It’s MaccyMoo… don’t you know!

It was a different start to the morning for the students of KC.

Their teacher and teacher’s aide were off to a meeting. They had a fill in teacher and they had Mac’s Dad, Shawn, in the class to help out.

Shawn made himself available to ensure the entire teaching team of the class could attend the Learning Team meeting with me.

We had scheduled a 1.5+ hour meeting to plan for the next term of work with the vision support itinerant staff, the DET inclusion support officer et al.

Shawn and the ‘fill-in teacher’ were left holding the fort.

Our meeting went well and apparently class went well too. Shawn’s used to teaching university students so kindergarten kids probably aren’t too much of a stretch when you think about it.

Shawn was quite delighted at being ‘shhhhushed’ by one of the young girls because he was making Kookaburra sounds when they were meant to be working quietly on the letter ‘K’ – my guess is he ignored her. 

He then went on to prove you can make the sound of a kitchen… ‘bang, crash, whirr, wiz, whoosh’ – hmmm doesn’t say much for my style of cooking really…

I am not sure who was enjoying themselves the most, Mac, the rest of the table or Shawn.

But most of all, he loved being ‘put in his place’ when calling Mac – Maccaroo (Mac has lots of nicknames).  

He was roundly critised by the kids who explained to him rather emphatically that it is NOT Macaroo… it is MACCY-MOO.

Sheesh, you’d think his Dad would KNOW that.

I am pretty confident there would have been a few eye rolls by Mac’s peers at that type of adult ignorance.

K-C

Welcome to the Kindergarten class of 2009 taught by Mrs Collins… henceforth known as “K-C”.

What a day, what fun, what a blast!

uniforms, school lunch, school bag, wheelchair, seating system, bean bag, change bag, bibs, bandanas, teeny tiny hat…  OK, so maybe a little more “baggage” than the other kids…  

Mac’s amazing friend from ‘Pedagogy at Five’ is in his class along with some good friends from Pre-school.   His School Angels (Teacher’s Aides) are delightful and enthusiastic – there are lots of things to work out  – but I am sure we will get there.

We prepared a Cheat-Sheets-4-School for his Teacher and Aides.

Mac added a 20 min sleep to his day’s curriculum – no one seemed to mind.

All in all it was a good day – looking forward to tomorrow.

When clapping is your passion… you need friends who can clap

Orientation Day number two was another successful day.  

Again we spared Mac the embarrassment of his parents going with him into the classroom and hired Di, his former aide, to escort him with the other children.

I did the same as the other parents, delivered my child to class, waved goodbye and walked away.  

I know much of this is to create an illusion to the others (parents, children, teachers) that Mac is not “super precious” and “needing excessive care”.  I do it partly for my own selfish reasons to allow my soul the fleeting sense of normality.  But mostly I do it because I can, he is in an appropriate environment and his needs are being catered for – just as they are for the other children.

The feedback was great.  Apparently, the room was full of noise and much frivolity – Mac was beaming from ear to ear.  The children were clapping to some song or game – really, does life get any better?

I know I shouldn’t look at the other children as useful commodities in Mac’s life but… when clapping is your passion, you need friends who can clap.  

Mac can’t clap, his physical impairments are just too great.  

And, why wouldn’t you wan’t to clap for your friend when his response is such joy and adoration for the loud noise you so cleverly make.  

We all like praise, even non-verbal praise is good.  

We all bring strengths and weaknesses to any relationship.  

And so far, it appears, ‘clappers’ and ‘non-clappers’ can exist happily in the same environment with mutual benefit.