Inclusive Occupations: Season 4 Episode 2: Living the Amazing High School Life-Tyler Bernreuther

1:42AM May 29, 2024

Speakers:

Savitha Sundar

Tyler Bernreuther

Trish (Tyler's mom)

Dr. Debbie Schwind

Keywords:

tyler

ot

children

space

inclusion

school

share

learn

amazing

high school

question

debbie

play

students

trish

support

hear

classes

handwriting

special olympics

As John says, hard to understand what that to me does, and you actually know what they meant to be aware of when they wake up to up to huge steak and around beach are up the community one day, so I can help I can know everything goes well, I can know things I can work on the most life is

welcome to the second intrusion story of the season. In the next three episodes, we will be meeting three young adults who all share something in common. All of these young people had Dr. Deborah Schwind as their school ot now, Debbie has been a guest of inclusive occupations twice in the first season. She is a practicing school based ot from Loudoun County, Virginia. I cannot emphasize enough the value she brings to us through her knowledge and expertise in the pragmatics of enabling authentic inclusion. Our guests journeys and navigating their exceptionalities towards includes the participation in life is truly heartening and inspiring. Learning how occupational therapy enable their inclusion is something I hope to highlight through these interviews. In this episode, I have a rich conversation with Debbie's first star student Tyler burns rotor, a spirited 16 year old high school student who has much to share about his amazing life. Tyler is joined by his mother Trish and his ot doctors Deborah Schwind.

Welcome to inclusive occupations, sharing stories of not just being invited to the party, but dancing. I'm your host Savitha Sundar, I'm a school based occupational therapist. This podcast is a space for OTs and others who work with children and youth and education to be informed, inspired, and empowered to create an inclusive community to the students they serve. Welcome, welcome Tyler, Trish and Debbie to inclusive occupations podcast. I would love for you to introduce yourself to our audience, and share a favorite quote that resonates with you. Tyler, would you like to go first?

Yes, please. My name is Tyler Berlin. And I found stone Blais High School and I. Sophomore. And how old are you now? 16.

Wow, so you're a sophomore.

Okay.

And what do you do? Do you have any other interests or hobbies that you pursue any?

Well, I worked out with my stand. Yeah. I do some hobby. Work. Nice for AI ified sports or scouts, Special Olympics.

That's wonderful. You have a whole slew of extracurricular activities you're involved in?

Yep.

Trish, would you like to introduce yourself?

Hi, my name is Trish brim reusser. And I was educated as a speech therapist and special educator. But I've been blessed to be a full time mother of two children for the past 20 years. And I'm glad to be here. Thank you for having us.

Wonderful. Is there a quote that you would like to share?

I was thinking about this. I think something we try to live by for myself at least is children are not a distraction from important work. But they are that important work that CS Lewis and I, I try to live my life like that. Right. Wow.

I hope we will keep that in our forefront and embrace it with our children. Thank you for sharing that. Devil welcome again to inclusive occupations. This time as a therapist of our guests. Our main guest, Tyler.

Thank you so much for having us on here to spotlight and highlight Tyler and his successes. It says that quote is the perfect quote for her. She is an amazing mom. And I think I learned as much from her as she learned from me and our journey together. But my name is Debbie Schwind. And I am an OT. And I was very fortunate to have Tyler while he was in middle school from sixth grade to eighth grade. And I think the quote, I don't know if it's actually a quote, but I just think, believe in all possibilities.

Wonderful. Yeah. Great. love that quote, Teddy. Thank you. And Debbie, we've known each other for a long time now since 2017, when I first met you at the ATA conference, the centennial conference in Philly. And since then, you have always been I was at your presentation at that time. And you struck a chord in me, I was like, wow, this is exactly what it should look like. And I've always felt it. And I was so nice to see somebody else who was literally putting that in action every day. And so, you know, we've had so many conversations since then, and you have not failed, you've not ceased to amaze me. So today, I think I'd be so interesting to hear how Tyler's life was enhanced by Occupational Therapy in his school. So we'll our podcast has a special focus on our occupational therapists and educators and people who strive to learn and do better in creating inclusive learning communities. So Trish, I have a question for you. First, as a parent of a child with a disability, you must have had a lot of experience navigating systems and advocating for your son's success. So tell me about Tyler's school journey. How was it? Well, I would say that

