Welcome to the second episode of our series featuring the students of Dr. Debbie Schwind, a school based ot from Virginia. Today we have the pleasure of introducing grant Davidson, 11th grader with cerebral palsy and spastic quadriplegia. In this interview Grant's amazing personality, positive spirit and his family's can do attitude shine through as they share how grant lives the full, rich and meaningful life of a young adult. As inclusive occupations podcast focuses on OT and inclusion, I want to share some insights that really resonate with Grant's story. A core belief in occupational therapy is that human nature is to do things to engage in meaningful life activities. It is through doing that we grow, belong and become our whole selves. Simply put, doing things that are meaningful to us, aka engagement in occupations is fundamental to health, well being and participation. Now, this is a non negotiable, human right, the right to pursue opportunities to do things that bring us meaning and purpose. Secondly, humans are inseparable from our environment, our surroundings significantly impact our ability to learn and grow. Off often the barriers to inclusion are mindset related and systemic in nature. So as therapists and educators, one thing we can do is instead of questioning whether a student is ready for doing something, or being in the general education classroom, we may want to ask if the classroom is ready for the student to experience the opportunities given to all students. This shift in perspective helps us direct our efforts to addressing environmental challenges, and help a student fit there and avail the opportunities that are inherent to the general education context. Finally, in the words of George de inclusion is not bringing people into what already exists, it is making a new space a better space for everyone. Authentic inclusion means making the changes needed to ensure that everyone can engage meaningfully. Inclusive general education classrooms offer the best learning experiences and outcomes for all and this is based on best current evidence we have. From what grant has mom and Dr. Schwinn share, I invite you to reflect on the students with disabilities you may support. Could we have presumed a student could not do something and therefore never exposed them to an opportunity. Occupational Therapy practitioners can be powerful supports in enabling access to high quality education and general education. Grants story exemplifies how incompetence is presumed opportunities are opened up, opened up and adaptations are made. Authentic inclusion happens. Grant has gone now beyond himself to enable such changes in his community so everyone can participate. Let's dive in and listen to this amazing interview.
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 in education to be informed, inspired, and empowered to create an inclusive community for the students they serve. Thank you all for being here. Debbie. Once again, we have a star of yours on our show. Thank you for making the introduction to grant and family welcome Michelle. Welcome grant. I am yeah i I've heard so many things about your grant from the Schwind and I also read your article about grants grinds. I can't wait to hear all about it directly from you. So please go ahead introduce yourself to our audience.
Well glad
i i Get up in the morning, blessed man. If your score
is
okay. Do you want to tell him a little bit about transcribes? And when do you do that?
On? On Friday?
So Friday's is CEO workday. Now are you? Are you a senior, a senior or junior?
What grade are you in? I love it. Oh,
okay, so you're an 11th grader, and you work in grants grinds, which is your family business. And on Fridays is when you do your job, correct? Yeah. Nice. Okay. Welcome. Michelle, do you want to go ahead and introduce yourself?
Sure. I'm Michelle Davidson. Mom to Grant and his three older siblings. I have grant, he was our last baby. And he was had a birth injury and was one with cerebral palsy. He has low vision and epilepsy. And he is really the inspiration and star of the family.
Yes, this year, so nice to hear. Okay, Debbie. Well, from our previous episode, people know you but I think an introduction about how you got to know grant and your experience working with Grant over the years. Yeah.
I have been very fortunate to get to know grant starting when he was two, he came into the early childhood special education program at the school that I was working at. And then when he went to kindergarten, he went to his home school, his neighborhood school. And I was able to work with him there. And he was fully included, he was in Gen Ed. And I got to work with him from kindergarten, first, second, third, fourth grade. And then the family moved in. I was heartbroken about that. But I did go to visit him down in his Chesapeake schools, just to share some ideas with the therapist down there, the teachers down there, because he has a lot of really unique needs. But he also has so many incredible strengths. So I wanted to make sure that since I had known him so well, that I didn't want them to have to start off at square one. And I wanted to give them information about how he learned best so that they weren't again starting over. Was it a clean segue a clean transition to a new school. And we have we had so much fun grant. I'm going to tell them all kinds of stories about you.
Have you been in touch since he moved? Yes,
we have stayed in close contact. And so you don't always get to see where your students end up and what their journey is. And so it's been so nice to be able to keep in touch with them to really see what his journey is all about and what he's doing and what his family's doing. So it's been, I don't feel like I have been as involved. But it's just been very rewarding to see and hear of his successes.
