Making a Difference (In a World filled with so much hate)

There is nothing like the innocence of a child. I have discovered this in the last two years of sending Alex to school in a Gen Ed setting. Kids at 4 and 5 years old show no judgement toward others. They only show a curious side which is usually full of questions.

I would much rather answer a few curious questions any day than deal with bullying. I hope that we are able to remain in the same school district throughout Alex's school life so that the kids that he is getting to know now, will be the same kids helping him out and supporting him years from now.

This post comes from what I witnessed this morning particularly.

Alex was up for three hours last night, so I let him sleep in this morning and drove him to school about an hour late. It was worth the extra sleep for him to wake up refreshed and ready to go. When I got to the school, I waited for his Para-Pro to come down and get him (Mrs. Crawford). I could {hear} that she had someone with her when she came through the back door of the office, when around the corner came a happy and very excited little girl named Meadow.

Meadow is small, and cute and talkative and sweet. She is a classmate of Alex and Evan's and today was her day to be Alex's buddy. (A few weeks ago the teacher set up a buddy system in the class so that the kids could each have a turn spending time to get to know Alex). She was SO excited to see him that she could barely wait for me to get him buckled in his wheelchair. She kept expressing how she got to push him and help him out today and according to Mrs. Crawford had been asking about him all morning.

Just seeing the pure joy and happiness on her face brought the same joy and happiness to my heart. To see such a sweet innocent little girl be so open to helping my son without any reservation meant SO much to me. Then, to be informed by Mrs. Crawford that the kids get that excited every morning to see who gets to be Alex's buddy brought tears to my eyes.

I am not singling Meadow out because I know there are other kids in the class who probably get just as excited as she does. I just happened to witness it this morning and thought it was worth sharing.

As a parent of a special needs child, you have no idea how much it means until you see it with your own eyes. These kids are really truly making a difference.