Tuesday, February 12, 2013

A Thought for Others

Poor little neglected blog.  I know it's been a long time.   It's not that I don't have things to write about, but life has been very busy.  Mostly good busy, as we have a new amazing man in our lives, but busy nonetheless.  This evening, however, something pretty special occurred, and I just had to drop everything and tell y'all.

Ben is technically placed in an Autism ACC class, but he spends part of his day in a regular kindergarten class for inclusion this year.  He has done very well (with an aid), and he is joining the  Valentine's Day party in the regular Ed class this Thursday.  We received a list of names, and Ben and I sat down to address his Lego Valentine's cards.

He is still struggling with fine motor skills, so writing his name twenty times was laborious.  When we were through, Ben said,"Wait!  We forgot Jonathan, Lucas, and Ryan!"  I checked the list.  No Jonathan, Ryan, or Lucas.  I asked if he was sure they were in his class this year, and he insisted.  "We can't leave them out!  They will be sad!"  I assured him no one would be left out, and emailed his teacher.

It turns out that those three boys are in the ACC class but not in the kindergarten class with Ben and two other boys from ACC.  They will be having a party with another special education class.  Ben was right.

This amazes me for two reasons.  First, Ben was able to realize that we were missing three of his classmates after listening to me rattle off a list of twenty kids.  Second, Ben was concerned for other kids' feelings.  He can barely express his own feelings on most occasions, but he recognized that those classmates would not receive cards and might feel left out and sad.  Not only that, but he did not want them to feel that way.  It's amazing.

Jonathan, Lucas, and Ryan will receive cards and suckers from Ben at their party.  Ben is happy.  I am amazed, thrilled, and so happy I'm teary.  I have an awesome boy who fills my heart with hope and happiness every day.

Happy Valentine's Day to all.

2 comments:

  1. AWESOME!!! That is amazing for ALL the reasons you outlined! He is doing SO well! I'm so proud of him and SO happpy for you!!

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