by Curt Vanderwaal

When the semester starts, a new student arrives in the classroom. No one recognizes Amy, but it turns out she isn't new to the school; she's just new to this class. She used to be in a special day class, but now Amy—who has Down syndrome—has been "mainstreamed" into a regular history class. Some of the students stare at her, and some of them make "jokes" about "retards." When the teacher asks students to pair up to complete a worksheet, everyone quickly finds partners—except Amy and you. The teacher tells you that you'll be working together. What do you do?

H’mmm, this is a tough situation, especially since peer pressure to ignore or make fun of Amy can be pretty strong. I’d say that your first step is to take a quick check of your own feelings. You may feel embarrassed about being forced to work with Amy, especially with a disability like Down syndrome. She’s probably at least somewhat like the athletes you see in the Special Olympics commercials, so she doesn’t look or act like other kids at school.
 

You might also feel frustrated or annoyed, fearing that Amy’s disability will slow you down in your work. While this may be true to a certain extent, it’s likely that Amy does reasonably well in schoolwork or the school administrators wouldn’t have put her in regular classes in the first place. You might also be afraid that the other kids in class will tease you for working with Amy. Here’s where you enter challenging territory, where attitude is everything. If you get all bent out of shape because you’re “forced” to work with Amy, you’re likely to have a terrible time, and many of your worst fears could come true. On the other hand, if you take the attitude that this is a great chance to meet someone new and help her feel comfortable in a new environment, you’ll probably enjoy Amy’s company and experience a great opportunity to help someone who needs a friend and some academic support.
 

Your attitude will also help you deal with possible teasing from your friends. Ask your friends to think about how Amy is feeling. She’s likely to be feeling scared about being able to do well in a new environment, uncomfortable about being different, and anxious about what people will say about her. Challenge them to at least be nice to Amy, even if they don’t want to hang out with her.
 

If they continue giving you a hard time, suggest that they take their comments somewhere else. In the meantime, do a little Web surfing on Down syndrome and find out what kids who have this disability are like. The more you know, the less strange Amy will seem, and the more likely you’ll be to find ways to make her life as normal as possible, despite her disability.

 

            Have you been in a situation like this one? How did you act? If you’ve never been in a situation like this, how do you think you’d act?