Tyler is living his best life every day in school. Without a doubt, his journey has had ups and downs. But we are here as a family to support him and find the path that he desires, and then provide the support that will allow him to thrive. So I guess the thing with his education journey is that we have tried to be involved in everything everywhere. We try to be the extra hand, to the people that are working with our children haven't been a therapist, I understand how heavy caseload czar, and just being there to see how therapy is working with your child to be a part of the therapy so that you can help with the support to carry over that work. So that what your child is learning there can become global. And that's when like six, we really start seeing success at home. Um, I guess the thing I would say overall, with Tyler's education from preschool to high school, one of the questions that people always ask me, therapists and teachers are so so where is he? Like, where should we start? And I say, well, let's just I said, sometimes I don't know, you know, how about we just let Tyler try. And let's watch him, right. And when we see those gaps, then we can help fill them for him, we can start that by building scaffolding and building skills and supporting him. But the key is to let Tyler find his starting point. And I try never to put a ceiling on him. From when he was beginning, reading, beginning, walking, beginning playing instruments, you know, he's grown us as a family so much in areas that we don't have skill sets. And so we've had to learn along with him. So just let him try. And he will amaze you at where his starting point is, and then we will grow him. So I guess that's how we've kind of approached his journey in education.

I think that is that is so much in alignment with this key tenet of authentic inclusion which is presuming competence to exposing our our children to all possibilities that we possibly can expose them to within school and within their learning environments. And and then taking it from there. So a question that comes to my mind is, was Did you feel that Tyler was always included in his school environment? When he began I know it even with time we have all come to a better understanding of what true inclusion is early on it. It probably was just sharing the same school campus was considered inclusion, and then moved on to creating environments where everybody has access and feel a sense of belonging. Right? So how do you feel about it to do

so without a doubt, inclusion has so much space to continue to grow in our world. I love that it's, you know, it's a word that people understand. But without a doubt, that journey did not start smoothly for us, you know what, what you think is going to be a simple path that maybe your daughter went on would be natural for your son to just follow. Starting with preschool doesn't always happen. So very early on in Tyler's education, we realized, Oh, this is going to be different, like what were we thought would be a very inclusive space did not turn out to be. So it helped us early on to realize that we needed to be proactive, to help educate people in our environment, and our community of the amazing things Tyler can do. And although he might have not been able to do things equally as peers, we would have support him to do those in an environment with peers that are neurotypical. And that is not always understood completely. So we have been advocates to kind of put Tyler in a space where not everybody is necessarily comfortable. But we always say we are here and he is supported. You're not alone. And if you have any questions, there's no wrong question. We are here to help educate the adults in this environment, as well as the youth. So I feel like from preschool to elementary school, we had a great experience, but in his fifth grade, you know, their class placement was going to change and we didn't understand what was happening. But you have to advocate for your child. So we were just like, we and we must have misunderstood something along the lines here. So that's okay, this is a busy time, we'll make a time for a meeting. And let's have a discussion. So always keep open lines of communication, so that you can all reach a goal that is acceptable. And in the end, we did and it was a great year, just to know that there'll be bumps, and everybody really has your child's best interest in mind. And to make forward progress, it can be a little painful sometimes, but that's okay. Just keep the communication lines open. And most of the people that are working with your children want the best for your children. And if you approach it as a team, like I want to be on your team, I want to help you, I want to learn from you. Because the ultimate goal is to make the most successful space for Pty limited thriving, you know, and one thing we've always said as burn reserves are We are not here to survive, we are here to thrive. And we really put a lot of effort into life to make it a thriving life. And I think I mean, kudos to you and your family, because I think you have not only helped pave Tyler's path, but your model has really helped pave a path for a lot of other children. So I think one of the things is difficult as a parent, for any child is to make sure you have these high expectations, but they're not so high that you're causing a lot of stress and your child. And I think that that is, you know, you guys are realistic, but you have high expectations. And there's it's so hard to have that balance for any of your children. And I think that has to be harder in certain situations. And I think that that you guys seem like you have perfected that, that you have these expectations of him. But you also know that you know, we don't want to push so hard. And again, for for my children, for any children. You want these high expectations. You want them to achieve as much as they can. But you don't want it to be a breaking point. And trying to know where that bounces is hard. And I think that the expectations that you have had and you've created have benefited him more than I think you've probably realized. Well, Debbie, you hit the word balance just really jumps out at me. And so we've been blessed and Tyler at 16 The picture of what balance is now is so different than what we were fighting for and trying to support him for when he was five. And it takes just walking through that fire, for lack of other words to find where your balance is. So our family balances this. We have completely embraced Special Olympics, which is a space that my husband coaches tolerance that he's able to be all in physically, and friendship, it's a space where there is no judgment. It's just a space where you can let down all your mama armor and just know you're going to be embraced and supported. So you have one aspect of that. And basically, just about everything Tyler does in Special Olympics, he comes in pretty darn close to first place. So I actually saw him and every amazing thing too, is that he's a very good shooter. But he does not hog the ball. He made sure that he shares the ball with his peers on the team. And in many ways that may be related to the unified sports that he's on that he has had that model that you share, and you let other people have an opportunity, even though you know, you might be able to do it better. And that actually does not surprise me about Tyler, where you saw the perfect balance like unified sports in high school give Tyler a space to be a leader and an athlete. So she's always first in Special Olympics. He has unified sports where he can be a leader. And then he also swims with barracudas, which is our local neighborhood swim team. And he's a fantastic summer and he's been swimming since he's been six, and he's legal in three strokes. But you know what, he's almost always last when he swims in a meet for barracudas because he's swimming with neurotypical swimmers that are aged 15 to 18 and that they're competitive swimmers and Tyler is very competitive in Special Olympics. And he's awesome with a Soozee Azzam at barracudas. So I think it's important to understand that there's a, there are multiple areas to find balance of inclusion. And as a parent, there's comfort at different levels in those different environments, and pros and cons to each to each. Other, you should definitely beat me in swimming.

