A few rehearsals were at our Friday afternoon hangout, in the parking lot.

The school said “talent show tryouts”.

Hmmmmmmmmm.

Like when the school said “Mixed Choir, for all students”.

Not just the vocally-gifted.

Oh, opportunity!  Can he earn it?

Mom was instigator who invited a wide group of kids, both neurally-diverse and neurally-typical.

Asked teachers for their (great!) ideas, found the music, got the props, and

maneuvered rehearsal opportunities during our Fridays-after-school play times.

The kids who wanted to participate were co-directors.

“Kid-centered” learning.

The school-appropriate props were both actual taekwondo performance “weapons” and toys.

The sound files and karaoke lyrics were from both YouTube and iTunes.

John carried the suitcase of props into school the day of the audition.

His job to get them to the right place at the right time.

Mom faded her prompts and disappeared.

The co-directors did their jobs.

When the 90-second audition was over, within the gym full of his peers and teachers,

John turned to the audience, grinned hugely and said, “I did it!”

We are lucky the learning community of kids and the culture of the school are very welcoming.

And yet we help every day to grow that “welcome” to all.

The kids felt the full range of motivations, ranging from “let’s try”, “we did it”, “we didn’t make the 2nd round”, and hopefully, “let’s start practicing for next year”.

What more could you ask for from inclusion?

The opportunity for children to try, to band together, to fail and to try again.

How else does anyone learn?

Hope this helps in your world.

Peace be with us,

Gayle