Mac is in the final weeks of finishing Year 10.
He wasn’t keen to continue populating the blog until he knew how high school would pan out and so we haven’t posted since he finished primary school.
BUT… this gorgeous, grown-up dude did agree we should share pics of him heading off to his school formal last night.
Love him!
Our school gives a specific award around valued traits a student might display from time to time. Called the “Calf Award” (we are a school based in a rural/regional/farming area) it is a pretty cool award to receive.
In a surprise today, Mac received a “Creative Calf Award”. Here’s the accompanying information from the award…
CALF AWARD
Name: Mac
Year: 6
Type of Calf: Creative calfWhy: Mac is one of our most ambitious learners – he doesn’t let anything get in the way of his learning. Making sure he doesn’t let anything hold him back requires Mac to be creative; Mac is one of the most motivated, creative and resourceful students in our school.
Mac says it’s important to him to think creatively because “thinking with creativity allows me to show that without a voice doesn’t mean without a thought.”
Mac also says that being able to think about things in lots of different ways is useful because “thinking differently uses different parts of the brain and that makes learning easier.”
Mac also says that it is very important to be able to respond in different ways; “responding in other ways is important because everyone thinks differently.”
Mac is a shining example of why creativity and resourcefulness are such important skills, and that with these two things and the drive to succeed anyone can engage and be a successful learner.
Sam, one of Mac’s peers, says “when I see Mac working he is always on task and working hard, although sometimes he cracks up laughing and that makes the whole class laugh! When Mac is working in a group he also contributes a lot and is very helpful.”
As you can see, Mac is a valued and integral member of the class, and of the school as a whole.
We are lucky to have as motivated and creative a learner as Mac at our school.
Well done Mac – keep up the amazing learning in high school next year!
What a great award to have him receive and for us to read about. The language used by the staff and by his mate, Sam, just cement his role as valued student, valued learner and valued classmate.
I love reading his quotes, and his perspective – he offers some pretty powerful insights.
How great that Mac and his mates get to grow up simply knowing this about a person, ‘never underestimating’ has become part of their DNA.
Filed under Uncategorized
It comes so naturally.
No grown-ups required.
Kids get it, friends get it.
On a sunny morning, waiting for the ANZAC Day march to set off, you need nothing more than your ‘glare weather friends’.
Filed under friends, Inclusion... straight up!
This kid does impress me at times.
OK, I know i’m somewhat biased and, as his mum, it’s my job to be impressed by him… soooo, at the risk of seeming a little ‘braggy’ i’m going to share a snippet from Mac’s recent school work.
Math(s) is still Mac’s favourite subject, it comes easily to him, he enjoys success with it and it’s easier for output than most literacy/writing based activities… so, what’s not to love?
In class Mac and his and his peers (now in 6th grade) were working on number patterns. Mac was working well and was given the first addition number pattern to complete as a warm up.
Mac typed “doubling” as his response to the teacher’s aide, ‘M’, to explain the pattern.
He was then required to provide ‘M’ with a subtracting pattern for her to try and work out, and so he typed:
She easily identified it was subtracting by 25 each time.
But it none of this was really challenging Mac so ‘M’ upped the anti and asked him to create a really hard number pattern for her to do.
This is what he typed:
To quote Ron Burgundy, “well that escalated quickly”.
Seems he followed his brief… it is a tricky pattern. Mac’s aide, ‘M’, worked on it for quite a while but he had her pretty stumped. None of the other kids in class could get it out – Mac assured them it was a proper pattern, that the numbers were correct.
Mac’s teacher, Mrs M worked it out… eventually… and in the end Mac gave the rest of the class the solution.
But it’s these little snippets and insights that intrigue us about this child. Mac doesn’t use a calculator, it would be too tedious on this communication device. When asked about his ‘methods’ for many things he says he “just knows it” and can’t explain his working. Also, on his device he can only type left to right, unlike many instances in calculations where the rest of use might work right to left. So there’s plenty of times we adults are not quite sure what to do next, while Mac just keeps on doing his things his way, and yes, impressing and intriguing us as he goes.
Well, really I need to give those who love a good maths puzzle the chance to do it themselves.
But be sure to put your solution in the comments, I’ll pop Mac’s explanation he used for the class in the comments too, but don’t peek. 😉
Oh, and just so we don’t get too carried away as ‘braggy parents’, I do love the comment in his school workbook immediately following this entry which said… “Mac then dozed off in his wheelchair for a brief nap after all his work on number patterns”, seems it’s exhausting this math(s).