I asked her how to swim meet for Special Olympics. And my first two strokes was back and lie, I got first place and both of them. And I got second place with my freestyle. Wow,

Tyler, that is so impressive. Congratulations.

Thank you.

My my key takeaways from this conversation that we've had is we all find our niche to shine. And especially in high school and kids get to high school, they choose their paths they buy then students know where they fit in with the they do their best and and that's what happens in life. We never choose a career that they're totally terrible. We always choose a community and a path where we are able to perform best. But that doesn't stop us from exploring other areas too. We may not be the best at something else. But we also have our niche area where we shine. And that gives us the energy to explore and enjoy other spaces as well. And it sounds like you've done just that with exposing Tyler to Special Olympics and kind of shining and, you know, topping in several of these sports activities that he's engaged in. So a lot of very powerful insights here. So thank you for sharing both of you. Daveed this is something that I think is going to be very important in this podcast is hearing how you as Tyler's occupational therapist and middle school focused on providing him services that enabled him to access his education. Access to your therapy services are not the traditional siloed areas that people think ot should be working on. You have really I know I've loved hearing your presentation at ATA this year. I know your practice truly represents what ot practice should look like in schools. So now we're gonna use Tyler's example to hear how that they went about. So please tell me how you began your services with Tyler and how that evolves over the three years. You worked with him?

