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What to say to mainstream children about my special needs daughter?

Hello
I have a daughter who is 4 & a half, she has started school in sept. She is doing a shared placement 1 day in mainstream at the moment & 4 days in special school, both schools are fab although it's not been easy to get where we are today. My little girl has quad cp, she can be both high & low muscle tone.
My question is that at mainstream the children are asing a lot of questions & not sure what to say to them, they have asked about her cool chair & staff have said her legs don't work properly. The children have accepted her & she loves going there.
Many thanks for any comments
Sally
I have a daughter who is 4 & a half, she has started school in sept. She is doing a shared placement 1 day in mainstream at the moment & 4 days in special school, both schools are fab although it's not been easy to get where we are today. My little girl has quad cp, she can be both high & low muscle tone.
My question is that at mainstream the children are asing a lot of questions & not sure what to say to them, they have asked about her cool chair & staff have said her legs don't work properly. The children have accepted her & she loves going there.
Many thanks for any comments
Sally
Replies
I went to mainstream school, my primary school took lots of children with disabilities, so people with differences were normal to the children there, as lots of children had physio, used wheelchairs, wore splints etc. and that was just accepted.
When I went to secondary I was the only person with a disability, and was treated a bit differently by other children that didn't go to the same primary school as me, but when they were told why I walked differently, wore splints, had physio when everyone else was doing sports etc. they just seemed to accept that was just part of me having cp.
hope this helps
chris
I'd agree with niceboots...my 7 year old daughter attends a mainstream school and has spastic CP, when she was in nursery the school introduced her to the class and told them all about her needs and support she would have to have...they accepted that brilliantly.
Then she had to have surgery this year and the kids were still sooo fantastic with her....pushing her around in her wheels and getting things for her when she wasn't able...I think being honest with children helps both your child and those of her class mates to accept that she may be different.
I do have worries for the secondary school part but will just have to worry about that when it comes...please not too quickly tho!!
MrsM x
The question of what to say to older children is interesting and I would love to hear other's thoughts on this. My thirteen year old daughter is asking how to explain her brother's condition to other pupils at school (who are acquaintances rather than her friends). Her brother has severe learning difficulties and a host of other problems as a result of a brain haemorrhage. She would like a quick answer which would stop her having to go into any kind of detail. (She's quite shy.) Any thoughts would be much appreciated!