But it's great. Michelle, tell us about your experience as a parent of a child with a disability. I know we've come a long way as a society. Even in the recent past, many things have changed. Many things have come to our limelight. How was your journey advocating for your child to have access and participation in all of life's occupations, both in school and outside?
Oh, wow. Well, you know, we were quite surprised when Grant was born. And we've always treated grant like his siblings and He is not allowed to say what? He's not allowed to say I can't. What do you say instead?
Or, or
he can say it's hard. He can say he needs help. He can say it's challenging. But we really tried to raise them, that he could do things. He might do them differently, but that he could succeed in his own way. I think like as he's gotten older, Grant has it just such a warm personality. And we've really taught him to advocate for himself. I'm really proud of him. He's going to tell you two things he advocated for me. The first one was a town light event. You want to tell him about the love, run?
Love to hear about it.
Oh, oh, wheelchair weighs
race. Okay,
how's it wheelchair has a love round as the town of fundraiser annually. And grant went to them and said, he noticed there was no wheelchair race for people with mobility issues. So they added a wheelchair category based on Grant advocating for it, and advertised it and advertised grants, crimes and videos.
And then the second, where is this happening?
This is in our new town kid, Charles Virginia. Okay, so
you're moving from Chesapeake or you already moved now to
are going to be moving in the next two weeks. Okay. And then the thing is, we got a survey about beach needs, because we look 200 yards from the beach and kick Charles. And so we taught we taught, educated grant why it's really important to answer surveys and vote and things like that. So when we asked him what he thought the most important thing at the beach was, What did you say, but
we were on a
beach wheelchair and wheelchair access on the beach. So not only did he write it, we wrote it in ours, he took to his Facebook channel, and shared it throughout town. And he just got a letter from the town saying, Thanks to his efforts, it was one of the top five needs identified for the new master beach plan. And that they have bought two beach wheelchairs. And we'll be getting beach mats and other accessibility equipment. Because after grant made his videos and really made people aware, the town really got behind him and realized that there wasn't equal access for people in wheelchairs. That's amazing.
That is so impressive. And I think, yeah, I mean, I think voices of people who, who live there and experience these challenges can be so powerful in making these changes in the community. And you're doing just that. So thank you for that. And also want to wish related birthday wishes still grand I see your birthday balloons behind you. Did you just turn 17?
You did on Friday. Yeah. Okay. Happy Happy Birthday.
Kudos to Grant's family. Because grant, I don't think in other families would have been exposed to the things that he has been exposed to. And so he knows that it's fun to go out on the beach because his family has taken him out on the beach. And anything his other siblings were doing. He did if they were camping, Grant was camping, if they were going on a family bike by Grant was on the bike ride. He's been fishing, he's been in canoes. He's been in Boy Scouts, he he swims. He's been horseback riding, he played soccer. He played literally baseball. I mean, no stone has been unturned. And because they have given him these experiences, he knows what he can do. Whereas other kids who haven't had those opportunities in those experiences, they don't know what they're missing out on because they never been able to do it. So the family is amazing. With all the things that they allow him encourage him to do. I mean, if the other shoe siblings are on the back of the boat being pulled out or I don't even know what they're called there's inner tubes that bounce around on the waves and wave runners or weak runners or whatever they are. He's out there too. I mean, it's just amazing. The different experiences that he has had. And you know, he talked about gaming and playing games. His dad has adapted games way before we had anything, the commercial market. And so again, it's just whatever the other kids were doing, he was going to do, and they have adapted wheelchairs, so that he could go like four wheel driving in the woods. They attached a winch, the winch, a winch, to the end of a wheelchair, and he could pull logs and pull bushes, and he had like, adapted the lawnmower so he could cut grass. And that was one of the things that I, Michelle and I always said at the beginning of the year, was, we would go in and talk a little bit about Grant and his wheelchair, and just give an understanding to the other students. And we would kind of always ask, like, Does anyone in here cut the grass? Like in first, second, third grade? They're like, No, we're too small. We can't cut the grass, right? Grant will cut the grass. Grant your Whitehorse grant does all these things. So it just kind of, you know, puts everyone on an even plane and lets them know that there's a lot of things that he can do. And you know, he was able to share that with his peers during the school year. So they can, you know, really see for themselves what he could do.
Absolutely, Trailblazer.