Yeah. So I started working with Tyler in sixth grade when he entered Middle School. And I don't remember exactly the goals of chess of my head. But he came to me with a handwriting goal. And his handwriting really, it was larger than what a typical sixth grader is. But it was actually pretty legible. But what Tyler would do is because he did not like handwriting, which that's okay not to like handwriting, he would self limit what he was writing. And so I had, I kept this example for a long time, and I don't have it anymore. But I don't know if Tyler remembers this. He had a worksheet that he had to complete, and I can't remember it was about a shark or a whale. But the worksheet had questions and spaces for him to write his answers. And he had zipped through it went really fast, wrote like one or two answers for each of the questions. And some of his answers weren't even related to the question. And I read it. And I was like, Tyler, I think you can do better on this, because he is so incredibly smart. And part of that is because of all the experiences that his family has given him. And they do as a family. He has a lot of rich background knowledge. So I knew he had a lot more information about these sharps or wheels and what he was writing. So I said, let's get out your Chromebook. And let's put one question on each slide. He answered them, and like each question, he gave it, two or three sentences to he went and grabbed some pictures pulled into pictures, enlarge them, crop them, put, you know, borders around them. fancy stuff, and I said, Can you share this with your teacher and share this with me? And so I showed the teacher I said, she did this completely on his own by himself. She was blown away. I mean, she's I had no idea that he knew of that I did not help him at all, he did this all on his own. I said, so the handwriting he will self limit his responses, and we really need to try to utilize technology. So from then on, and I shared that with mom and dad. And I also he was also very involved in scouts, and a neurotypical scouting, club, team, scouting groups, you know, this, my son was in Scout, scouting groups, and he loved archery, he went away to all the summer camps. And one of his other goals that I was supporting, was related to staying on target, and not target staying on topic. And if we remember this, Tyler, but we made a slide deck, and we had an archery target on it. And we would talk about staying on the topic on the bullseye. And if it was not on top of that, they Oh, you missed the target. That was not quite on topic. And so again, pulling on these rich experiences that he had, and these interests that he had and applying those to his education. So over the course of his middle school, he was in almost all gen ed classes, he took family consumer science, he took tech ed, he took band. And so I started going into those classes with him. Because I wanted to those are really, really important classes and research shows that students who take those classes have better outcomes upon graduation. And I didn't want him in there not benefiting from the information, either because it wasn't adapted for him, or it was done for him. Either way. I wanted to make sure that She got out of those classes, what he needed to get out of them, they're really important classes. So I started adapting all the slide decks for facts and check in. And we did adapted 3d modeling. We did adapted architecture, I can't remember all the things, but every single unit they had, and the nice thing is that the unit lasts for three or four weeks. So it's not like every week of having to, you know, make a new slide deck. These, especially for those that are listening, it wasn't like every single class, every eighth day, I had him create a new slide deck, it was really adapting that lesson, which was a unit, which lasted again, like three or four weeks. But because of those adaptations, he was able to get the information out of it. And I didn't do this for Tyler, but I did this for another student, but it just illustrates why it's so important. In fact, they have to do a sewing project. And one of my students have very, very low vision, the standards don't say that you have to so on half inch button. The standards just say disabled so. So I just got a very large wooden disk the size of a frisbee and use a jump rope to thread it for sewing. So this and then the students can understand what sewing was how to do the, you know, the certain stitch. So in the same way, Tyler was able to understand, you know, what a model was, he was unable to understand what the resume is how to, you know, cook a certain meal or that sort of thing. So I spent a lot of time supporting him in that area. And again, for facts for Family and Consumer Science. Those classes are really looking at what OTS call ADLs, and IADLs. And research also shows that when you are independent with those skills, you're more successful after graduation. So another reason why it's so important that we're in there. But there was one highlight from Saks. During this time we went on, we were at home for COVID. And one of his assignments, so many memories that I learned, what are the assignments is that they had to talk about what they wanted to do in the future. And we should be asking all students that but we don't always ask all students that. And Tyler had told me that he wanted to do something with like marine biology. So I had a green screen setup. And I was in a rowboat on the screen with water. And I was fishing. And I would pull out a fish. And the fish would say they have a question on it. Like, what could you do if you were a marine biologist or those sorts of things. So he was able to do that assignment, again, in a modified way that other students were having to, you know, go research it and find out what kind of degree you needed and where you forget. It's just, you know, it was too much too much for me. I mean, some of the assignments are overwhelming for me. So we were able to get that question answered, and a modified way. And we came up with different things he could do if he worked at an aquarium that was one of the things we can said that he can feed the animals or take care of the tanks or those sorts of things. So that was a highlight for me. But one of the other highlights that I had was Tyler had self determines, he decided and he made the decision and had the goal that he wanted to be in marching band once he got to high schools. And so in eighth grade in order to do that, he had to take bands as an elective. So the mom was already in touch with the band director at the high school, and he had suggested that we try percussion. And so Tyler was on it. But he was having a hard time learning to read the notes which I had a hard time learning to read the notes. So We made all kinds of different activities. We played Go Fish, using different note cards, like the C note or a note was on. And I would ask him, do you have a C? Or do you have an A or do you have a G. And so we would play Go Fish, like that. And then I also made him this interactive staff. And we would move the notes around on it. And he would have to tell me what the notes were. And then I also collaborated with his band teacher, and we talked about maybe making the notes larger, so that it might be a little bit easier. We talked about possibly color coding it, I don't have a strong music background. So some of the suggestions, you know, we're gonna work, some of them weren't just because of, you know, what my knowledge base was. And then we also talked about maybe having him play only the chorus instead of the whole entire song. And then we also talked about having him learn songs that were familiar to him, because they were playing these, you know, check offs he or Mozart or the songs, I didn't know the tune to them, so I couldn't play them. So we, I put together a book of songs that were familiar to Tyler's such as happy birthday song, so that she could kind of learn the notes in a very fun way that was more motivating, and not so overwhelming. And you could also hear when you made the mistake, whereas with the Tchaikovsky if I was making a mistake, it sounded good to me. So and then, the amazing thing is that not only the T self determined that he wanted to do that. But as a freshman, he made the marching band, and he plays the percussion on the marching band. And I understand that when he's a senior and chamber years, he will be going to London to march in the New Year's Day parade with this high school band. That's amazing. So proud.

That is just such a such a beautiful story to listen to. I had so many like aha moments, as you were talking, Debbie sharing about this whole process. Like three main, I would say takeaways from this discussion is that ot made authentic intuition possible, you know, if he probably didn't have the support that Debbie offered in the space, if the goals had not been aligned with the outcome of having him participate in this rich learning environment. I don't think inclusion would have been meaningful, he would have probably been present present to that situation eventually gotten bored or unsuccessful. And in all reality, it takes a lot of skillful minds to adapt and change lessons to make it meaningful. And given that OTS were basically manufactured to do that in schools, just as makes it such an ideal career, I mean, ideal profession to be involved in this role of enabling access and participation in the environments that have the most fulfilling outcomes.

I think if I know Tyler, I feel like I know him fairly well. I think if he were in those spaces, and there weren't those adaptations made for him, I think there probably would have been frustration and shutdown, which is exactly the way I probably would have felt as well. Because the expectations are very, very high. And I always felt like some of those projects are more designed for a high school student, not a middle school student. So it was really rewarding to be able to modify those, adapt those so that he could learn something and complete these things on his own. And I wanted to add this and I forgot but the final goal, when we got to eighth grade, the goal that I worked on and was supporting was related to self advocacy, because I knew he was going to high school. And so we made this chart of different ways that he could self express himself and other than handwrite anyways, so he could make a slide deck. I can't remember all of them off the top of my head. But he could do a Google Doc, he could, you know, do an audio recording, he could do a video from his Chromebook.

