THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, February 18, 1997 TAG: 9702180289
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ALETA PAYNE, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: 108 lines
The students in Susan Miller's class at John B. Dey Elementary School were pretty well stumped.
The second-graders had resorted to squirrel-like gnawing, contorting and some other creative maneuvering in an attempt to tie their shoelaces with one hand.
A chorus of ``I can't, I can't'' was met with calm reassurance from adults in the room.
``Yes you can. You can do it.'' And some of them did.
The students were taking a part in the Celebrating Our Differences program, an effort to increase awareness among Dey students that different isn't bad and doesn't need to be scary. Although its focus initially was to make the young people more comfortable with disabled students, it is now expanding to include cultural and ethnic differences as well.
It came to Dey three years ago through Kathy Powell, the mother of two daughters. The oldest girl, Page, attends Great Neck Middle School and has Down syndrome. While Page was a student at Hermitage Elementary School, Powell had worked with a teacher on a program to help students better understand those in the special education program there. She never thought her work would go beyond that.
``That took care of Page,'' she remembers thinking. ``That would be fine.''
Then a few years ago, the Powells' younger daughter, Nancy, was chosen student of the month at Dey and asked to bring in a family picture for display. To her mother's dismay, Nancy was teased about her sister.
``I had wondered if this would ever happen,'' Powell said. ``And it did.''
Powell said she told Nancy's teacher, ``This comes from somebody not knowing any better.''
Using some of the materials that had worked at Hermitage and collaborating with two preschool special education teachers at Dey, Powell came up with Celebrating Our Differences. With the blessing of Dey principal Elizabeth Taylor, the program has been taught by parent volunteers to all second-graders at the school ever since.
The program consists of three half-hour classroom sessions followed by an assembly conducted by the Endependence Center, which serves area residents with special needs. The students work on feeling comfortable talking about differences and learn about celebrities who have succeeded with disabilities. They get a small taste of what it's like to be disabled, and they come to realize that people with disabilities are people first who deserve to be treated like everyone else.
Taylor, the principal, said she has seen a ``tremendous difference'' since the program began from a drop in teasing to a general sense of acceptance.
When students with developmental delays ride their tricycles down the hall now, ``I see the children just taking it in stride,'' Taylor said. ``They realize everyone has their differences and everyone has their strengths.''
Laura Stone, one of the preschool special education teachers who has worked with Powell, said tests of students conducted before and after the program showed a positive change in attitudes.
``Kids get treated as individuals rather than someone who looks different or walks funny,'' Stone said.
On a recent afternoon, the students in Miller's class discussed their assignment from the previous session - to think about someone who is different and come up with something good about them.
One girl mentioned a friend who wears hearing aids. ``She's really nice to other people,'' the second-grader said.
One of the boys in the class was stuck, however, when asked to come up with something good about a man he'd seen with a large tattoo on his arm.
``Maybe he was pretty creative about expressing himself,'' Powell suggested.
The kids talked about the words disabled and disability versus handicapped and the importance of being sensitive when describing people.
Then on to the shoelace assignment.
Given 90 seconds to tie a shoe with one hand, the young people resorted to some pretty clever tricks, including calling on classmates to help.
Student As`Sye'ya Baldwin struggled mightily and succeeded in tying her bright white tennis shoe. The effort made her feel ``crazy,'' she said. But how did she feel when it was over? ``Proud.''
``Now, did you want me to feel sorry for you?'' Powell asked.
As`Sye'ya shook her head no.
``Do you think people with disabilities want us to feel sorry for them?''
The class answered with a resounding ``No.''
In another exercise, students were asked to read together from a story. The only problem was that the words were garbled. Tongues tied and voices faded as the kids struggled with ``Once ubon a tmie, there was a friembl dobt.''
Stone explained that some people have a ``short circuit in their brain'' that turns letters around. They just need some extra help in learning how to read, she said.
After the session, Travis Wilson said he'd learned ``not to feel bad for the people, because they don't want us to.''
And Elizabeth Holladay said, ``Other people can do stuff we do, even if they're in wheelchairs.''
For Powell, statements like that show understanding is winning out over fear. And that should make the path easier for all children.
``If people accept each other for who they are, if they aren't afraid anymore, it's a big step,'' she said. ``Because people are afraid of what they don't understand.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photos by STEVE EARLEY/The Virginian-Pilot
Price Wootton uses just one hand and his teeth in trying to tie his
shoe. He and his second-grade classmates at John B. Dey Elementary
School were in a class learning to understand children who have
disabilities.
Kathy Powell teaches a class called Celebrating Differences,
including cultural and ethnic, to Susan Miller's second-graders.
They learned that different isn't bad and doesn't need to be scary.
KEYWORDS: HANDICAPPED DISABLED DISABILITIES