  

31 for 21: Day 25 Hate Crimes

  This is a great documentary on an  is an important  topic. I have  been bullied but   not like this .    

31 for 21 Day 24 : One more week to enter the drawing

   Hay  guys October  is  nearly over which means that it is almost  the end of  the giveaway for  Who's the slow  learner.  Sandra  also made a video.  It is really good. I love the song she used.
  It is  31 for 21 day six.

31 for 21 Day 23 : Memories from Seconed Grade

In Second grade  I  remember..



  Starting a new school.  I moved to public school it was harder to fit in. I had a hard time making  friends and was bullied.

Aide :  I had a one on one aide.

 
  Writers  Workshop :  I  remember  coming up with  great stories about different things.

 Spelling  words and  homework packets:  These came home every  week.


  Arthur and  Toy Story  Two:  These  were my favorite things to watch on  tv.  Toy story  two  came out   the Thanksgiving  of  my  second  grade year.   I had an  Arthur  Backpack.

 Field Trips: To the park, to see Elephant seals,  and we rode the train to   the downtown.

  Singing   in the classroom   and   after school in the school singing class .  I still remember those  tunes.



  This  teacher was a great teacher for me. She actually  taught all of my siblings.  She is  now my Facebook  friend.

31 for 21 Day 22 : "The first of many graduations"

      My  mom is a wonderful women.  She is strong   smart and  by far my best advocate.    I love her so much.  She  also  believes in me.


 We have an old  video  of my  preschool graduation.  In the video  my mom is saying that this  is the first of many graduations and she included medical school .    I should  mention that  this was  a graduation from a  special needs preschool.    My mom is amazing.  The belief and hope that her child  with  disabilities could achieve  greatness  is  ineradicable.   That is one of the reasons  that I have  come so far.   It is  because  she believed  in me. 

  Leave a comment  if you would like to hear from  my  mom in a future  blog post.

 The  first of many  Oh how  right my mother  was

31 for 21 Day 21 Brave in the attempt to obtain knowledge

 First day of school  Fall 2015

   

        On my first day at my new univestiy,  which  happen two days   before  I wrote this post.   I  alternated  between   excitement and  fear.

 The excitement   came from  the classes I would be taking,  the  fear   came  from  my experinces at my  old  university.   But after   I   had one class and   went to go find lunch   and heard  music playing I  thought  that.  I  got   this   and I knew that I  can be brave  in the attempt to   obtain  knowledge.  

  The  mental  scars that I have  from my educational experince are many.   I  was  label  the bad kid  in  K to 12 . I was  told  that I could not  graduate  from college (  I graduate in 2016)  I was   bullied  and  told  to  ignore  it , yet I  have overcame.      It has not been easy but    I  am  plaining to celebrate big  when I  graduate  from college because  I was  brave and  overcame soo much.

    Imagine how much more confident  I would have been if  I   did not have those  scars.  Do you have school scars  from your school  years of your child's  let me know below

   I  do not mean to brag  or  anything but I  am  pretty  amazing.   

31 for 21 Day 20 : On being realistic...

              When   a  baby is born. The sky  is the limit. Parents dream  of their kid being a doctor lawyer or actor.  Sometimes those dreams die when  their is  a developmental disability  that is  diagnosed.    Haply  as society   is becoming more inclusive  these dreams do not have to die. There are  college  programs for people  with disabilities  and  there are more options for employment   as well.
                          The hard  part about this is that  these opportunities are closed to people with developmental disabilities.   Not because   they are not  capable  or unlucky, but because  the adults in charge  destroy   their dreams.    They rip them up into tiny shreds  and  lock them  away.   Now  these people are not  overly mean  they  think they are  being realistic and  kind. They  feel that they are doing the best thing for them and  their  parents. Sometimes parents  agree with  these limits.

    This happened to me  on a few occasions.  The first being  in  high school  where they told me I'd  work in the back room and live in a group home. The seconded time being   my experience  at a private college.    I know  how I got through those hard  times by  having people  believe  in me.    From parents to  teachers   at my  jr college to my friends .  I decided to listen to them instead and now  I am  almost done.
   It is up to the adults  in  a young persons life to encourage them to dream big.  Young children can  not  dream , but  the adults  can  dream by having high expectations.   A   long time ago doctors  tried  telling parents to be realistic and put there children in institutions.     That did not  work out  so well.   Don't  be  realistic  be  bold and  daring.   Set high goals Will kids  reach those said  goals?  Maybe not, but  not all able bodied people  do either.   Let  people with disabilities  show  you that they can not  do something instead of  never  letting them try .
 