Do you remember any of them? Tyler? Oh, yeah, I definitely use Google Slides. I do recordings. I do, like comics. Good thing.

That is awesome. So what I did focused on with him in eighth grade was using all those things. And we practice using all of those things. And I was written in a class, like, it could be ticket, because the fact it could be history. I tried to get around to as many of his classes as possible. And I would say how this is what your project is, how can you show the teachers that you know this information? I think actually, there was a history, one about the US government and the branches of the government that he did. So I wanted him to feel comfortable that when he got to ninth grade and high school, that he knew how to do all of these things. And he was so comfortable with them that then he could ask the teacher, can I show my knowledge this way? If I had just introduced this to him at the end of eighth grade, he would not have felt comfortable enough to then advocate for it. So I wanted to make sure he was comfortable with that. So when he transitioned to ninth grade, he could utilize those skills independently. Well, Debbie, I just wanted to say you didn't only introduce it, we are continuing continuing to grow it. We call it the playlist. It's on Tyler's IEP. He knows how to advocate for it within his classes. And we have shared it with so many families in the special education world. How does your child express themselves when they're asked to write an essay? Because that's high school, write and write a paragraph. And Tyler's ability to make a Google slideshow or cahoots? or verbal recording? He's, you know, savvy er than I am in touch. He's my little tech Manager. To be able to just say that people understand where's your playlist? Well, my playlist consists of a Google slide, a comic strip of Voice Recording, this way you can express all the knowledge that's really in your mind. Yeah, he has so much to share. And it's literally on his IEP now. And I think it fits right into our society. Wow. Not have just named my day.

That really reminds me of the second point, I was thinking my key takeaway from this discussion is that when you make such adaptations available, probably giving the option of either you can speak it out, or you can, you know, like voice record, or you can type it or giving these different presented as a slideshow versus writing an essay. All these options, making it available for Tyler, I'm sure has opened many people's eyes to see like this can be done for a lot of our students. Same menu said, playing those students that are more familiar, how many of us would appreciate I have no background in classical music. And my son plays rock on and off and all these likes, players that I have no idea don't have the wisdom to appreciate, to the depths I should be to see played Jingle Bells. I'm excited. I'm thrilled. So just making that possible. You know, opening the doors for such such musical performances is going to make a lot of us happy there. Right? So it just I think ot playing that role is just making the whole learning process richer for all students, not just for Tyler. So kudos to you. And the third takeaway for me, Debbie, is you exemplify what pragmatism is, you're a perfect combination of idealism and pragmatism. I know inclusion advocates always want Okay, let's include let's put all our kids in Gen Ed, that's the best context learn. Well, true. But if you don't bring it down to the, to the context to the personal context, don't work on that part. Then inclusion will continue to be an ideal that nobody wants to implement in practice, because we'll end up saying inclusion doesn't work. And it takes intentional, skillful effort to make that happen. And that's exactly what you're doing as an OT. So Thank you. So these are my aha moments from from you, you're sharing this, answering this, this question about how ot services was provided Middle School.

And I think, you know, ot language. So many therapists are are just thinking about one aspect of all the different occupations that students have in school, they're not thinking about the occupation of musician, you're not thinking about the occupation of artist or the occupation of work in some, sometimes the occupation of leisure, there's so many different occupations that needs to be addressed in the school setting, that go beyond just handwriting. Because ultimately, we want our students to be successful beyond school. So there's a lot of other things to look at, other than just handwriting for, to ensure our students are successful beyond school hasn't

really an end, the definition of occupational therapy is the therapeutic use of everyday life activities that bring us meaning and purpose. So the power of participation lies in that engagement element. So if we don't make the activities that our clients do engaging, then we've lost, we've lost the whole purpose of our of our interventions. So that is our job to make that interest as a meant to bring in that motivation. And that's only possible when we address, you know, the activity that this person is doing the context in which the person is doing and the skills that the person needs to do it. So yeah, thank you. Trish, I have something to ask you. So when you when Tyler entered middle school, did you know what to expect from a school OT? Or what did you expect from school OT?

