I had the opportunity to go to Kyra's school last week and participate in the 5th grade "Ability Awareness" day. I didn't know what it was I was signing up for, but boy am I glad I did. It was an amazing experience. The idea is to teach kids what it's like to be a child with a disability. It can be a physical, mental or learning disability. It is taught by PE teachers from the Special Ed school called Kauri Sue Hamilton. They have 18 "stations" that the kids rotate through with activities designed to teach the students how a child with that particular disability is able to function daily. Some of them were hard. I watched several students struggle with the station teaching about Multiple Sclerosis. They had to wear a thick pair of gloves and then try to stack some pennies or lace a card. The station that taught about Cystic Fibrosis had them put little bean bags between their elbow and body and between their knees and then try to do jumping jacks or push ups. It wasn't easy for anyone. Then they had the activities about learning to move around in a wheel chair or how to walk with a seeing cane with obstacles in the way. My favorite's were one where the kids had on a pair of goggles that distorted their vision so they couldn't get a sense of depth or any kind of perception. Then they had to toss a ball back and forth. The first ball was white and that ball was all over the gym because the kids couldn't see it coming at them. The other ball was red. While it was still all over the gym the kids were actually trying to catch it because they could sense it coming at them. My other favorite station was for the learning disability of processing disorder. It had a wooden box with a mirror attached at the end. Then there was a piece of paper in the opening that the kids had to trace the star on the paper only watching in the mirror. Your brain plays tricks on you and you can't get it done. It was really interesting to watch. I talked one of the PE teachers and she mentioned that they are getting ready to add another station for ADHD/autism disorders. It will be where the kids put on headphones and have to read a passage from a book with static playing in the headphones. That one will be interesting to witness. I had a good time watching each of the kids participate in this activity. I think it's something that everyone can learn from, not just the 5th graders.
