Reading differently

Today a caseworker from the Department of Mental Retardation came to see me, just to introduce herself. She was very nice, and gave me some good info to look over. I noticed how well Janey responded to her when she asked Janey things in a very animated and sort of insistent voice. Later this morning when I was reading a book to Jane, which can often be hard as she gets upset if anything seems amiss in the reading, I asked her about some animals in the book in a loud and excited way "Janey, what's that there? What is it? What is it? What is it? WHAT IS THAT?" which I would not think would have been good, and Janey did look at me like I was crazy, but then answered excitedly too. I guess I can learn new tricks.

I felt happy dropping Janey at school today. She was actually paying attention to another girl, who was twirling around, Janey laughed at her and tried to imitate her (but called her Janey and not her name!) Then when that girl's mother was asking her to think of other people in the class whose names started with J, Janey spoke up and said "Roxie!" who IS a girl in her class, but not a J one---can't have everything! Then when it was time to go in, the little boy who is so good to her took her hand and walked her down the steps and she never looked back. It was a day that I felt like inclusion IS the answer.