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!
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!
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…
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…
“Why would you even bother” her statement was more matter of fact than argument “he’s gonna get places quicker and have more fun if we’re pushing him in his chair”.
“Yeah, it wouldn’t be, like, easy, it’d be hard and you’d still need help” came another observation from one of the boys.
You see the question had been posed from a classmate:
“Will Mac ever be able to walk?”
Mac’s first response (with his switches) to that question was a swift “no”, and on further enquiry as to whether this “bothered him” another clear “no” response.
More comments, more discussion … the consensus was that, ultimately, “walking really isn’t all that important” the important thing was getting where you want with who you want (aka mobility).
If only more people would listen to the wisdom of 10 and 11 year olds. How great for Mac to be involved in a discussion that ultimately determines that his way of existing is not only OK, it is totally authentic and not considered ‘less’.
Sure, there was some talk about Mac getting to drive his own wheelchair, what might be needed, how they can help that happen, what needs to be invented to make it better (of course robotics came up 😉 ) … but all that is about Mac being empowered, it’s not ‘dissing’ his current mode of mobility.
It is so refreshing to see these kids really think through what it is they are talking about, really think.
So much of our society can be quite superficial about these things, like walking is some amazingly necessary skill, or a prerequisite for a worthwhile life.
Mainstream media and social media got all excited about the opening ceremony of the Football World Cup having a paralysed man use an exoskeleton to walk and kick a ball – it was all a bit weird and ‘icky’ – I am glad Mac and his mates say “why bother?”
Sure, there may be some people out there who are unable to walk and really want to, I respect that. I just don’t think we need to perpetuate a damaging message that walking is some sort of ‘Holy Grail’ for all people who use wheelchairs.
I don’t hate the technological advances that come of these ventures – who knows what may come of them? We may finally end up building better wheelchairs where steps, gutters and raised thresholds soon become no obstacle. Chairs might be able to become more compact, more comfortable and well, while you’re at it … could we perhaps make them ‘hover’?
In the meantime, I’ll continue to listen to the wisdom of kids.
As I was digging around for a suitable image to use in this post, I came across Red Nicholson’s post over at Attitude Live.
Red nails it – have a read.
http://attitudelive.com/blog/red-nicholson/opinion-why-obsession-walking
You might remember me mentioning that the “Handball Machine” was the catalyst for those “Macifications” (mods to Mac’s wheelchair) his classmates worked on last year?
The kids (Mac included) just decided one day Mac needed a way to play handball. Their idea was to have something mounted at the front of Mac’s jogger to allow him to “play” without getting hurt.
For days, I would turn up at school with them telling me what they had tried, asking me to bring in more items to test, giving me the results on their experimentation.
Some of the failures included:
Until …
Someone came up with the excellent idea of a Crazy Catch (a ball sport reflex/catching trainer). I was dispatched immediately to purchase one for the ongoing experiment (cost … inconsequential 😉 according to the kids)
The feedback following their ‘first trial run’ was that they felt a customised size was necessary. Followed up by a simple “could I make that for them” (hooray for hacksaws). A couple of cheap golf buggy umbrella holders to help hold the Crazy Catch arms in place and the odd piece of velcro was all it took to make their invention a reality.
This year their “hack” has moved onto the football field. The net angle gets reduced a little, Flag Football tags (AusTag here in Oz) are attached on the side of the jogger to allow Mac to be ‘tackled’. Their next planned mod includes a pouch on the front of the net to allow the ball to be passed (with a degree of skill including reverse spin or perfect placement) to allow it to roll into the pouch.
I love watching these ideas come to fruition and then evolve.
Mac loves being in the midst of it all and considers himself “quite good at handball”. Although i’m not sure the speed and chaos of the football field won’t win him over. Time will tell.
It is very ALLsome.
VIDEO AUDIO DESCRIPTION & SCRIPT
So, it's not that cool when you can't play handball with your mates. But with mates like Mac's it's 'way cool'. At our school the kids invent mac-ifications. That is, modifications to Mac's wheelchair so they can all do more things. Like this handball machine. All they needed was a bike jogger, a Crazy Catch, two umbrella holders and some velcro. (video footage of the kids playing with the ball bouncing off the front net). Pretty awesome don't you think? Just goes to show... when ALL means ALL, we make the world more ALLsome.
Today we were given a sneak peek of an assessment task Mac undertook. A photo and comments from his teacher (Mr B) arrived showing his work in the text window of his communication device.
Mr B was really pleased with his work, but perhaps more excited by the fact Mac was clearly proud of his work. It’s an interesting development. For quite some time now, Mac has (regularly) been going ‘on strike’ in class by either refusing to use his switches or going to sleep in an attempt to get out of doing work. It’s certainly not his finest trait … and is certainly more prevalent when it is work he thinks he might not get correct (or literacy).
However, on two occasions this week he’s completed a task and then been obviously proud of himself.
I wonder if it’s a new level of maturity, maybe that somewhat fixed mindset of his might just be opening up to new possibilities. Oh how I’d love for him to enjoy working on things, particularly literacy, just for his own pleasure.
So what work did he do today?
Here’s the raw text in the Dynavox window.
And here’s the raw text turned into a ‘piece of writing’ (with Mac assisting with the punctuation) to ensure he can see how all his hard work is worth it.
They are delightful words… I can’t wait to find out what happens next.
I love the unusual name he’s chosen for the girl and the “stylin” shoes he’s described.
Perhaps our blog readers can add the next line or paragraph in the comments for me to share with Mac. He can then decide if he wants to collaborate on a “choose your own adventure” style of writing or perhaps be motivated to ‘go it alone’.
Filed under Accessing the Curriculum, Inclusion... straight up!
 | 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 