Yeah.
early on.
Right. Do you want to tell him or her about your two favorite water things you've done?
That's my
water scan surfing. Whoa.
Okay. waterskiing and surfing. I have not tried either one of them.
Yes, he went out did water skiing with two professional skiers on each side and he was in an adapted chair. And they had one hand on Grant and one hand on the handle waterskiing. So he's gone, waterskiing, and then a professional surf team, host an event, once a year. And he has gone surfing in the Atlantic Ocean with professional surf team. And they don't baby um, he gets on the surfboard. He's laying down, but you know, under he went, and eventually they brought him back up. And he was laughing and just kept on going.
Wow, that's quite quite adventurous. Very, very fun. He's
kind of to get something Mr. B is going to be surprised about. He does try to keep up with his siblings, which is why he wanted to have a job. And so when they did his aptitude testing, he scored really high on retail. And so we asked him when he might want to sell. And what did you say grant? And why do you remember?
Perfect coffee.
How come?
Some people
that's it makes people happy.
Makes me happy Korea.
Such a good choice of retail.
kept up with it. In Word, and then what do you do in the summer? Where are you going? You remember?
Furch? Nervous
not a vacation. Where are you going to school? To get your license.
For college,
he's going to college at Eastern Shore Community College to get his drone license. Wow.
What what license is that?
Well own to fly a drone, a drone license.
Oh, wow. Oh my gosh, okay. That's
an FAA program. And that's it. He could go The only stipulation was he's the only one who hasn't moved out and he's not allowed to move there.
He actually be spending the night there, or it's close enough that you can drive back and forth a day program.
That's awesome. Yep. So he goes, it's part of the Department of Rehabilitative Services DARS. And it's a program. And you can enroll in the camp, and then you get a license to fly a drone. So they teach them all about that kind of information that they would need. And Dad's gonna go the first day and see what like adapted things he might need to do. And he can work on that so that grant can participate. Wow,
that's amazing. You know, so
heartening to hear sorry, Debbie, just want to just put this quick thing I mean, you sort of
this is how we want school principals to be this how we want educators to be, we want to first start off, exposing our children to all these amazing opportunities that are out there in education, what you've done as a parent you want you've given, Grant everything that your other siblings had, right, that's what parents do. And in schools have somehow when students have disabilities, they have started off being in a separate program and separate classrooms. And the effort, the first effort has not been let's try all these different adaptations and different things to make education, this high quality education science camps accessible to our students. All these different amazing field trips accessible to our students hasn't started off like that. So yeah, I just want to relate that to our school mindset. And just that simple mindset, of fighting for their rights can make so many of our interventions and educational approaches more meaningful to our kids. Sorry, go ahead, Debbie.
I was quite a novice, having three typical children, and really, Debbie, and the educators and the PTS. And therapists really were my mentors. And really, I mean, putting a two year old on the bus is pretty hard when they're crying their eyes out, but I always felt like he had like six other moms waiting for him at school. So you know, I always felt he's been really blessed, because he's had educators that have treated him like we've treated them, and who really believed in him and help them excel. So we then and I know not everyone has that experience. So but I think, you know, being open with them and really communicating and I think he's he's really inspired his all his siblings have made career paths based on their experiences with Grant, do you want to tell him what your siblings do?
I want to hear
work.
So well. Holly works at a school in special ed. Wow. Maurice Hayden.
We'll see you.
And what's he doing? Kind of schools he go to their
grow their goals for medical
school. Okay. And what's Caroline studying? Do you remember?
nursing school, nursing school?
Wow.
