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Friends
Jan 30, 2008 14:50:03 GMT -5
Post by Jenifer on Jan 30, 2008 14:50:03 GMT -5
I guess I didn't mention ... none of the children Joy has sleepovers/play dates with have disabilities. Her circle of friends does not include anyone with disabilities, but I'm working on that. We live in a pretty small town and she's the only child with DS in her school district. But I'm keeping my eye out for kids with DS in surrounding communities that she could hang out with.
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Friends
Jan 30, 2008 15:18:44 GMT -5
Post by CC on Jan 30, 2008 15:18:44 GMT -5
What we have done and continue to due for Chris is have him involved in after school activities and in a weekly social club. In order for things to work well for my guy, structure is mandatory and all these activities are structured along with his pals so for him he gets the best of both KWIM ;D Chris is in a private school for children with exceptional needs and is very close with many of the children there. I really see it possible that he may end up with life long pals from being there, least thats our hope CC ~
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Friends
Jan 30, 2008 16:03:07 GMT -5
Post by rickismom on Jan 30, 2008 16:03:07 GMT -5
Rickis class has really adopted her, even though most of the girls live a bit far from us. They are over her to take her on a walk or a party at school at least twice a week. She also plays with the neighbor's a bit. One neighbor is a bit poor, so I sometimes buy two tickets to plays, etc, and give them one on condition that she go with Ricki. Its a win-win for both.
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Friends
Jan 30, 2008 16:20:20 GMT -5
Post by laurasnowbird on Jan 30, 2008 16:20:20 GMT -5
Hmmmm, thought provoking....to say the least!
I'm trying to untangle in my mind what friends Ethan would have without his big sis Victoria. There are kids here fairly frequently, but they are really Victoria's friends. Ethan is included in everything they do, but I can't say he would have been invited if not for her, because they are mostly girls. We have only recently allowed him to go with her to THEIR houses when all the kids are playing together. The other two moms are very welcoming and ask if Ethan can come to play too. One of the girls has a younger brother who is Ethan's age. The last few times he's gone to their house, the kids have split up. The girls have gone across the street to play, and Ethan and Chad have stayed and played together.
He has been invited to birthday parties, and also to a couple of playdates. I think, honestly, that we have been uncommonly lucky thus far. We've not done sleepovers, but I wasn't doing them for Victoria at this age either. When I compare though, the kids that Victoria most often hangs out with are children from the neighborhood, and that is who Ethan is hanging out with too. She DOES have sleepovers, and I guess he's too young for me to know if that will happen for him too. Boys don't tend to be into the sleepover thing as much.
I would like to find some friends for Ethan whose age and abilities are similar to his. I think that will become more important as he gets older and is unable or uninterested in some of the things his typical peers are doing. It may be a little harder for us to do that with him attending a regular classroom, and that is one of the downsides to inclusion, in my opinion.
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Friends
Jan 30, 2008 20:47:20 GMT -5
Post by Ericsmomma on Jan 30, 2008 20:47:20 GMT -5
I am blessed to have my two grandaughters live with us...they are Eric's best friends. They play together, and I think they are great role models for him. And its nice for them too, because they are learning how to treat and respect people who are different. In Eric's class, (which is a self contained class in a special ed school), he is especially close with 2 kids..both are in wheelchairs and are unable to speak. The one little girl is also blind..her aide takes her out of her wheelchair and lays her on the floor next to Eric to watch a video. She kinda inches up (she has limited mobility) and lays her head on Erics back and "purrs". Eric's teacher said its the cutest thing...and its the only time she makes any sounds....All three are like soul-mates.
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Friends
Jan 30, 2008 22:00:34 GMT -5
Post by Googsmom aka Jennifer on Jan 30, 2008 22:00:34 GMT -5
That is soooo sweet Dolly.
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Friends
Jan 31, 2008 16:03:08 GMT -5
Post by Jackie on Jan 31, 2008 16:03:08 GMT -5
In grade school Emily really just had one friend who played with her at home and invited her over. A very nice little girl who did not have a disability. She was well liked and went to Sunday School too with Em. Em spent a lot of time with non disabled peers all thru elementary school but most of the time was spent in activities with them. She was in Bluebirds and Campfire...and played soccer, t-ball, basketball and volleyball until she was about 10 at which time we switched to Special Olympics. She was invited to most birthday parties and even some slumber parties.
Middle school was a bit of a wasteland friendship wise...but since she is part of a large family much of that time was spent with her in my car transporting her sibs all over the place.
Her first time to have a really close friend was in HS when she met a girl who was LD and to this day as adults they are still bosom buddies when Em is in town.
Jackie
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Friends
Feb 2, 2008 15:46:42 GMT -5
Post by Debbie on Feb 2, 2008 15:46:42 GMT -5
I hope you don't mind me offering my words of experience here on this subject. I had a few kids from the neighborhood to play with when I was a young child. My Mother said that I played with kids that were sort of close to my age but I figure they may have been close to my sisters age. She is two years younger than me. I played with some kids in school. As I grew though I became very shy and started to play by myself. I noticed that I played better by myself instead of kids asking questions about my age and why I was in that "class." I guess I decided to put some distance from them since I was made fun of alot. I had and still have a friend that I played with. We spent the night over each other houses. We did things together. Her name is Kim. She had some disabilites but she did not have Down syndrome.
