Day 20

Okay, another short and sweet day! Apparently there are symbols in braille for the letters "st" and more. . .the vision teachers gave me a quick lesson this morning, and I think I am only learning the tip of the iceberg. Zack is going to be getting his own literacy program specially designed for blind children during our literacy time, and then he'll be getting our literacy program in the afternoon. I think it will be great for his amazing brain to have so much exposure to print and text, and I can't wait to see what all he learns.
So in an attempt to discover why the girls are drawn to Zack more than the boys, I purposely made the kids pick same-sex partners today. The boy who sits next to him wanted to be his partner, and they seemed to get along just fine. I talked with the vision teachers about the girls being more drawn to Zack, and we all agree that girls are just naturally more nurturing and want to be motherly with him. I want him to have friends, though, and not just be mothered all the time, so I'm going to do my best to have him interact with the boys as much as possible.
As I mentioned at the end of yesterday's post, Zack has two jobs in our classroom this week. The vision team made me feel good about this decision to make him just like the other kids because I questioned whether or not I'd assign him the same jobs. They said Zack's family wants him to fit in as much as possible, and I feel the same way. I breathed a HUGE sigh of relief when the vision team agreed with my thoughts--I was a little nervous about placing more on his shoulders than he was capable of doing.
Zack LOVES to be talked to, and I'm trying to make time every day to have a little conversation with him. When I was chatting with him at the end of the day, he was totally mesmerized by my watch. He wanted to know what the buckle was and then what a buckle was, and I took it off and let him feel it. Half way through my teacher-ly explanation, though, he was rubbing my arm and wanted to know what my cardigan was. I think his brain moves faster than mine! It will be interesting to see how my relationship with him develops throughout the year since I am not the primary one to interact with him like I am with the other kids. I just want for him to feel special just like I want every child in my room to feel special. We'll see. . .I'm so glad I'm getting to have this experience!