Meghan Wins Spelling Bee With “Humility”

A Spelling Bee is a traditional academic contest. To win, you have to know how to correctly spell more words than the rest of the participants are able to. A nine-year-old named Meghan McCarty just won a Spelling Bee. She has autism and cerebral palsy and is part of a mainstream classroom of students. How well do you spell? Is your writing mostly typo-free, or do you heavily rely on the spellchecker? Read the comment section under any article on a major newspaper of your choice, and it is abundantly clear that plenty of people do not feel that being … Continue reading

Mainstreaming Our Learning Disabled Child

Yesterday we had our annual ARD Meeting for our high school freshman. For the first time, Randy was present. I enjoyed having him interact at the meeting. I was pleased with his behavior; he was well mannered, respectful and sat up straight, legs under the table. He displayed self-confidence and answered all questions in an easy manner. He made direct eye contact with everyone he spoke to at the table and displayed his charming smile when appropriate. We have come a long way since the first day, two and a half years ago, when I enrolled him in seventh grade. … Continue reading