One of my daughter’s favorite books, If You Give a Mouse a Cookie by Laura Joffe Numeroff, inspired the following posting:
If you give a child an appropriate education,
he’s going to ask for opportunities.
When you give him the opportunities,
he’ll probably ask you for support.
When he works very hard, he’ll ask for recognition.
Then he’ll want to look at his accomplishments
and make sure he isn’t
dreaming.
When he looks at his accomplishments,
he might notice he doesn’t have many friends.
So he’ll probably ask
for a group to fit in with.
When he’s finished getting comfortable,
he’ll want some friends to help him have fun.
He’ll start playing.
He might get carried away and
play with every child in his class.
He may even end up making a playdate!
When he’s done,
he’ll probably smile.
You’ll have to get him back to his school work
with coaxing and encouragement.
He’ll refocus,
concentrate on school work
and smile a few more times.
He’ll probably ask you to challenge him more.
So you’ll rewrite the goals on his IEP,
and he’ll ask to do more and more.
When he does more and more,
he’ll get so excited he’ll want to do
harder things. He’ll ask for you to believe in him.
He’ll try his best.
When he’s done,
he’ll surprise you
with accomplishments.
Then he’ll want to know
he has approval.
Which means he’ll need
acceptance.
He’ll look for acceptance in your eyes
and stand back to find it.
Seeing your acceptance
will remind him that
he’s the same as everybody else.
So…
he’ll ask for opportunities.
And chances are if he aks for
opportunities,
he’s going to need further education to make the most of them.