Tomorrow afternoon Harold and Evan's Spec. Ed. teacher, Patsy, will talk to Evan's high school classmates about Down Syndrome. (I plan to sit in the back of the class & observe.) It will be a relatively small group of kids, about 30 or so, but is an exciting chance to educate and perhaps correct some mis-perceptions. During this time, Evan will be probably going out to get ice cream with his good friend, Pastor Roger.
Some of Evan's classmates have know him most of their lives, others haven't know him long at all. Harold gave all of them a hand-out taken from the NADS article "If People With Down Syndrome Ruled The World." This article will be a great "ice breaker" & will hopefully provoke some discussion.
We have wanted to do something like this for a couple of years, but the timing didn't seem quite right. Also, Harold is the principal of the school. We really wanted to avoid the perception that he might be telling kids "You better be nice to my son because I'm the principal!" However, our high school students are all pretty close now, and I think there is enough of a bond of friendship that will help them to hear Harold as a parent, and not just as the principal.
One of the advantages of having Evan in a school run by our church is that the kids are together just not for classes, but for youth group activities, family get-together's, sports, etc. They all know each other extremely well! Our goal is that in explaining more about Down's, it will help these kids know how to be better friends, not just with Evan, but with other people who they may look at as "different". And a little knowledge can spread pretty far!
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