Student Inclusion Leadership Team

We realized that kids are rarely taught how to interact with others with disabilities. Unless there are people in their direct network, they generally don’t learn at school or from their parents about people with disabilities, especially kids with disabilities. Kids often feel uncomfortable or embarrassed by people with disabilities, simply because they don’t know. They tend to stare or simply ignore them because they are not sure what to do or how to act and later they may end up feeling guilty about it...

Have you ever felt that way?

We have.

Can we change that? 

We think we can.

We have partnered with Special Olympics Generation Unified, and they have helped us on our Inclusion Journey. We started a Student Inclusion Leadership Team at our school, where every class has two student leader representatives. We meet virtually and teach them about Inclusion and meaningful friendships with kids at our school with disabilities. They then, bring that info back to their classmates. We hope to reach every student in our school and open their hearts to meaningful friendships and inclusion. It has brought so much to our lives, that we want to share it with everyone!

If you are interested in starting your own inclusion journey and want some help,

contact us here. Contact us here.

Meet Bailey.

Exciting News!!! Kelly was chosen by Special Olympics to be a CHAMPION SCHOOL, so they are helping us bring FUN inclusive activities to Kelly and now to other schools in our town. Student Inclusion Leadership Team is a team of students planning and leading inclusive activities for our Kelly friends with disabilities and helping everyone move forward on their own inclusion journey. 

Do you know what inclusion means? It means that all people, no matter their abilities, disabilities, or needs, have a right to be respected, included, and appreciated. Is that what happens at Kelly? Do you think we can do better? Do you think you can do better? I think we all can.

We met virtually and Iearned about Bailey, a Kelly student. She is our Kelly Spokesperson for Student Inclusion Leadership Team. Bailey has Down Syndrome, which is something she was born with. Down Syndrome makes some things hard for her, but there are lots of things that she can do and she is learning to do it at her own pace. 

If you see Bailey around Kelly or in the community, you can say hello to her. You can introduce yourself. Bailey loves playing and clapping with her friends. Bailey and other kids with Down syndrome want to be treated just like you would want to be treated.  So next time you see a schoolmate with a disability, say Hi! If you have any questions about Bailey or Student Leadership Team please contact us. Thank you!!!!

Meet Weston. 

Hey Class. We are excited to share with you what we talked about at our last meeting for Inclusion Leadership Team. 

Do you remember what inclusion is? Inclusion means all people are included. But what does that look like? Have you ever felt uncomfortable or fearful around someone who may seem different than you? Have you tried to include or exclude or avoid that person? It’s okay, because we hope to continue on our inclusion journey together! 

We played the Special Olympics Inclusion Tile Game to see what an inclusion journey may look like...Inclusion journeys look different for everyone. Everyone has unique experiences that make people who they are. If you want you can play the Tile Game too and you can move these tiles around to see how you create an Inclusion Journey. As you create your inclusion journey think about the ways your journey may be different from a friend or a classmate...there are no right or wrong answers. Please give it a try.

We also met a new Kelly friend. His name is Weston. He is six years old and is in Kindergarten. He is very friendly and loves to say HI to everyone he meets. Weston’s favorite things in the whole world are Mickey Mouse and Elmo. He really loves school and when Kelly kids say hi to him. 

Weston was born with a rare brain malformation.  This means Weston has a hard time learning things and tends to have a hard time moving around too. Everything Weston learns takes a long time, but he keeps on learning.  Everyone who knows him is so proud of all the progress he has made. 

If you see Weston Say “Hi Weston!”.  Smile and introduce yourself! He has a hard time sometimes making eye contact so just be patient.

Thank you for keeping an open mind and an open heart to all our Kelly friends. If you have questions you can ask me at recess! Thank you!

Meet Empathy.

Have seen Weston around campus? He has been super excited that so many of you have said hello and have introduced yourself to him! 

Have you read or watched the movie, “Wonder”? If not, you should! We had homework to watch the movie over the 4 day weekend.  It is about a boy named Auggie, who is like every other 5th grade boy. He cares about his friends. He loves Star Wars. He feels totally normal inside. But, he is unique. He has had 27 surgeries and his face looks a little different from other kids his age. So even though he feels normal on the inside, he knows others do not see him as ordinary.  If Auggie went to Kelly Elementary, how would you feel? How would you treat him? Would you sit with him at lunch and be his friend? This movie can help all of us be more EMPATHETIC.

You may be wondering, What is EMPATHY? Well, there are two kinds. ... 

First, empathy is about sharing an emotion with someone or feeling the way they feel, even if you aren’t in the same situation. When you feel an emotion along with someone, even if you aren’t directly affected by whatever is causing their situation, that’s empathy.

Empathy Example 1: Have you ever felt sad with a friend just because he was sad? That’s empathy! So for example, if you feel sad with your friend because he didn’t make the soccer team (even though you aren’t affected by him not making the team)… that’s empathy. Sharing his sadness is a kind of empathy.

The second part of empathy is about being able to understand someone else’s way of looking at a situation, even if you see it differently. We often call this “putting yourself in someone else’s shoes”. Having empathy means you can step back from the way you see a situation and think about how someone else might feel from their side of the story.

Empathy Example 2: Have you ever noticed that your dad or mom is frustrated while he’s tidying up some of your stuff? You had fun playing with the stuff and don’t mind them laying on the floor. But you think about it from your dad’s perspective and realize that he doesn’t like how it feels to have a messy space and he feels frustrated at having the extra work of tidying it up. When you look at the situation from your dad’s side of the story (from his perspective) and understand how he might be feeling … that’s empathy.

Okay, Homework for you. Talk to your family and see if you can watch or read Wonder. Watch it with them. Talk about it with them. Which character are you most like? Which character do you WANT to be most like? 

Thank you and if you have questions feel free to ask me/us at recess.