He's really impacted all his siblings. That's amazing. He's everyone's favorite sibling. And no one's ever had a fight with them. They're the same for each other. But
you know, when you think about, I know I've talked about this with Sabetha, about just, there are very clearly defined predictors of transition success. And those predictors can all be addressed in schooling can all be addressed at a very young age. And I feel like those things have been addressed with Grant from a very early age and some of those include having very high parent expectations that are realistic expectations. Having a lot of inclusion opportunities. You know, we adapted everything for him. I was going to art with him of So your music with him. I was in language arts with him. We adapted every art tool. We adapted drumsticks put them in PVC holders. He is limited in his forearm pronation and supination. He's really more in a neutral four arm position. And we knew from an early age, she was never going to be a writer. And that's okay. So it was working around that. So it was working on spelling words using magnetic letters. We had really a enlarged keyboard because of the low vision. And the keyboard was also color coded. So we would spell words using the same colors as the keys for the words. But we adapted everything. And we, we, we wanted him fully included. And so we did not want anything in the classroom to be a barrier for him. So I also went to computer class with him, he did great drag and drop. So we would create different drag and drop things. He loved kind of coloring, he had his own tabletop Promethean. And so he came to illustrating, he might tell me what he wanted, and I would kind of draw the outline of it. And then he would kind of do the bucket fill, to fill in the colors that he wanted. He also had these great adapted scissors, and he loved and if you remember this grant, he loved cutting up paper. And so we would turn all those little pieces of paper into different mosaics, okay, him smiling, we would turn all of those little pieces of papers into different mosaics, and they that would really become our illustration for our stories. So if the other students had to write about, you know, make up a fairy tale story. He made up a fairytale story. He because he had so many rich life experiences, he was really able to pull from those experiences and write about things based upon activities that he did. But we would make PowerPoints, we would have to add his audio to it. So he could tell his story. He would do oral presentations that way. You know, it was so fun to adapt all of these things and come up with every week was a new challenge, like okay, how are we going to do clay? You know, Grant, how are we going to, you know, poke this clay and mold this clay or how are we going to do spelling the speak. We did a lot of cut up sentences where we put words on sticky notes, and he would have to arrange the sticky notes in the right order. Kalin calendar time and every year was something different, because every year the teachers do different things, different ways, which is good, that's growth. But like in kindergarten, they did a calendar and all the kids had to write down today is, you know, Monday, May 20 2024. Again, we knew he was not going to be a writer, and that's fine. So we printed off a calendar and had him like do a do a dot marker on the day of the calendar, he's still indicating he's still showing us that that's the day. He's just doing it in a different way. So it was a lot of UDL, universal design for learning components so that he could be successful. And he is the only student there's probably going to be a lot of people on this podcast that don't agree with me on this. But he's the only student I ever had that I saw for 90 minutes a week. And that was because I was included in art music, I did a PE things helped the a PE teacher adapt thing. This was in the cafeteria. I wanted to make sure there weren't any barriers. We weren't going down the hall doing range of motion. We were in the classroom doing language arts and adapting the items sometimes on the fly. But a lot of times it was really collaborating with the teacher to find out what assignment is coming up and how will he be able to show us his knowledge.
That's the That's the purpose of occupational therapy basically to be able to help the educators enable support them in making education accessible to students who have disabilities. So which is not the ideal situation in the world. This was not the situation all the time in schools. There are so many limitations, so many historical barriers that stop therapists from providing services in a way that they believe they should be doing. So. How is it now? This is something I'm just curious to know is grant in high school receiving occupational therapy?
he's nodding his head. Yes. Yeah. Get you know, I think they scale at least here they scale it down. So he gets some occupational therapy, physical therapy, consults. And he has Adapted PE. Is that your favorite class? But yeah. III. So he he still gets, you know, his special ed services and you know, with his vision has been a big focus lately, like trying to adapt as much as possible. But like Dr. Schwinn said early on, we they identified that he wasn't going to be like a writer and things and the voice to tucks like sometimes I'll have to save that textile, like I can't figure out how to do surgery and all that. But he, he, every morning, he checks his sister before she goes to school, he uses fine my friends. So he's like, Hey, install at the medical school. Chloe's Wait, why isn't going at work. So he kind of tracks everyone on his. As soon as they get home, he can call them so Caroline's not in class, she gets a phone call or text. So he usually he really has used his iPad. We have a Lexus in most of our rooms. So he can turn on the fan turn off the light. We have like a hospital grade, push button door, so he can enter after school. Go out. So he's really I mean, he does use technology. And that was identified early on. And it was definitely a good call. Because he he definitely does that. And it really enhances his life. Because he I mean, he keeps us all connected. Because, you know, I'll hear, hey, don't be too busy to call me. But he will always answer grants calls. We know what's going on. I mean,
and those are awesome. I didn't name of the predictors, but other predictors are social skills. And grant has always been so social and so connected. And he would tell me stories about his brothers and sisters like one time his sister got pulled over by the policeman. He told me all about it. Korea, one of my favorite stories was when you told me that your wheelchair fell off the boat and landed in the Chesapeake Bay? Oh my gosh. Remember that grant? Yes. Yeah, I
got anything. Yeah.