  For anyone reading this   with a disability

 Blast those low expectations out of the water.



 Got image from
http://previews.123rf.com/images/iqoncept/iqoncept1408/iqoncept140800100/30604007-Be-bold-confident-courageous-fearless-daring-and-brave-words-in-white-3d-letters-on-an-orange-backgr-Stock-Photo.jpg

31 for 21 Day 19 : Virtural Field Trip

  Hi  guys  so  today I  want to introduce you to another great blog written by  an adult with Cerebral Palsy.  She  is a good writer who also  blogs about disability   issues.  This  is a post in which she writes about  the photo  that  should not have gone viral. The  link can be found   here 


Read it and comment on this page.  Do you agree or disagree.

31 for 21 Day 18 Lorreta Clairborn

 I  really hope I can meet her one day.  She is amazing

31 for 21 day 17 :Great Ted talk

  This  is a great Ted talk done by a women with CP.   I have   chatted with her via Facebook She is nice women who speaks her mind about things that she is passionate about.   Remind you of anyone?

31 for 21 Day 16 : Memories from first grade

     In First grade I remember.

    Learning about the contents and  dinosaurs.


  Falling and hitting my head  three times in the same sport.

           I fell and hit my  head  playing with my siblings  in the play room.  I  remember  going to  the downstairs  bathroom  being all bloody. It was not a present site.

        I fell at school.

      I also fell  when book girl pushed a toy  shopping cart with me riding on top.  That was not a good  idea.

        Today  I have a scar on my forehead from where that happen.



   My class got chicken pox. I got the shot but the next day  I went into school  and my teacher  told me to go to the office because I actually had  the Chicken Pox.



      I  remember  getting  tested for NLD. I did not understand that I  had it until ninth  grade.


             I was  very close to my first grade teacher.  My  mother always  reminds me of this  by saying that first grade was the year I sat on my  teacher's lap.      I do have memories of  not sitting on her lap but   I think it happened more times then not.     I also  remember
  being sat down and  told I had CP, so  maybe that was part of it I am not sure.    I had behavior problems and was labeled  the bad kid.     This was the last year   that I  attended  that school.    From then on I attended  public school.  Academically that was the right choice  socially well you  will have to  see   in my  next post.





    Past posts  about first grade

          NLD 

31 for 21 Day 15 : First grade Opereta

   Tomorrow  I will  be sharing  more about  first grade.  Lets  just say that   First  grade was a tough year but I was still  cute.


 Here is proof.

31 for 21 Day 14 A major misconception about NLD.

       I have  Non  Verbal  Learning disorder, NLD for short.  When  people  first hear that they  think that I  am non Verbal .   The  answer  to this is false.  I  talk  and use speech for all of  my communication  needs.    My  speech is  unclear  but that  has to do with Cerebral Palsy not  NLD.

  Too learn more about  NLD  please  watch this  somewhat short video,

31 for 21 Day 13 Sending your kids with disabilities to college an Q and A

  

Today’s post will be from Stephanie,  Stephanie has two kids    the oldest  is Ryan, who has been on my Special  Olympics Track Team  for the past four years,  Ryan  has  Autism  but that does not stop him from   going to  college.  He goes   to  the Wayfinders program at Fresno State.   I talked  to Stephanie  about her family’s decision to send  her son to college.




 AZ :How did you find out about the program?
  Stephanie:  I heard about the program when I googled colleges for kids with disabilities. I did a lot of research on Fresno State Taft College and UCLA.
The process to apply for Fresno State took about six months. We visited had interviews and there was extensive application process. In the end Ryan liked Fresno State

 AZ Why did   you  guys  chose the Wayfinders  program?

 Stephanie: I  didn't take him to UCLA because I thought LA is too big and too far. When I did research about Taft College it was also too far and it is a very small school. Fresno seemed perfect because it was a perfect mix of not really a big city but a nice college campus
Their program is very extensive. Not only does it include independent living skills and budgeting finance paying bills on your own it's also a work program.
Ryan starts his job in the library and bookstore this week.It's a great school for not only social interaction academics but also the independent living component and they have a lot of life coaches and other coaches to help them along the way
It's challenging because they really work you hard and they make sure that you stick to a budget and that's not always fun. But the whole goal is to get you to a place where you can live and work independently and have a social life. And really isn't that what everybody wants?

AZ  How is  Ryan  doing?

 Ryan and his brother  Will 

 Stephanie :It's taking some time adjusting to all of the new experiences having three roommates sharing living spaces sharing refrigerators going out to parties and events going to classes and all the while keeping track of your own money. Ryan is finally starting to enjoy it a lot more I think at first it was very very difficult because he's never had to do anything like this
 AZ What would   you   want to say to other parents about  sending their  student   with  disabilities  to college ?

