By Emily Chappell
Carroll County Times 

Students tackle disabilities, differences as part of program

 


HAMPSTEAD, Md. (AP) — Hampstead Elementary students jumped and danced, swinging their arms and bodies to the beat of Pharrell Williams' "Happy."

Teachers and staff bopped around with the kids, making their way through the mass of students all while dancing. The song played over a video on the big screen — the people pictured dancing just as enthusiastically as the kids in the room.

And while they may be a little different — all of the kids on the video had Down syndrome — the energy and excitement while dancing remained the same.

That was the point of the celebration on April 5.

Students learned about autism and other disabilities that morning as a part of an assembly the school has been doing for three years.

This type of event is especially important in the school, which houses regional autism and Living for Independence programs, Principal Arlene Moore said. In addition to the program Wednesday, teachers also decorated doors with different themes celebrating and bringing awareness to different disabilities, from autism to learning disabilities and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder.

Hampstead Elementary students get to see a lot of friends who are different from them, she said.

"They show a lot of compassion" and work to help their classmates, Moore said of the students at Hampstead.

The assembly on April 5, in addition to a dance party and information on the Special Olympics, also included a "Jeopardy"-style game where students answered questions with true or false signs. The questions were to help students understand how to treat people different from themselves.

Questions included concepts like whether to treat someone with a disability the same as you'd like to be treated, whether to celebrate the success of someone with a disability, whether to speak loudly to a person with a vision impairment and more.

Debbie Malatesta, a special education teacher at the school, said teaching children to be accepting helps the school — and community — environment.

"I just think that it's good to include the whole school," she said.

And teaching students about different disabilities so they can understand them helps kids be more accepting, she added. A lot of the fourth- and fifth-grade students who have been around children with disabilities or in the school's autism program are used to the differences and regularly invite everyone to play with them.

"The children have so much empathy," she said.

This type of assembly teaches kids not to be mean to people who may be different from them, Moore said. If they work to teach kids about differences now, she added, they won't be afraid of someone who isn't just like them.

"We're all human beings," Moore said.

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Information from: Carroll County Times , http://www.carrollcountytimes.com/

 

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