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Friends
Feb 2, 2008 18:53:07 GMT -5
Post by mollysmomma on Feb 2, 2008 18:53:07 GMT -5
interesting topic
the kids that have come for play dates with molly,
both insisted on it
both were little boy classmates
they LOVE HER....i think she doesn't have that many playdate requests (allthough is invited to all the birthday parties/sleepovers) solely because she thinks spongebob is MUCH COOLER than hannah montana
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Post by Ericsmomma on Feb 3, 2008 8:08:06 GMT -5
SpongeBob RULES!
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Post by Emilysmom on Feb 3, 2008 8:21:24 GMT -5
This is an interesting question. I have often felt that Emily didn't have many actual friends. And yet, if you would ask HER the very same question...........I believe she would say she has LOTS of them! As Jackie posted, Emily was included SO much more often as a preschooler and elementary school student than she is now. She was invited to birthday parties, was active in Girl Scouts, and we did lots of sports/church activities with other kids and families. But, as the "typical' teen girls have gotten older, they seem to have "forgotten" about including Emily. And I think that Emily's biggest "problem" is ME!!! I have NEVER been one to do the inviting, unless it is for birthday parties, etc. I have never really taken advantage of opportunities to invite other girls to our home and I'm sure that would have helped. Jordan invites his friends over all the time, and we take them on short trips with us, etc.........but he basically does the inviting and I just say YES!
Emily has had, for many years, a group of friends with differing abilities from the sports group she LOVES. We've done many things with this group, and she considers many of the girls in this group as her good friends. Since she started high school, she tends to hang out with (and talk about at home) girls who have special needs. I'm noticing that she is completely enjoying EVERYTHING about high school, and enjoys activities like Special Olympics so much more now than she ever did before.
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Friends
Feb 3, 2008 23:18:31 GMT -5
Post by liasmom on Feb 3, 2008 23:18:31 GMT -5
Lia does not have "friends" her own age over. We live in the country so the opportunities are less, but she just does not play well with others. The exceptions are her nephew who is 4 1/2, and younger kids from daycare or school, or older kids who babysit. When there have been kids over her age she will hang out with them for a few minutes then go do her own thing-totally ignoring them. On the other hand, there is a boy at school who is 6 and does not talk or walk or eat and the ONLY kid who plays with him is Lia. That makes me rather proud of her. She will sit with him for an hour and play with toys that interest him and interact with him. nancy
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Post by naomid on Feb 4, 2008 6:14:59 GMT -5
Callum is actually going to a friend's house for tea (dinner) tonight. He's been to one other friends house , since September, and we've reciprocated. He's also been to a couple of birthday parties.
He has a few friends from school (completley mainstreamed) that he talks about a lot so I try and make an effort to talk to the parents and encourage invites to play.
He also has a group of friends with DS that we meet once or twice a month and I'm hoping that as they all get older then we'll do more play dates.
He doesn't generally play with the other kids unless there is also some adult interaction, however he plays wonderfully with his brother and they have great fun with made up play. It's mostly lead by his brother but Callum is starting to assert himself with what he wants to do.
I do go along to the playdates and birthday parties that he's invited to as it generally makes the parents feel more comfortable, plus he's not potty trained yet so I need to be there just in case!
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Friends
Feb 9, 2008 21:45:18 GMT -5
Post by Kaylis on Feb 9, 2008 21:45:18 GMT -5
Mikah is friendly with so many people, and his daycare calls all classmates "friends" that I'm not sure he differentiates between people who are what we'd call real friends and aquaintances. He is more friendly with some people than others, but without the ability for detailed communication it's hard to know how he sees it. We very rarely have anyone but his 5 1/2 year old "cousin" William over to the house, but we do visit another family with a daughter only a month or so older than Mikah and a 5 year old daughter. We don't know anyone with kids who live near us except William's family. The other family is close to where we work. Mikah's happily had sleepovers with the latter family, though the girls both baby him. The only other outside daycare time he has with other kids is when we pickup his brother. Sometimes one of his daycare friends is there getting his sister, and Mikah also plays with some of the school kids. He spends so much time at daycare (I work 50 hours a week and my partner works almost as many) that it is his main socialization. This discussion has me thinking, though, that we need to work more agressively on getting him together with his peers. Thank you for bringing up this topic.
Karen
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Friends
Feb 10, 2008 8:54:15 GMT -5
Post by meghans_mom on Feb 10, 2008 8:54:15 GMT -5
I am pretty anti-social, and my kids suffer for it ;-)
I haven't attempted playdates w/ kids from this new school - although Meghan has gotten several notes from a few of the girls in her class asking when they could play together. BUT - other than birthday invitations, she hasn't gotten any play date invites from these girls, or any others in her class. (all typical kids in her class)
If we do have people over, it is friends I am comfortable with (my friends w/ kids close to my kids age),,,probably would be better if I could be a little more outgoing...well, alot more outgoing....
that being said, there are a handful of kids MM's age in the neighborhood we just moved to, so maybe when the weather warms up we'll see them a little more.
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