 Stephanie: I would say be prepared for a lot of ups and downs. First of all it has to be what your child wants not what you want. Like with Ryan him being 3 1/2 hours away it's very hard. He gets homesick he didn't know anyone when he got there and for some kids with disabilities it's very hard for them to use language skills and social skills and get out there and meet people.
You have to be prepared for a lot of phone calls and a lot of support.
And you also have to realize that it's OK to fail if it's not the right situation for your child or your child is it happy then it's OK to say come home


   Thank you  Stephanie for giving us some insight.  I  can not wait to hang out with  Ryan over winter break.  Have a question for Stephanie  leave a comment below .

 

31 for 21 Day 12 Meet the girl that stared in Switched at Birth

 Meet  Sofia  Sanchez.  She is  a first grade student who is  also  making quite a name for  herself as a modal  in the Change the Face  of Beauty and has recently made a guest appearance  on Switched at Birth.

     In the  show   Toby, who is  the older brother  of Bay who was  Switched at Birth  with  Daphene,  breaks the news to his  family that he is expecting a baby with  Down Syndrome.   In an effort to educate themselves about the condition the two of them  go to a school for kids with  developmental disabilities.  There they  meet   Sofia who shows Toby that Down Syndrome is not the  end of the world.  Sofia stole the show and was supper cute.  I have been  Facebook  friends with Sofia mother  Jennifer  for a while  now She was kind enough  to let me interview her.

 AZ:

 I know Sofia was adopted can you tell me anything about where she came from

 Sofia and her  brothers.  Mateo,  Joaquin and Diego

 Jennifer:

She was adopted from an orphanage in Ukraine. She was abandoned at birth.

Her bio parents were married and she was their first child. We believe they were fearful of raising a child with a disability or maybe felt like they were equipped. Culture in Eastern Europe is about 40 years behind us in the U.S. in terms of people with disabilities.

AZ

How long have you been watching switched at birth ?

Jennifer 

 Just Season four ! 

AZ 

Was it hard to catch up on all the drama?

I have been watching since the   first episode  back in 2011

Jennifer 

It was pretty simple to get up to date. I did go back and watch the first few episodes of season 1

I am missing a few key players like Angelo but I do plan on going back and watching from the start.


AZ
How did Sofia wind up on the Show?

 Sofia  high five Lucas Grabeel -  who plays  Toby - for a job well done.
Grabeel also played Ryan in High School Musical     

                                             

Jennifer:

She auditioned for the part and was chosen by SAB

We got the audition from her agent Gail Williamson  at KMR Diversity

AZ
  How was it on set?

Jennifer
The set was impressive. Soooooooo many people behind the scenes to make it all happen. It was amazing to witness

AZ
What has the reaction been to Sofia's stardom?

 Jennifer
Her peers (other 1st graders) LOVED seeing her on TV and are so excited to say hi to her. Her teachers and family are so proud of her. Sofia loved it all. She loved the work, the people, watching herself on TV. She loved it all. 

   AZ: Any future projects?
 Jennifer: She has a modeling job next month for Freckles & Kitty and Zulily and she auditioned recently for a movie role that we are still waiting to hear about!

 Sofia on her first day of  First Grade 

School is her top priority! She's learning to read and write and working on her speech. This way she has a bright future ahead of her! But her love is modeling, acting, performing and making people smile!!!

AZ

 What does Sofia like to do for fun?

 Jennifer 

Sofia likes to dance, sing, read, swim and play barbies.

AZ

If there was one thing you want other people to know about Down Syndrome what would you want people to know?

Jennifer 

 That people with Down syndrome are PEOPLE with their own sets of dreams and hopes and wants.

  Thank you  Jennifer and  Sofia

  Have any other questions for  Jennifer ?    Leave a comment below. 

31 for 21 Day 11: Learning disabilities video

           This is a   great video I watched this last spring in my intro to special education   class.   I  hope you enjoy it.


                                                               

 

31 for 21 : Day Ten more about Unified Sports

   Earlier  this  week I  posted about Unified  Sports.  Here is more  information about the program from Special  Olympics   Northern California.

31 for 21 Day nine : Reflections from Kindergarten

     

   I remember

    Me in  Kindergarten.    I  was  so cute. 

      Sound books  esp  the letter /k/. The  teacher told me I was different.

               Jump rope  Every day at recess my  teacher  would  try to  teach me how to jump rope.  I was able to jump  rope by the end of the year.

                 Read Write and Type  Click here to read more about it.

