Ability Awareness Day

Principal Jim Schibig was our opening speaker.  He talked to us about different abilities.  He taught us that while we may be different on the outside, we are all the same on the inside!

Olivia and Alex had to crumple up paper, and then were told to fix it.  They learned that you can't fix the paper.  It's just like when you bully someone - the marks/wrinkles don't go away.  You can't fix it!  It also hurts the person doing the bullying as well!

Thanks for sharing the "Respect" poem with us.  What a great message!

Molly Hunter, owner of PS Kids and an Ocupational Therapist, spoke to us today about different therapies, tools, and techniques for kiddos with delays and disabilities.

Molly did a demonstration about being visually impaired or blind.  Christina, Lily, and Anthony were blindfolded and Molly held up a sign that said, "Free Ice Cream if you clap 3 times."  The kiddos blindfolded couldn't see.  Molly explained that you have to tell people, and explain to them, what you see if they can't.  "Be their eyes!"

Hayden, Alex, and Olivia demonstrated what it would be like for a child with Autism to learn in a classroom when there's too much noise and people bothering them.  Sometimes kiddos who can't handle all that noise need to move to some where quieter, or the other kiddos need to be respectful and be quieter.  

This is a sentence that is not correct, kind of how some people might see words written all the time.  

Some people read like this.  How can we be understanding of them, and help them???

Elma helped demonstrate what it would be like to communicate with someone without being able to talk.  Molly then showed us different tools that kids can use to help them communicate - the machines give voices to kids that don't have one.

Miss Nancy and her dog Hazel came to speak to us about blindness.  Ask your kiddo the trick she uses to tell the difference in bills in her wallet, and what she uses to help her pick out her clothes.

She showed us how she first learned to walk with a cane.

John then demonstrated how she also walked with a sighted guide.

Jack is showing us Braile, which is how she reads.

Miss Nancy wrote Anaya's and Ben's names in Braile.  She uses this tool when she is out, but she has a Braile typewriter at home that she uses most often.

This is Miss Nancy's Braile Bingo board.

Caleb helped Miss Nancy model how she uses her iPhone to tell what the dollar bills are.  She then folds them in different ways in her wallet so she knows which bill is which.

Dr. Bradley lost his leg when he was 10 years old.  A drunk driver hit him when he was playing in his yard.  Dr. Bradley is an orthopedic surgeon.  He talked to us about prosthetics.

Erin, Faris, and Anaya are showing you prosthetic hands and feet.

The leg Dr. Bradley is holding costs as much as a Ferari.  It is a computer leg - it has 12 computer chips in it to help him walk.  The sensors are in the foot, which tell the computer what to make his leg do.