Peer Presentation Recap

I haven't had time to get to this, so it's a little after the fact.

The Ds Presentation in Ian's class went really well.  The kids were active and involved, the teachers watched and took notes (and she even submitted it as a story for the county website!) and I had a really good time.  Ian wanted so badly to help and share his story...it was good stuff.  When his teacher asked what the best thing was about having a brother with Down syndrome, he said, "Because he always likes to play with me."

The activities were a big hit (especially the one with the marshmallows) and I had enough time to fit everything into a 30 minute block.

I would tweak it a little for next time, and really emphasize the "More Alike Than Different" tactic.  I think I will probably repeat that phrase, oh, four hundred times on my next visit.  I guess I forgot that they are, essentially, Kindergarteners, and that they wouldn't grasp the main idea of the presentation if it wasn't in their face.  I spent so much time on the "different" activities (fine motor and speech) and not enough time on the "alike" acitivity (more alike list) that they, of course, picked up more on the "Chase is different" theme.  My fault.

...hence the message on the thank you note :)

But they were so cute and did such a good job with everything I threw at them.  I am so thankful for Ian's teacher being open to be my guinea pig.  Next year it will be even better!  And by the time I have to do one in Chase's class, it will be flawless :)