Health knowledge made personal
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Now that Finn is mobile, crawling around the house at will, he tends to gravitate to wherever the other kids are playing. They include Finn in their play without a thought. One of their favorite games is School. The four middle kids, Joey, Annabelle, Daisy, and Lilah, have been playing this for a long time. It's so elaborate that they all have pretend names they answer to (Joey is John Timothy; Annabelle is Janna; Daisy is Princey; and Lilah is Arma - don't ask me where they came up with these names - I have no idea). They now include Finn in this game. He is the pet dog (I assume because he crawls), and his name is Theedie. This morning they were playing Pirates in the living room. They were jumping on and off the coffee table (yeah, they've destroyed it anyway, so it's a lost cause), which was their pirate ship, and the floor was the ocean wide. Finn was a pirate too, apparently. Inclusion. That's what I mean. In our house, Finn is not marginalized. He is not seen as a diagnosis, or a set of problems to fix or overcome. He is also not seen as "special." The kids know he has Down syndrome, and they couldn't care less. Finn's just Finn, that's all. If only the rest of the world could be like this.  |
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