Special Needs Skiers

[justplanesteve]

Thank you for being willing to write all this out!
It is going to be an immense help for me.
You can see the subject is not one i have much familiarity with, but am now reading in several directions.
It really irks me to leave anyone behind. There's got to be means to help almost all people to get some sense of accomplishment.
This is especially helpful in working toward a better concept for my own internal balance: "group needs vs individual" with some tools to (hopefully) manage that.

Off the top of my head at least, I can't think of a way you'd implement this that wouldn't encourage families to lie. Most, if their child has a formal diagnosis, have been burned one too many times by discrimination on the base of perceived disability access needs (not necessarily actual needs).

I can certainly understand that, also wonder if some families even have a handle on what might be going on?
Hoping the kid will "outgrow" it, etc. (And maybe they will)
After 1st grade, schools might well be diagnosing these days.
OTOH we see a lot of home schoolers.
I just hope i don't do anything that puts a family off from continuing to include skiing for a child.

smt

 

[lisamamot]

Thank you for being willing to write all this out!
It is going to be an immense help for me.
You can see the subject is not one i have much familiarity with, but am now reading in several directions.
It really irks me to leave anyone behind. There's got to be means to help almost all people to get some sense of accomplishment.
This is especially helpful in working toward a better concept for my own internal balance: "group needs vs individual" with some tools to (hopefully) manage that.

You really are doing a wonderful job. As the parent of a now grown child who has physical/social differences, I would love for him to be surrounded with people such as yourself and @zircon . Your students are very lucky to have you.

Since my son's differences are a result of his brain tumor he will never have a spectrum diagnosis, but does share a few characteristics. That said, my son unfortunately wanted nothing to do with one-on-one guidance such as an aide at school or being pulled out to a separate area for certain tasks. His neuropsych testing pointed to these as needs, it was put in his IEP, and he despised it. In elementary school he tried his best to ditch his aide at recess and by middle school he would only follow the instructions of the teacher and ignored the aide, or worse became defiant when they wanted him to do something he didn't feel necessary, such as move to a different locale in the classroom to accommodate his visual deficit. Even if the aide was helping multiple students, he felt scrutinized when any direction was given to just him. He loves on-on-one adaptive ski lessons though, so go figure!

For better or worse, we discontinued the aide at school as all he wanted was to be treated like everyone else, and the direction we were taking was backfiring. While there were continued bumps, he did not sink and most importantly he was happier. He is now a college graduate and working full time and we are so very proud of all he has accomplished.

 

[justplanesteve]

Thank you Lisa.
I stumble all over my feet and fall on my face sometimes but try to use it as a learning experience.
And just keep working on kindness.