So the social skills are a huge predictor of transition success. Self Determination is also a huge predictor. And the fact that he is able to self determine that he wants to have a business that he wants to work that he has goals that he's working for. Those are also huge predictors of transition success. And the other one that Michelle just alluded to, was these functional living skills and being able to control his environment with you know, different types of technology. And then the other one is just having work experiences. And some of those work experiences can be work work, but some of those can also be chores and he has always had home responsibilities. And so he has been able to learn what he likes and what he doesn't like to doing some of those chores. So he is I personally, I always thought that you weren't going to work for a landscaping company though, because I've done so good with cutting grass, moving malt pulling trees out. I just knew that you were gonna work for a landscaping company. But I think I'd like the coffee business even better.
So how long has grant grindz been around? This
is it second year? Okay. He sells to a lot of vacation homes in Cape Charles. So they'll buy in bulk and they leave it for their guest and he his goal was to raise enough money to buy a wheelchair, accessible golf cart which he Did at Christmas it was $23,000 Wow, a lot of modulations
that's some good business over there very nice to hear tell me tell me a little bit about your your work life what do you what do you enjoy the most about working in your coffee shop
delivering the coffee is definitely his favorite. Okay, okay. So sure I'm sure
social Okay, yeah social butterfly, okay.
His skill set with a coffee business. He makes videos for his Facebook page. And when you miss the videos like because he has a baclofen pump, his head is just constantly forward like on his chest but when he's making a video he knows he has to really like take do his breathing appropriately and stay set up and things like that. So it helps in that regards. He put stickers on he picks it up at the coffee shop. Then when there's orders he takes it out of the boxes and puts it into bags. He's very good at remembering we need to do deliveries the different ways you do deliveries
my call for is to close the the by
his wheelchair by eight car or the car.
Okay, okay. You find a handicapped accessible van now to join you. We
have to up so he picks up the coffee and Northfolk and he divides it up and put stickers on it. And he also likes mailing the packages for the mail away. So nice as individual customers schools. Dr. Schwinn was our first wedding. So he had he, he's they had grants grinds coffee at the wedding reception for her daughter. And
he put a custom name on it. So that was so cool. Everybody just loved it. That looks
very nice. He's our new town is 1000 people. And my husband just got a job at the medical center there. And they said, you know, have you moved in? Do you like it? And he said, Well, we're working on the wheelchair addition for my son. Is that grant? Are you great strides dad. So when we're called everyone's got quite the
name there. Yeah. Wow.
The other really cool thing is that when he was in elementary school, he had school jobs. And one of those things was delivering backpacks. I don't know if he remembers that. But we attached a little red wagon to the back of his power wheelchair. And he would go around the school and deliver these backpacks that were full of food for children in need. So he had several jobs like that in elementary school. And he also would deliver all the recess supplies. So the balls and then jump ropes and all those sorts of things, they would go on the back of the little red wagon, and he would take them out to recess. So I feel like all of these, you know, you think about transition and you think about success. It just doesn't happen overnight. It's all of these little things along this journey. And the really cool thing is that in middle middle school, he worked at Chick fil A and was a greeter at Chick fil A. And his favorite night if I remember was the night that the firefighters would come to eat at Chick fil A so he could greet the firefighters.
Yes. And
when he got hired at Chick fil A, he went through the regular interview. Wow, really good experience. You know, why do you want to work here? You know, they asked him the whole regular interview questions and I think it really built confidence in him and things he had his own uniform. He sat at the door he had to really project to Voice to make sure people heard him. So until COVID hit, he did that. And then in high school, they really start to think about, you know, what kind of job or what do you want to do after school. And so they did the aptitude testing. And that's how he kind of landed on Grand sky. And he is an avid coffee drinker. So they made a different blend and hit which one he liked. So it's his signature blend.
Right? Yes.
That's so cool. Yes.
Awesome. So good to hear. Okay, so Debbie, I have a question for you. What does inclusion mean to you from the perspective of an educator, both realistic and idealistic, but
I think inclusion really means belonging that you want to belong in a very meaningful way. And you want to be part of a community, you want to be a valued member of a community. And so I think if you look at it from that way, inclusion can take on a lot of different meanings for a lot of different people. But I think the important thing is the sense of belonging in a very meaningful way, and a very supportive community. And I definitely feel like Grant has had a lot of inclusive opportunities between his own family, his community, his education. And I just think that that has had tremendous impact on his success.