So, you know, I tell them in therapy since he's been young, so I think I knew that ot would help them build skills that would lead to independence in his life. And those skills are so different at different stages of his life. And I did understand that a school occupational therapist, in general worked on stuff like handwriting, right. But I also knew that an OT could help kind of the brain make the right pathways for learning, right? that go beyond school, and strengthen muscles and helping with like daily living skills, right? So get we were so right away, when when Tyler started receiving services from Debbie, I knew that we were in great hands, because she wasn't just saying like, Okay, here's pilot goal of handwriting. And this is what we're doing. She actually took the time to get to know Tyler. And she actually took the time, and went the extra mile to say like, so how do you think I can help Tyler? And what is important to you? And when she asked us those questions, and we were blessed, because it we did get benefits out of COVID and online schooling because I sat next to Tyler for school. And so when she asked that question, my answer probably wasn't what she was expecting. I'm like, so we need to learn how to like lighter, lighter, or single strike match. And Tyra was in this house, however, even. And she has to be able to do this. And I was like, oh, boy, it was a Boy Scout. And he has to be able to learn how to make independently. And so you have two ways of making a fire. You can either light a lighter, or strike a match. And obviously that can't be like a goal on a school OT. But she understood what we need it right. And the other piece, that was like a real goal that was important to Tyler was, you know, you're in middle school. And we always tried to keep Tyler as current as his peers. And although many children wear sweatpants to school, many wear jeans and jeans with a button just were not an option for us because I was not independent, buckling, buttoning that tight jean material over that metal button. So knowing that those are two things that Tyler really wanted in life, Oh, my goodness. Well, when you ask somebody what they want, guess what their motivation goes up. skyrockets. When when they understand the end goal is something that they want. So we did So many different activities for finger strength and dexterity, clothes pins with rubber bands on them that we incorporated the letters of lowercase and uppercase and reading and everything else. It was a global goal that was building that finger strength and dexterity. And guess what? Kylie, can you make your own fire now? Yeah. Can you button your own jeans now? Yeah.

That is awesome. So wonderful. And it makes a lot of sense because these

are like, very cool jeans. Yeah, they fit me. Yeah,

yeah. Well, that's because you've grown but the right size jeans weaken button. has happened. Tyler, that happens to me too.

Tyler, I would love to hear about your high school life. Do you enjoy school? In high school,

so my high school life that stone was it's a very amazing, I like doing history because mostly on my kupuna on that, and one time I we when I was making our first for me like assignment, but decided that X on most of that first slide. So and I did and it worked out very well. Seminar sign, there was a big kit then my life in stone was is actually great because I like being part of the school because they include me and music and my subjects in school and I can find him use my knowledge. What I did wrong sound when I was young, what I did with my ot teacher, and I liked being you know, like, some kids have difficult lives and new help. I urge acts to help I have to advocate for myself a little bit more. I finally understand stuff I can finally understand. And yes, I'm like in my life I even do like others to help by community to make church when I'm down on camping. I made sure I find track before I leave and stuff like that, because my school was amazing as I like it.

That's awesome. Tyler, are you still thinking about marine biology? Yeah.

Wow. I think they're also taking up the FBI too. But nice. Wow. Mostly I want to say as Marines my hours at sport

working with animals or working with animals. That is awesome. Cool.

So what subjects are you taking in high school you?

So right now, I'm taking on like a days I do art. I do. English, PE and Driver's Ed. I passed I was Ed and PE. My B days. I have gourmet foods. From the AP history, study hall, and you guys the sound.

And what is the last one who says use

IQ boost it but with some Zed Ed and TEDx students? Yes. together. So it's like it's a place where some people doesn't know music as well. Like back in my time with my LG t shirt taught me how to do music. I have like mentors to help me understand music. They help their students to understand where to do music before they make it to offense for them.

Do you have a concert coming up? I asked me do so united sounds please the first two songs with Stonebridge concert band during their concerts. It's a beautiful experience.

Wonderful. That's how to find out from you. Definitely. So good. I wish I was in Virginia. I would have attended Wow, that's wonderful to hear. So you're living the full high school life huh?

Yeah. I will be a resume. Yes, we'll take biology I took biology I am taking weightlifting, contests we

depends on what your schedule A lot depends. We have a lot of good options there for junior year and Tech Data. And tech theater, we're going to begin.

Yeah. Wonderful. They all sound like such interesting subjects and quite aligned with what you want to do down the road. Wonderful. So this is another sort of, I wouldn't say philosophical, but more of a broad question. What does inclusion mean to you? And then also tell me where do you feel most intuited at least? From my point of view, and from Mom's point of view? What does inclusion mean to you?

So my words, mostly, I Why me part of the community, because as a kid with dancers on this hard to understand what that community does, and you actually know, what they meant to be aware of when they got to the future at stake. And I want to be part of the community one day, so I can help. I can know everything goes west, I can know things I can work on, say my life is helping other people with Where do you want to live? I'm also on live and I kinda we want to get carried dites house with web tiles and you want to live with me and the ones. I want to be with mom, though. I would do that trips to mom, because

guess how sorry, mom. Right.

