Tag Archives: Kindergarten

LivingOneHanded visits MySpecialHand!

We were so lucky at the beginning of Sam’s school year. Not only did we get such great support from the school and his amazing teacher, but great support came from so many of the other parents as well. We also received a lot of support from the Limb Different community as a whole, but especially from our dear friend Ryan from LivingOneHanded.com.

He and his family were headed through our town on the way to the Helping Hands Midwest Picnic; he asked if Sam’s school would be open to him delivering his “Different is Awesome” talk. I told him that I thought it was unlikely given that it would be the second day of classes but that I would ask anyway. Sam’s teacher was thrilled at the offer and asked if the other three kindergarten classes could join as well. Ryan loved the idea.

The day of the talk came and Sam was so excited to share one of his limb different friends with his new classmates.

Ryan juggling was a big hit.

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Kindergarten Update

Popular question we’ve been getting lately is… “So how is kindergarten going???”

Short answer: TOTALLY AWESOME!

Long answer: Sam endlessly talks about all his awesome friends from school.  His amazing teacher has been great to work with.  Sam is beginning writing with purpose and surprisingly well (his brother was not fond of good penmanship).  He has taken to reading very well, he’s excited to read TO us at bedtime now.  He’s had his first evaluation and everything is looking good.  We talked to his PE teacher and she said there has been only one activity she’s had to help him adapt, the crab walk (that’s hard to do with two hands). The kids recently had their first music program with a Thanksgiving theme.  Here’s one of the songs they performed.

Sam is in the second row, part of the “brown feathers” group (closest to the camera).

We hope you’re doing well!  Leave us a comment to let us know what you are up to or if you have questions!!

Coming soon, second day of kindergarten surprise special speaker complete with video clip!

Sam is starting Kindergarten

We’re so excited for Sam to start Kindergarten next week… and nervous.

Sam is a younger brother, so it’s not that Elementary School is a new and unexplored territory for us.  We’re nervous because we’re not sure how this whole classroom of strangers is going to treat him and his limb difference.  We want to be the optimist that says, “Everything will be fine, everyone will just accept him as he is and they’ll all play together in harmony!” but that’s not very likely.  The opposite view is just as unlikely.  The reality will end up somewhere between.  We wonder aloud, “Have we prepared him enough? Have we given him the tools to meet any situation he will face at a new school?”  The answer is, of course, “no” but we feel like we’ve given him a framework of skills to help him approach the situations he may face.
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