That's so true. I think all of us, if you ask anybody, what is inclusion, how do you What does inclusion mean to you think I want to feel belong, I want to feel I'm a valued member of the community. And that applies to everybody. Regardless whether you have a disability or not, but people with disabilities have a greater challenge experiencing that, because of the way our society has been, and the way it's designed for the majority. But if you design it, for those who have more challenges, I think everybody is going to inevitably feel the benefits of belonging and community participation. So I want to ask the same question to you, grant. And, Michelle, what does inclusion mean to you?
You like people on these going on that
is, yeah, yeah.
So nobody's laughing? Because they're different, or they have a disability. Yeah, just
like their wheelchair race grant. I mean, you were kind of being left out, you were being included, and then you self advocated, and then you got to be a part of it. You got to be a huge part of that race. So that's awesome.
Made it possible for a lot of people in your community. So I love it. So yeah. Being was being left out.
When you won the race had never been included. Ah, he was thrilled. And he Grant took them on a ride on his golf cart and really showed him around and then I said to grant anyone who comes for the wheelchair race, we're going to treat them the ice cream. And Grant said there could be 100 people and said, There's honor people, we got to spend money. And we're gonna take everyone for ice cream. Right?
Yes. So was the other user from St. Charles or did he come in from out of town?
You remember?
Hey,
Jeff. Wow. So he might come again next year now.
He has a new friend on the shore now. That's so cool. Yeah. So he met another. He's seven but and then Grant had a coffee open house, at our house. And he meant a lot of kids came to you remember, we had 11 RSVP and he was so excited and I Thought please just let these alone people come. Do you remember how many people came? We served 100 cups of coffee we had to go. Home. So we had 100 people on our porch in front yard in a two hour period.
Wow. Yeah.
To do coffee sale day, he gave away free coffee. But he sold $1,200 in coffee. Wow, they used
to do a flight of coffee, like for flavor testing.
So there you go.
Really have that thing in your heart for retail for business. Yeah, just attracting it so easily.
Michelle, do you want to share your thoughts about what inclusion is?
I think inclusion, I don't think I could put it any better than Debbie did is just giving everybody the opportunity to engage in activities and being part of a community and to have, you know, always had that option and ability to be a participant.
So what do you wish was different if you were to go back in time, um, I mean, life has perfect moments, and not so perfect moments. So if if you were to reflect on how things were in the past, or even in the present, what are some situations or experiences where you feel least included or inclusion, like really needs to happen here. And then situations where like, this is happening all the time, I love it.
I wish as a parent, it's hard to not worry. But I you know, I think I was so worried that I didn't always enjoy the moment. You know, where Grant was, you know, there was one day we were doing chores, and you know, you're trying to get four little kids to do chores. And the other ones are, you know, I'm calling him on and there's grant mopping the floor, not missing a beat, he's nonstop going back and forth with his wheelchair. And everyone else is, you know, doing who knows what, but Grant was in it, and I wish I would have like stopped and just kind of like, lingered in those moments, and even a little bit, you know, more enjoying when there was inclusion in things and and how we can expand.
That's so true. You know, I, I think one one thing that we as therapists forget, when we get so hyper focused on our remedial approaches, we want to fix this, or we want to help our students do better. And this, so much time goes into that, that you don't get the chance to help them to live their lives like everybody else, giving them the opportunity to just do the things that you know, that everybody gets to do. So I think that's a really important reminder for all of us when we as therapists work on addressing challenges. Removing a student from the context, like making sure we put them in the context.
It really thrives with humor to humor and things like that. He's got a really great sense of humor, and
he does he absolutely does. He would have us in stitches over different things.
Let's be fun working with him.
Oh, my gosh, there was never a dull moment. Never.
What do you think that'd be in hindsight? Your experiences working with Grant what could have been better? Or like? How could schools have been more inclusive in their approaches based on your experience?