Our goal, our family goal would be that when Tyler exits High School, he is accepted into like a George Mason LIFE program to help continue to grow those independent skills. So you can get a job and take care of me. Yeah.

The IV wants to be a marine biologist, right? No, because we were more the time I was talking on this chart. We were it was amazing.

Yeah, man, VCU also has a program. That's really good, too. It's called the VCU ACES program. We've looked into it really in life as a good program to yeah, get him into one of them because he surely doesn't want to live with mom and dad for the rest of his life. It would be amazing on a college campus, I can definitely see that.

I rather like out in the hotel, because not sure. I can do it with other people pictures, his

older sisters, college students. So we've heard a lot of dorm stories.

Okay, at least you have her to sort of prep you ahead of time.

That's right.

So, thank you. Thank you, Tyler. That was so it was wonderful to hear that. And I am really appreciative of the fact that you have, you haven't a desire to give back I can, I can tell from the way you're safe to be helpful to others, to take care of your mom. And it's just so heartwarming to hear that from a team. Most teens that tend to be very self absorbed, from what I've seen, but I just think this is very, very heartwarming to hear that from you. So Trish, do you want to share what inclusion means to you? Or

when I you know, inclusion to me is always through the lens of Tyler, right. So I hope for him to be allowed to do his best in the places that He desires to be. Because he definitely has ideas of what he wants to do and where he wants to go. And to be treated with respect, and given a chance to be a part of whatever community he chooses to be in. You know, I live in this world and I see good things and I see things that can use a little bit more growth in people and experiences. So I just hope that society as a whole as we educate them, and as they see individuals such as Tyler in their community, they understand that oh, my gosh, there's so much to benefit and be given and to accept it like that. Race, right?

Yeah, totally, totally. And I think we all experience like exclusion and inclusion in our lives, I think at some point or the other. But more so for individuals who have historically been on the on the periphery of our society, it's just, it's been around for so long that the change is going to take time. And every single effort that we make, to bring that awareness and understanding in our community is going to take us smallest, so much further down in society. So very true. And just just just curious to see what settings do you think are most not inclusive?

Not inclusive? Well, I always like to start with the positive. So I think the the most the place where we feel most comfortable, would probably be that is that is most Yes, would be Boy Scouts, from the adult leadership to the program to the scouts. We go into Boy Scouts now he he's in 10th grade he started when from Cub Scouts to Boy Scouts in sixth grade do transfer up to Boy Scouts. And it has been a space where all boys can learn to fail with support and success and become leaders. And Tyler is fully vested and supported in that space. And he has made so many games. So that's a space where we feel amazing with inclusion, I would say the place where we are least included would be the community in spaces where people are busy and moving fast doing what needs to get done in life. By five o'clock in the evening at the grocery store Carline after school pick up, right, the spaces were just naturally busier for people. There's just you, it's hard to find grace or patience. And that's something that an individual with a disability requires sometimes, and just in those spaces, to be able to take a breath and pause and give grace. And I think that happens with individual personal experiences. And Tyler is growing up in a generation that he is so blessed to have been with us since kindergarten through high school. And his generation has a level of acceptance and kindness. That just makes me smile when I think of our future. I mean, there are so many young men and young ladies that are involved in Tyler's life that will meet him in a mall and paused to play putt at dips with him or invite him over for an ice cream at Brewster's. You know, we have some pretty amazing kids in this world. So I think if the adults can pause in the busyness of their life, and look at the models that their children are giving and doing, we're in a great place.

Thank you for sharing that. I think you're so spot on and saying that we're really anticipating a much brighter and happier and more inclusive future, our children's future, I strongly believe it's going to be exponentially better than what we had experienced in our childhoods. So yeah, for sure. So Tyler, you said that you wanted to pursue a career in marine biology? Maybe go into FBI. How do you think your school can help you best be what you want to be?

So my school is actually a very helpful place for me. I really wish there was like a club of OSB because

did you see a wrestling club? Yeah.

Your very physical, we have a lot of avenues that can release that energy. Yeah,

I remember when he would come around, do many things. So yeah, thank you make sense totally.

Makes sense for me because joining Warner for anyone else.

You just want to use physical activity for sports,

next sports shoes.

But he is so determined. And I remember in sixth grade, he wants to learn how to skateboard. And he wanted to learn to do tricks on the skateboard. And they had this whole thing set up in their garage with Matt Some boards and a helmet and all kinds of stuff. And he was doing tricks in there. It was amazing. And also Tyler, I think one time you also told me I think I actually have this up running the slide decks you mean that you wanted to be a ninja warrior? You want it to be on that show? Am I right? Yes.

Surely my dad made a new entire place for me to play on outside the back yard. A Whetstone old. The young lady young face that to look at actual American news. So why are Twain's racetrack or cow at in?

