PTA Meeting Minutes Mustang Magazine

Special Education Kick Off 

There are numerous meetings and events happening monthly focused on SPED countywide and beyond. For more information and other MCCPTA SPED related events and organizations, please contact DES PTA Special Ed Chair Janice Edwing and Leslie Grant. All inquiries, suggestions and ideas welcome!.  

Newsletters - Counselor's Corner

September 2011

Wayside will be hosting the first "sensitivity training week" from September 19th-23rd. This special week will include activities for all students, grades K-5, in the areas of building empathy, disability awareness, perseverance, and accepting differences. The students will participate in developmentally appropriate activities that encourage acceptance by showing respect for all students and celebrating each others' unique differences.

A committee of Wayside staff and parents have been preparing for this week since last April. We have worked hard to create a balanced set of lessons and experiences that will allow our student body to build a skill set that enables acceptance no matter what the unique special needs are for our classmates. This week will kick off a continued effort throughout the school year to build skills in conflict resolution, bully prevention, character and all of the social/emotional skills we support so the students can be academically successful and to be fully present in the learning process.

You can help support the week's events by reviewing the information that comes home and discussing it with your child. This will reinforce our efforts and will allow you to share your unique viewpoints related to the topics presented. In addition, I have included a list of parenting tips that teach empathy.

These ideas were presented in a recent article from Parenting Science by Gwen Dewar, Ph.D. and have been summarized below:

Tip 1: Address your child's own needs and teach him/her how to "bounce back" from distress-

Research indicates that kids are more likely to show empathy if they have parents who help them cope with negative emotions in a sympathetic, problem solving manner.

Tip 2: Be a "mind-minded" parent-

Parents who are "mind-minded" treat their children as individuals with minds of their own. They talk to their children about emotions and motivations for behavior.

Tip 3: Seize everyday opportunities to model sympathy and empathy-

Point out situations that call for empathy. Use TV or books to talk about how characters are feeling.

Tip 4: Help kids discover what they have in common with their peers-

Making kids aware of the similarities they share with others allows them to make a connection and empathy follows more naturally.

Tip 5: Help kids explore other perspectives-

What is the world like when experienced from another person's point of view? Discuss what characters think, believe, want, or feel? And how do we know it?

Tip 6: Show kids how to "make a face" while they try to imagine how someone feels-

Research indicated that it is likely that we can boot our empathetic skills by imitating the facial expressions of people we care about.

SNAP: Special Needs Awareness Program

Join us for an evening of Inspiration and Conversation at Wayside’s first ‘Care to Connect’ Speaker Event.

Please join us in welcoming world-class athlete, body builder, celebrity personal trainer and motivational speaker, Jeremy Newman. Jeremy comes to us from Los Angeles and shares his story of perseverance after being paralyzed in a near death accident. Be prepared to be moved and inspired by this uplifting and truly captivating speaker.

Date: Monday, September 19, 2011