                  Learning about community jobs  highlight   was   having my mom come in her scrubs to teach us about being a doctor.

                Learning different coin  values

                   Butterflies  We watched them in our classroom go from  caterpillars  to butterflies. It was very fun.

 Thanksgiving  play. I was the cat on the Mayflower.





 Not bad considering I was only  six.


   Eight Months  I will be   graduating with a  BA.




  Other posts

       In  Kindergarten


  Learning to read 

31 for 21 Day Eight: My inclusion Story

  Hi  guys for those of you that are new  here, or want to   watch my story again . Here is my inclusion story.  As   I  Countdown to College  graduation I will be   talking about my memories in more detail in  the weeks and months ahead but here is a quick overview of my story.

31 for 21 Day Seven: World Cerebral Palsy Day 2015

           Thank you everyone for sending  or agreeing to  let me use  your picture.     I hope you have an awesome day today.  Be sure to wear  Green today.  Here is the montage  It  is the longest it has ever been.    

   A member of a group that I am in made this for me.  I think it turned out  well.






   Wearing Green Today?  Let me know in the comments  or  share a pic on my  Facebook page or email me if you want. 

31 for 21 Day Six : Who’s the Slow Learner? A Chronicle of Inclusion and Exclusion

 AZ with  Sandra and Sean  March 2014 

Today is    Sean McElwee's  twenty second birthday.  I  have met Sean and his Mom  Sandra  at CA  TASH in 2014  .  

 Sandra  wrote a book about her son's educational experience  called  Who is the Slow Learner.  I  decided to  let her talk about  her book and  if you like  it then you can  enter for a giveaway  at the end of the blog 

 AZ: Why did you write the book?

 Sean in kindergarten 

Sandra: The real purpose was to educate and inspire while entertaining in the hopes that parents could learn, and educators could see that they hold the key to success…or hell.  Who’s the Slow Learner? A Chronicle of Inclusion and Exclusion was an accidental book.  Sean had a text-book perfect elementary school inclusion experience, but secondary school was a stark contrast. I started documenting the bad behavior of the administrators and educators and five years when Sean graduated from high school I looked back and thought, “I couldn’t make this stuff  up!” That’s when the idea of turning Sean’s story into a book, but it couldn’t just be the secondary school experience. Parent’s needed to know what to watch out for, but it would have been too depressing. So I broke out the elementary school communication notebooks, IEPs and started recreating each grade chronologically. 

I searched and searched and I couldn’t find one book that chronicled a student with special educational needs from preschool through high school graduation. We have plenty of the ‘baby born, parents mourn’ stories but none that provide practical realities of the school-age years.

I wrote the book as a memoir, simply because I enjoy reading real-life memoirs.  My hopes were that parents could learn first how inclusion was supposed to be supported and accommodated as it was in Sean’s elementary school…and what legal tools they have to use when it isn’t provided appropriately from the secondary school experiences.

 AZ Chapman : What has been the feedback for the book?

 A lot of people like  Sandra's story that shows that when you
 include   everyone benefits 

 Sandra: I am thrilled to have 31 Five-Star Ratings on Amazon.com.  Parents have told me they purchased the book for their teachers and administrators and have had them comment they never looked at Inclusion from a parent’s perspective before.  This has led to positive changes in their schools, and THAT is the feedback that makes my day. Some of the headlines from the ratings on Amazon ‘Highly recommended,’ A must read for teachers and parents,’ Invaluable resource,’ and my favorites comment that they couldn’t put the book down.

 Sean in forth grade 

AZ Chapman: What advice do you have for future special education teachers?

 Sandra: My advice for special educators and general educators alike is to always have high expectations for their students. To learn to collaborate as a team and to spend the time they are in school learning to differentiate instruction so they can teach one subject to learners of different abilities and learning styles.

 Sean  with the baseball team.  He was  an assistant to the team
during his  high school years 

 AZ Chapman: What is Sean up too now?

 Sandra : Sean is about to turn 22, and is attending community college focusing on acting classes. He is an assistant coach for a Challenger Flag Football team, volunteers in a SundaySchool class and goes dancing every chance he has.   He was just hired to work at Home Depot!  He has a full social life and enjoys doing presentations and signing books.  In his spare time, Sean loves to make music videos using an app on his Iphone.  He’s currently single, but has a girl that he is trying to woo.

    

 Thank you Sandra

  Enter for a chance to win a copy of this book  by leaving a comment on this post. The giveaway will close on  the 31st.   Winners will be   announced on   November forth. 

 Click here for  the book's  website 

 Click here  for  the book's Facebook  page