Hello all :) I thought I'd share my portion of my assessment which dealt with my blog:
​Before this blog assignment, I was not at all familiar with what a blog was, more less what the purpose of a blog was. Now, ten weeks later, I feel as if I may now use blogging to help gain insight about different questions I have by posting my thoughts, my findings, and my perspectives as others share their thoughts as well.   I began my blog with an introduction about the new family I had met thanks to my daughter, Mollie. Mollie described her friend and their family as a very kind and involved family. When the time came to meet the family, I remembered seeing the family down at the community soccer fields. All members of the family, with exception of the mother and Mollie’s friend, were all little people. I had no idea that this was the family Mollie was referring to, but I was excited to know that Mollie described the family as being just the same as any other family, and that was the key! My blog explored equality among the rights that the family had, just as every other citizen has, and after talking to the mother of the family, my attention focused on an issue they were having which was the stress their oldest daughter was experiencing due to the transition from elementary school to junior high. I wanted to help the family by finding as many resources as possible, but soon found that their family was probably more help to me than I had been to them. The inquiry process played a big part in discovering many interesting points as I researched and posed questions about some of the concerns the mom had. Her main focus was trying to find ways to help her daughter feel more at ease about the transition. Though this was not initially the road I planned to take, I am very glad I did both as a responsible citizen, as well as a responsible teacher. I started by choosing my topic, generating ideas and then hypothesizing about the ideas and resources I had come across. I found that the LPA (Little People of America) was an amazing support group to help families work through some of the challenges they may face in life. As I blogged and researched even more, I found that the dad of the family I was writing about is actually the district chairperson in the area for the LPA group! There, on the website under area resources, was my daughter’s friend and her family! How exciting! I then called and talked to the mother about how excited I was to find this out, and she said, “Oh yes! We are very involved with LPA!” At the next soccer game, she told me about some of the activities her and her family participated in with other members of the group as well. She told me where I could find additional resources for families, but then she asked me a question…”How well prepared do you think the district is for my daughter’s transition into junior high?” I now had a new direction that I felt I needed to explore even more! I needed to find a way to find out how prepared the junior high was, BUT I needed to do it without drawing attention to the daughter; her mother said she was very insecure in discussing the transition. I decided to interview a current student within the junior high just to see what challenges the mother may need to address to help her daughter be more comfortable on that first day of school. I found that the desks, lockers, water fountains, and bathroom mirrors, were all things the student felt would be a challenge for a student under four feet tall. He said they had both top and bottom lockers, so I suggested to the mother that she may want to email or meet with someone just to make sure these things are figured out before her daughter would figure out the hard way. All of these things are things that I wouldn’t have even thought about, so I know choosing to interview this little boy was a good idea; I gained answers to my questions without drawing more attention to the little girl. The mother thanked me for all the help, but as I mentioned, her resources helped me a lot as well. She vowed to keep me updated, and said she was going to blog as the transition took place just to help other families. Though there are a lot of videos and statements in regards to little people, we both talked about how neither one of us could find information in the form of a diary, to document the experiences children had with the transition. Insight from the mother may definitely help other children, and she feels as if her daughter would feel empowered knowing she is helping others! The blog will continue so feel free to check back!

Hello :0) I know I have talked about the LPA organization a lot on this blog, but I always go back to this site because it always seems like I find something new when I go exploring through the website. In my parent interview, the parent/grandmother stressed the importance of the 504s and IEPs in meeting each child's needs. I found this site : which gives details for the teacher and the education team. I also found another area on the website that I may have mentioned before but the resource to help parents with their teens entering junior high is helping make sure proper accommodations and adaptations are made equally for each student. The link is . Do you think this would be a helpful resource if you were the parent trying to help your child feel comfortable if she were uneasy about entering school? Monica

Hey :)

   So, I was looking through the Little People of America website (as this is the primary website I use to research things about support groups and stories), but I came across this interesting article in the Huffington Post which discusses an interview that took place between Chelsea Handler and Rosie O'Donnell. Check out this article: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/15/little-people-rosie-odonnell-chelsea-handler_n_1277510.html. I was SHOCKED that grown people can be so ignorant; I am embarassed and it wasn't even me! They are poking fun and teasing little people, and though the LPA group had lots to say about it, it just makes the issues the little girl is scared about as far as entering junior high, even more real! How can we teach our children a no tolerance bully policy and ensure our community that we are anti-bully, but then adults can't even set the bar and the standard for those young children! I am in no way saying this would happen in any school...not at all, I am just saying that there is nerve in getting on national television, showing your ignorance as an adult, to me, shows low morals; how do we teach our children to be indifferent? How do we encourage others to treat each other equally? The comments made in this article FLOORED me! You have to read this! That's all for now:)

Interview with Junior High Student

Hi all :)

   I talked to a junior high student this past week to determine which things at his school may be something that the parents will want to address before the school year begins (it will be the same school the sixth grade little girl I've been discussing will be going to next year). There are two sets of lockers throughout the hallways of the junior high school, and he said there would definitely be an issue with the girl having a top locker. He also stated that the water fountains throughout the school are a bit higher. He is pretty tall and he said the waterfountain was about at his belly. I started thinking about the elementary school she attends right now. The elementary school has children ranging from Kindergarten to Sixth grade, so there are more than likely neutral water fountains for the children. This would have been something I wouldn't have thought about, but once he mentioned it, I can see how this would be a problem. Mirrors in the bathroom are also an issue; while this may not seem like a huge deal, it is! I know I would want to be able to look at the mirror if I wanted or needed to, so the expectation shouldn't be any different for anybody else. I think it's important to address these issues in the school, just to make sure it doesn't take the child not being able to do something before it is addressed...that can be an embarassment for the child, and it's definitely not okay. The object here is to help the child feel more at ease about entering a new school; it is hard enough for any child to go into junior high school, but if you are a little person entering a new school and you struggle just to fit in with your surrounding, that is not good. I would want to see this child having a positive learning experience, just as she has been receiving overall at the elementary school, and I think we need to do our part in making sure she feels as welcome as all the other children by simply acknowledging that these are our children we are taking care of. Very interesting...

hello :)

I found this website…www.rightdiagnosis.com/d/dwarfism/intro.htm..Which gives a lot of information including an overview of what Dwarfism is (short stature). This includes symptoms, causes, treatments, misdiagnosis, home testing, types, deaths, prognosis, research, and statistics dealing with Dwarfism. It’s interesting because there are several different causes and types of Dwarfism and can be a complication of another condition, it can be a symptom, and it can be hereditary. The site also identifies Dwarfism as a rare disease which means it affects less than 200,000 Americans. There is a forum on the website to allow people to post on the page. Check the page out, there are lots of resources. Also, I typed out another post but while the title for the page was there, the words for the body of the post was gone. So, here it is again. The father of the family discussed on this blog is the chapter leader. http://home.fuse.net/LPAChapter16/About%20us%20temp.html. There are different chapters around the country to help serve and encourage little people. It is all through the LPA. There are meetings for support and helpful links. See what you think!