Ups and Downs...

Last week all the CDD Special Needs class boarded a plane and headed off to Tallinn, Estonia then Stockholm, Sweden for the week. While it was so cold and exhausting, it was such a good opportunity to get to know my classmates better in an amazing environment!

We only visited four schools altogether, and one psychologist. Each visit was very unique and offered a different perspective on special needs in a school setting. The ridiculous part about this though, is that we visited almost the same amount of schools on our short study tour. So, this tour was much more spread out with lots more free time, to say the least. In Tallinn, we visited three schools. One for students with developmental delays, one for physical and mental disabilities, and one for blind and deaf students. Then in Stockholm we visited a school which uses Reggio Emilia techniques and has students from over 30 nationalities, most of which did not speak Swedish as a first language.

Throughout all of our visits we have been focusing on how the school looks at inclusion. I have decided that American schools have a very different definition for this. We view inclusion like Europeans (0r at least Danes, Estonians, and Swedes) view integration.

For instance, at these schools I would not have considered them to be particularly inclusive, as they were specific to different special needs. But they saw these schools as opportunities for their students to get the best possible education with the hope of going on to work or get higher education. They look at inclusion more as equal education, rather than integrating students into a normal school setting. It is an interesting, yet seemingly effective idea. One thing that really stood out about these schools though, was the ability to have small classes. Especially at the Tallinn schools, rarely was a class more than 5 or 6 students. I think one or two classes had 12 students who were higher functioning. They also split up the students by ability level, rather than age. They seemed to learn so much better in this setting.

It was the school in Stockholm that really blew me away though. It was so beautiful and open and welcoming. The kids even came in and served us coffee and cookies, then a group breakdanced for us. They let 30 loud Americans walk through their school without a single thought. They had no doors between classes, so we had free reign to go through each room, observe, play, take pictures, it was such a beautiful environment. I loved it.

The rest of our tour consisted of eating TONS of food. Very delicious, but way too much at times! We went to a museum, went on a canal tour, had to take public transportation in Stockholm, took lots of pictures, danced on cruise ship, went in way too many souvenir shops, listened to a Psychologist who actually liked Freud, got lost a few times, didn't sleep enough, and of course had a really great time!

Then, I got home on Friday evening, slept soooooo much. Hung out with my host family some. Went on a walk around Amager. Then evening time, was talking to my dear cousin, Emily, and found out that my Grandpa just passed away. That was a bit of a buzz kill to say the least. I'm just so grateful that he is no longer in pain, but is in heaven with Jesus. Since then I have been in a whirlwind of emotions, not really knowing what to think or do. I've cried, laughed, cried more, been overly cheery to try to compensate, cried some more...the usual drill I'm sure. I've had quite a few chit chats with Jesus about the whole thing, and I know that he has given me so much strength, and he alone will sustain me in this time. Its just a bit shocking that three people I knew all died in the past two weeks. God has a plan for it all, even if I don't understand it, he is so much bigger than me. I just know that he is faithful and that I can trust in him!