Um, I mean, I don't know if the word is better. But I felt like I was kind of a PR person sometimes, you know, and the cheerleader and trying to make sure that they understood that he could do this. And, you know, showing them how to adapt things. And sometimes, I think just with the teachers training, it's just it has to be done this way. And if we do it a different way, maybe it's too easy, or it's not as challenging or we're not teaching them the way we're supposed to. So really trying to change the mindset that we're just removing a barrier. And sometimes every give the example of you know, someone who's blind, and we give them a book and ask them to read the book, and like, well, they can't read it because they're blind and like, well, that's why we give them Braille and That's not a cheat, that's not making it easier. That's making it accessible. And so making sure that the teachers knew we weren't trying to make it easier, we were just trying to make it accessible. So to allow him to be able to engage and participate and access all the different occupations and activities that all the other kids were accessing and engaging in. And I remember in art, I mean, the kids every week, we come over to our table, and apparently, Members, if they were seated to us this week, how's he going to do it? What tool was he using, I mean, they were always so excited to see, he would do the same art project, but maybe the tool was adapted, or, you know, that sort of thing. But they were always so excited, and always so encouraging. And they, he had so many cheerleaders. And I think when you work with somebody who is in a wheelchair, sometimes it's very easy for us to see what they can't do. And so making sure that we, you know, give people information, and show them of their strengths. Because he has so many strengths. And he has is so fiercely independent. He has always from day one, I met him, he wanted to do things on his own, he wanted to be independent. And even though it's difficult for him to use his hands, he's very much a hands on learner. So making sure he still had opportunities to use his hands and, you know, participate in that way that it wasn't like, Oh, he's an art. He's not No, he's going to do this. And he his might look different, but it's going to be his work, it's going to be his art project. You know, it wasn't mine. And sometimes I would take pictures of what the other kids did, and then what he did, just so I could remember how we adapted it, and how we changed it for future students. Just so we could show that this was his project. This was his assignment. And I think, you know, sometimes just based practice, our cases are so high, that we don't have opportunities to do a lot of collaboration. And in his instance, there was a lot of collaboration with all of his teachers. And that did take a lot of time. But that was what was right. That was the right thing to do, to share ideas and share strategies and make things and adapt things so that he could be successful.
And I think, apparent perspective. Last year grant because he has siblings knew that all the siblings stick on to homecoming, and he said, Oh, I'm going to homecoming. And when I his sisters helped them he made a sign. Do you remember what the sign said? Yeah, it said Roll with me to homecoming. Went to the girl's house and had this sign just like everyone does the homecoming and prom, prom proposals. And when I called the school, they said we'd never had anyone from that class go and I said, Well, you are now they said, I said, my husband I Oh calm and they said you absolutely cannot come. It's against school policy. And I said, Okay, well, he has siblings, coasters. He has siblings will be there and they said, You absolutely cannot send them you have been on the school. And I said, Well, I said, I guess we're gonna have to figure something out then. So let me know what you figure out. And they pulled back a couple hours and they said we talked to his one on one assistant and the girls one on one assistant. And they volunteered and they're gonna take him so it was awesome. And grant Do you remember what you got all the systems in your date? When it was called the flowers the corsage is and he said we gotta get the most flower things they were so he got one first aid and then he said we gotta get them for the teachers. And we got them for the teachers and so they were very gracious and going the only thing is Grant did not realize what did you not realize about Homecoming and prom? What do they do there that you do not like?
What don't you like that mom tries to get you to do all the time. The dancing. He said, I didn't know they were gonna be dancing the whole time
I feel with you been, I've always been very awkward to left feet go, never could dance. Sometimes
it's fun just to watch other people dance.
I'm one of those too. Yeah, yeah,
I know, one of the things. And I know, it's probably a little bit embarrassing to talk about Graham, but I think it's important for people to hear this is that when he was younger, because of the physical limitations, Mom and Dad were told that they did. The doctors told them that they did not think grant would ever be toilet trained. And I just felt like as a functional living skill, and being included, and being so involved and such an active member of the community and knowing how smart he was that it was something that I felt like, and the PT felt like was very doable. And I don't know if grant remembers, but it was probably like second grade is when we really were like, we have to do this because he's fully included. He's not in a self contained program. And we knew that again, he cognitively could do this. He was great. It is great. And so he had a code word. Do you remember what the code word was? Grant? No, no. Do you remember? Mom? I don't know. You would tell people very quietly, I need attention.
Oh, I do remember now. Do you remember that? I need attention. And
within a one year school year, I think by third grade, he was completely he was 10.
Okay,
so it was so important. And I know it's embarrassing to kind of talk about it right now. But it would be more embarrassing if he were not, you know, toilet trained right now. And that would be more embarrassing. But that's important. Because a lot of OTs and school based practice, don't really talk about that. And it's so important, you know, especially he has a job, he's reporting to a job. And that's just such an important occupation that should be addressed. And in school based practice. So proud of you.