Way to go on the snoozing at school Macco!
As luck would have it Mac attended a classmates birthday party where the ‘order of the day’ was a water pistol fight.
I knew someday Mac would absolutely NEED a water pistol, truth be told he should have had one years ago… he’s 11 for crying out loud.
It’s not that I haven’t been looking… it’s just finding the perfect combination of battery powered pistol, ease of switch adapting, wheelchair “mountability” and being able to actually buy it when I found it didn’t come together until late last year.
We were traveling overseas and so I did some “retail research” for those few elusive, but sought after, items.
Courtesy of quick trip into Cerritos Walmart, CA – it looked to be perfect option.
Mac gave as good as he got today at the party, he was drenched but delighted. The kids were stoked with his ‘water pistol weapon of choice’, quite a few of these guys were in his class for the “macifications” two years ago so were also interested in how the gun actually worked and was tweaked.
SO WHAT IS IT… AND WHAT DID WE DO WITH IT?
The Fuze Cyclone Water Blaster from FUZE UK.
Designed for mounting on your bike handlebars it was a great choice for a wheelchair because:
Mac’s Pa undertook ‘hacking duties’ once again and got it switch adapted it for him. He used three plugs coming out from the handlebar attachment. Mac used a head activated switch for the fire option, his left and right options were attached to a joystick but most often maneuvered by his “wheelchair pusher”.
It was a little bit tricky to get the button component apart as it had been glued closed, but, once open and adapted it had the option to screw it back together… a nice surprise.
It would be great if the Fuze team considered the option to build in some disability access as standard – they really be world leaders if they went down that path. I generally joke that switch access for toys costs three cents at build stage, three dollars if you do it yourself or three hundred dollars if you get a disability organisation involved, sadly, it’s not really a joke.
Interestingly, Fuze have quite a few products that could intersect with the youth wheelchair market. The fact they don’t cost a fortune is a welcome relief from the usual slamming people with disabilities get around prices of products they need.
One thing to note with this particular product is many kids will find the standard buttons suitable for use without any hacking required.
Check out the FUZE UK range on the above link, there are some cool wheel lights and even a speaker and mount for your phone or media device which just might suit some wheelchairs out there.
It was lunch time and Mac, having just finished eating, was heading out to the playground.
“Go away,” they said, as Miss M and Mac approached the group of boys.
For a moment, Miss M was worried – these were Mac’s fellow Grade 6 boys.
“Buuuttt,” she started, about to say ‘It’s Mac’ when they quickly clarified.
“Oh, not Mac, he’s with us, we just don’t need you.”
“Fine,” she said, feigning indignation, but secretly thrilled at their autonomy and independence. Clearly no adults and certainly no ‘female adults’ are needed in their midst.
I was relieved to hear it. Mac was a little upset on the second day of sixth grade, thinking he wouldn’t have any friends in his class and what that might mean. This year is a big change for him – it’s his first new teacher in three years.
He knew he wasn’t going to get in the same class as one of his best mates. They completely outwit/outplay/outmaneuver the teachers and don’t do any work at all… all the while looking “very busy”. He was ok with that, he said. But for some reason he thought all the other kids were allowed to pick a friend and he wasn’t. I don’t think that was the case, and after actually getting his class placement, he realised he has some great kids in there and he is much happier.
It’s hard to balance the “sticking with who you know” approach in class friendships or embracing the “new kids mean new opportunities”. Every year I have a moment of a panic – worried that he might not maintain those relationships he formed in the prior year… so far, that has been misdirected worry.
It was great to hear Miss M report back that, on the first morning after being placed in their classes, lots of the kids said: “Right, when do we get to learn how to work with Mac.” Learning about Mac’s technology, working with him is still a revered role. If he stuck with the same kids all the time, those new kids would miss out and so would he… you just never know what allies are around the corner.
So the first week of Grade Six has been OK, here’s to a wonderful final year of primary school.
Filed under Access all Areas, friends, Inclusion... straight up!
We’ve been away. A visit to the US of A allowed Mac, among a great many other things, to enjoy his first ever Halloween in style.
As our travel itinerary was shaping up with us somewhere between Arizona and California for Halloween… we decided Las Vegas might be the place to go. They have a street parade on Freemont Street, it seemed like a fun place to be.
Mac and his mates had done some research on possible ideas for a costume before he left (thanks Google & the “Tuesday afternoon costume committee brotherhood”). The general consensus was that creepy clowns, blood, gore and/or maybe something with a severed head were the preferred options. Seriously, these kids have got 11yo boy down pat…
I was a little nervous. Creating a costume that would stack up in the US from the confines of a hotel room – that would meet both Mac’s & his mates’ expectations? Was it possible?
