Can you
imagine having the intelligence of a savant but never being that lucky to be in
a school that works with this ability? This has been my experience because I
have not found the awesome school that can work with my body and my mind.
Because I need the support for my challenging body many have made the mistake
of thinking that my intelligence is totally challenged too. Daring to believe
challenged bodies are still intelligent is hard for most educators. Could
teachers do better? Could stopping to think about intelligence help the
situation? Could trying to presume competence be effective? Amazing education
thinks about how to stop doing the same things over and over and thinks
about how to really educate strong minds.
Autism in
the non-speaking is challenging because the outer body is so careless. However
the inner mind is fully intact and on many levels greatly intelligent. It is
hard to stop making the outer body behave the way it does. Educators must have
the ability to look beyond the body’s actions. Is it a lot to learn to do this?
My body is autistic. My brain is not. With the support I need for my body I am
able to do incredible work with my amazing mind.
The awesome thing that we are finding
out about the brain and learning is that the brain has an incredible way of
working in some individuals and we must help these individuals get the
education they deserve.
Graciela is an amazing 13 year old girl.
She has been using the letterboards for three years. She always does her best
to challenge others to be making the path to inclusion as beautiful as
possible in spite of always running into a lot of obstacles on her own
journey.
Graciela has a blog entitled Dare to
Listen. Check it out at www.daretolisten.org.
No comments:
Post a Comment