Wow. That's amazing. And his recent 16th birthday we had at a CrossFit gym and invited 20 neuroma Miss tears, but many neurotypical peers, from all settings from high school from boy scouts from swim team from just school. And it was so amazing to see these 20 youth you know, at this ninja warrior place and coming back and having such a typical high school birthday with burgers and ice cream and hanging out in the backyard. And a pie Harry Potter. And I said to them, when you look around, you might not know we might not all know each other. But you're all very inspiring humans that are kind and have had a special place in Tyler's life to help him grow. And 20 Kids, we had trouble making the list that short. So he's blessed. We live in a great place.

Wonderful, wonderful, shows whatever fun to do, or to have 20 people at your party hanging out. So it's great. It's wonderful

if I did okay, I have a few fun questions for us before we finish our interview. What is the movie that you love? The cats in the very first one. Oh, okay. Okay, and how about so if you had a if you had one wish to make to a genie, what would that be?

I went to become a lawyer.

Okay, okay.

Why am I not surprised? Good. Okay. Who is your favorite teacher and why? And

Mr. Back? Because she is the one who inspired me to use my knowledge on the computer more.

Where's he taking you?

He's actually going to be out far beyond I know maybe that's fine. Maybe for summer is taking me to the Holocaust Museum in Washington DC.

Wow. Him class was invited to go with the 10th grade social science field trip.

See, interesting, interesting, nice, wonderful experience it's going to be there's one here in Dallas that I've been wanting to go for a long time.

You reminded me to plan that for my summer. But it's a place that you would recommend in your community for visitors.

Visitors are welcome in the kept help because we want them to go to this hike. I like going to ascend Shenandoah National Park is where you can hide is where your backpack you learn a new skill set and it can't

mark I have such a beautiful pictures of Shenandoah that I always wanted to visit so Yes. Lovely. Thank you.

I think that he made about camping in the Shenandoah National Park too. Now that you say that. Now they did a 15 mile hike backpacking two nights with his sister myself and his peer mentor. Wow. Awesome.

Well, we did have something major because I was getting my feet wet starting and it was pouring rain.

And they had a 15 pound pack on his back. Hi there. I am so impressed. That's amazing. So are you going to be doing an Eagle Scout project? We're first class

work first class. First class right now. I'm working on we're working on

it. We have some rinks to go and summer camp is on our horizon. Yes. Badges at summer camp. Where are you going? Do you remember Calistoga? Kind of so you can kind of still get in Pennsylvania? That sounds amazing. Yep.

And the best part is one of them is archery. Because I'm telling you, Archie, I'm always sticking on target every time.

I have been very impressed with how on topic you have been tonight, it is amazing.

So thank you so much. i What are your final takeaways for our listeners who are mostly educators and therapists.

So I would say when I when I thought about this, I thought, you know, as you have a different view as a therapist versus a parent. So my voice from a parent to a therapist is this. The number one factor to keep in mind is families that are raising children with disabilities. We are tired. There, we it's a labor of love. But it's a different experience. And that's something many families won't say, but it is truthful, we are tired. So just kind of have that in the back of your mind. And one other thing, because we're talking about schools, I would say are that I EPS are very stressful for families. And it's just innately a difficult space for a family to be in. And if you think about it, you know, it's difficult to see our child's weaknesses written down on paper and listed and repeated by every teacher, when in reality, we spend all our days trying to grow their strengths. And it's something that needs to be done. And it's something that we all understand, but many parents that are articulate and educated and, and emotionally found, they come into that meeting, and they're just at a different level, because it's just a difficult space to be in. So just just have that awareness that it's a difficult space for families. And most of all, I think we're so blessed to have therapists like Debbie, because when we say help t test, and you do, it's just blossom, this level of growth in our children's, you know, we want to help our children, but we don't always have this the knowledge of how to help our children. So teach us,

teach us, give

us information,

show us,

let us sit in on therapy and see, I remember the first time I asked our speech therapists or private speech therapist, is it okay if I sit on the ground while you do therapy. She was like, okay, and I'm like, but I want to hear what language you're using with him. I want to hear what cues you're using with him. So I can use the same ones and he sees the carryover from therapy to home to school. And I'll share that with the school setting. And for a child to see that all three settings are on the same page. Man, that's where growth really happens. So just keep teaching us so that we can we can grow these these beautiful humans. Thank you.

Thank you Trish, very, very helpful. Takeaways. Thank you so much. And I also believe that we need to have the same openness to learn from parents because you see it aspects interests of your child that we may not have the opportunity to get a peek up. So yeah, it's definitely a collaborative process. Thank you so much, Tyler, Trish and Debbie for the beautiful sharing and

thank you, thank you. And

without my glasses, from the school big kid.

Their new glasses. Thank you so much for everything.