Thankfully, there were plenty of Halloween pop up shops available for our shopping pleasure prior to getting to Vegas. Shawn found a fab ‘creepy clown’ balcony decoration suitable for hanging above the wheelchair to allow the skeleton clown to appear as though it was holding Mac’s severed head in its boney hands. “Hacky the Clown” (as he came to be known) was the perfect fit.
Mac was thrilled.
It worked a treat. He was far from cute!
So many admiring glances and looks of pure joy from everyone he passed – with the occasional double take as his head moved around when they were least expecting it. You’ve never seen such a delighted severed head.
Oh… and the creepy clown voice audio we put onto Shawn’s phone so we could ‘bluetooth it’ to Mac’s portable speaker if anyone was in earshot – well, that was more for Shawn’s and my enjoyment 😉 .
Mac certainly held his own in the parade and got tonnes of wonderful photos with plenty of other “creeps” on the night.
It a was a fantastic night, so much fun.
The social media platform we chose for Mac to stay in touch with friends back home was firing on all cylinders with everyone loving his costume and many sharing their own creations from their own fun nights.
Thanks Freemont Street and the Las Vegas Halloween Parade… you have set the bar high.
and there was one tired clown at the end of the night…
They do go together… there’s scientific evidence – and now there’s SunSprite. We first came across SunSprite on Indiegogo in their crowd funding phase.
CLICK IMAGE TO VISIT SUNSPRITE.COM
SunSprite is the first solar-powered wearable device that measures and tracks the amount of sun and light that a person is receiving. In its most basic form, it reminds you to get outside and absorb bright light, which wakes up your brain and makes you healthier!
I thought it was a great way for Mac to start thinking about managing his health (at least one portion of it) and what a great option for people in aged care or those with mobility issues in general who maybe aren’t getting access to the ‘right light’ to optimise their health.
Dappled light under our gorgeous Fig Tree at the bottom of the garden.
I commented on their campaign and they asked for more information. We Skyped about how and why a kid like Mac, with significant physical disabilities and who isn’t yet in control of his own mobility, could benefit from something like this.
As a thank you from the team, for helping them out in their development phase, Mac received his very own SunSprite when they shipped this month. He’s now worn it for nine days and has hit his 100% mark by midday on almost every day. Mostly he’s been wearing it on his shoes as it’s easy to remember on school days but it would perhaps be more appropriate up on his wheelchair headrest or collar – it is working ok for now though.
SunSprite also syncs with its mobile app, for us, we have it synced to Mac’s iPad. Where it will be useful is for Mac to think about how he can use the data to see if he needs to make changes in his life (with us now, but on his own when he is older). For now school life pretty much ensures he is getting out and about with enough light each day. But in the future, when he is responsible for directing his own support staff/personal assistants etc, this will hopefully have been a good way for him to start thinking about how he needs to be in the ‘driver’s seat’, how he should be the one making decisions based on his own data and/or experience.
Congrats to the SunSprite team… this is a great little device.
You can read more about it on their website by clicking the image below.
Filed under Access all Areas, the big picture
The Student Representative Council held a ‘bike day’ for all students today. It was one of our Education Week celebrations.
In the lead up I talked to Mac about how he might be involved. He likes being on the back of a bike in his bike trailer… we don’t do it very often, we don’t own good bikes and his bike trailer/jogger is generally left at school as it is hard to transport with the wheelchair.
But, here was a great opportunity for his mates to learn how to ride with his jogger on the back. Our village always has groups of kids riding around the streets… it would be cool if Mac could tag along for the ride without adults needing to always be with them.
Mac and I talked to the ‘lads’ at school. What kind of bike should we get?
I know we could have borrowed one… as I said, there’s tonnes of bikes in the village. However, if Mac “owns the bike” it’s always available for his trailer. We will know it’s in good condition, safe and confident it will have brakes (so often considered “optional”).
The lads knew exactly what we neeeded… a 24″ geared bike, probably mountain bike style.
Off shopping I went. Our trusty local bike shop so often repairing Mac’s wheelchair and servicing his jogger was my one stop shop. They had a great little bike, super light weight, they cut me a deal – we were sorted.
Mac now owns a bike!
And the kids now know they can head off with him at any stage for a ride (their leg muscles permitting).
There was not a smile bigger than Mac’s today – he was loving life sitting back while his mates did all the work.
What a fantastic day… here’s a sneak peek of what went down.
One of the kids remarked… “he’s not that heavy, it’s more your energy gets used up listening too him laughing behind you”… I guess he might be a bit distracting.
Thanks to the SRC, you put on a great day.
Filed under Access all Areas, Inclusion... straight up!
Book Week 2014, a book week purists dream… no specific theme, just books, glorious books.
It’s probably fitting when your name is Macdonald you pick a character with Scottish heritage for book week. The fact that character also has a disability was really just a happy co-incidence, the reality is… it was “all about the hair”.
Mac’s choice this year was the impressive auror Alastor “Mad Eye” Moody, from Harry Potter. With perfect hair to pull of the look Mac was pretty impressed with himself.
Time constraints (and… oh, yeah, real life) meant we didn’t quite invent a recumbent wheelchair broomstick. Fortunately, the freezing wind was of no concern by the appropriate choice of Dad’s Driza-bone oilskin jacket keeping Mac totally snug throughout the book week parade – he certainly fared better than some of the other muggles whose costumes would have been ruined by the addition of a jacket.
Filed under Accessing the Curriculum, Inclusion... straight up!
This week in NSW schools it is SASS (School Administrative and Support Staff) Appreciation Week.
At the Monday morning assembly I managed to catch the presentation by students to our school’s SAS staff and enjoyed hearing them share their insights – all written by the kids themselves”. I have to admit though, I was perhaps most moved by what they “didn’t say”.
Our SAS team comprises administrative staff, learning support officers (teachers aides/paraprofessionals), groundsmen, IT support etc). Each team member was presented with a small certificate of appreciation, a beautiful gerbera flower and a small speech from different students telling them why they were appreciated.
There were so many reasons given as to why the kids want to thank them… from getting balls of the roof to preparing newsletters, looking after the office, helping them know where to play, applying band-aids or just having a ‘chat’.
What struck me when the classroom Learning Support Officers (LSOs/teachers’ aides/paras) were being thanked is that there was no suggestion they were there for any ‘specific or special’ student. They were considered to be in the classroom for ALL students. There was no singling out of who they helped and why.
This is exactly how learning support should happen in classrooms. All students, regardless of any diagnosis or funding, should be feeling supported by the presence of an additional adult in the classroom. They shouldn’t feel, for example that the adult is, say, “Mac’s aide”. Sure, Mac’s high physical support needs mean he will get more support in some areas… but I love that the students recognise the aide is there for ‘all of them’. And I love that Mac (or any student in the school who warrants funded support) isn’t identified as being ‘a kid with an adult attached’ to them.
We often reflect on how well the school has embraced and enhanced the idea of natural supports and recognising peers play a vital role in supporting one another. I love seeing the adults who come into the school as a result of funding for identified students aren’t singled out for that purpose once they get there.
Well done everyone!
Filed under Accessing the Curriculum, Inclusion... straight up!
The cinema was dark… Transformers 4 was proving a fun feast for our senses.
Mac along two of his mates, W & C, had been transfixed from the start.
The other boys shared popcorn while Mac provided the odd giggle, ‘coo’ or ‘glaar’ when the intensity of the moment required it.
We were most the way through the movie when out of the corner of my eye I saw W lean in close to Mac and heard him whisper…
W: “Mac, are you enjoying the movie?”
Mac’s response was silent but offered W a facial expression not unlike this image – a big open mouth, scrunchy face response
W: whispering again… “I take that as a yes.”
And with that he settled back into his seat as they watched the final showdown of the movie.
Verbal responses not necessary.
Authentic. Simple. Beautiful.
A fantastic documentary about the inclusion of children with disability in mainstream schools in São Paulo, Brazil.
While almost the entire doco was “quote worthy” I particularly like the simplicity of this translated statement by Samuel’s father…
“I don’t see any other model.
In the segregation model people with disability don’t learn their autonomy and people without don’t learn to deal with the difference”.
Samu’s Dad
This movie is part of the Why Heloisa Project www.porqueheloisa.com.br
I think I will be spending some time clicking around in that project/website in the coming days.
For our English language blind viewers I have requested an English translation… will post it here if I can get my hands on it.
todos com todos…
 | Retta on thankful |
 | Peggy on walk like an egg-gyptian… |
 | Denver on word! |
 | Gerri on when what you ‘don… |
 | Shandra Bujak on fridge magnet friday… |
 | SCALP MICROPIGMENTAT… on i have a dream… |
Inky Ed 