The other director at Hopkins said if he wasn't potty trained by seven or eight, it wasn't going to happen. But it was really, because of Debbie and the PT that we have trying. And he once he really got it, we had such a home of hey, after Christmas break, we're gonna send you to school and underwear. And the last day before Christmas break. He said mom was just blown away, just put me in underwear. Grant, you remember that? And then they used to call every month through his Medicaid waiver and asked about how much diapers he needed or pull ups. And so Grant said, I'm taking the call when they call. And so do you remember that? No, so the call center call and Grant said to them, we don't need any and they said you still have some he said I'm potty training. And they said I'm canceling this order granted since potty trained.
So good. Thanks for bringing that up. Debbie. This is so important. Such a big aspect of our job is to address bathroom. It's such an essential school skill that's going to make learning possible for our students. So yes, thank you.
You know, there was a quote that was added Eleanor Clark Slagle lectureship at one of our Hga conferences, and I can't remember who said it. But she said when we teach our children and our students to do things that seems so ordinary, like toileting or feeding ourselves or turning the light switch on, we're really teaching them the extraordinary because it's a building block for success down the road. And I just I've always loved that quote, and I remember working with Grant and the cafeteria on you're holding a spoon and we used universal cups. We used all kinds of things, sweeping applesauce and mashed potatoes that wouldn't roll off the spoon. Because we also knew that that was an important life skill for him to be able to do. And he is a big eater. Yes, he
is.
The big coffee drinker. Yeah. Grant, tell us about your goals for the future. You're a junior and it's a time it's the time when students get very serious about their careers. What are you thinking about for your future?
I know
you don't know.
Undecided.
You think about goals? What do you want to do next?
You You're selling more coffee, because what do you what's your next goal to get with your coffee money
track where
a track will want to get a
track wheelchair. So that's your immediate goal. With Your Money Making to get that okay, I love it. I love these very practical, achievable goals that you are setting for yourself. How about So you're pretty undecided about your the farther away stuff like you're What do you want to be when you're in? Like, finish high school? What are your dreams? You
want to keep doing coffee business long term? Yes. And where do you want to live?
Okay, you're nearing
the end.
Okay, so keep Charles. So how did did you all choose Cape Charles for a reason is that move that was planned or
we love kid Charles from the minute we visited. We bought a vacation home. And we didn't think we'd ever be able to live there because it's not assessable. It's in the historic district. And the lot next door became available. And so we purchased that. And we built the addition is completely wheelchair accessible, which is the first house that's really wheelchair accessible. Grant has a ceiling lift that will take them into the bathroom and shower. He has a wheelchair shower. What else do you have in there? How do you get in the house? Lift lift it has. It has a swimming pool with a ledge that grant can sit on a tanning edge. And so the people who designed who advised us on the pool do a lot of pool for people's for people with disabilities. Wonderful.
Would you mind sharing some pictures of all these adaptations you have in your house that we can attach?
I definitely can do that.
Thank you, that would be so nice. When the when it's ready when you're done with it,
we will definitely do that.
Thank you. Thank you so much. So this podcast is a special focus for therapists and educators in schools. What are some insights and suggestions that you have for them? I mean, from your experience, yep, you can go or grant can go whoever wants to.
I think when you're thinking about your child, not to think about limitations, but rather like how you're going to meet that goal, knowing you're probably going to make adaptations, or it's going to need to find an ulterior way around, but to not accept no and to not limit your thinking on what they can do. You know, someone said, is Grant going to be a warm market greeter and Grant said no, I want to work from home with my mom and dad. So that was one of the things so I think I'm just not limiting and and I think having like total family support like I think Think not only did my kids get so much from him, but he got so much from growing up with three siblings who, you know, when they were wrestling on the floor Grant was right in the middle of it. It wasn't like, Oh, be careful with him. When they were on the trampoline little Grant was like a little coffee being being bounced all over. So they always included them. And never, it was never like, you know, well, he's disabled. So he doesn't do that. And I think that that's been instrumental. I think good communication with the school has been really helpful. You know, sometimes in some schools, you know, I think you probably have Cavin advocate. But if it's warranted to definitely do that, and then to like, no limitations, but how to push past those limitations. So like grants, reading has really improved this year he's reading and math is on a second grade level. But we keep like working with that. Whereas like, I met a friend of his and she said, well, she's in high school, she should be doing lots of education. And I said, But you have to master this first. So meeting them where they are, I think is important too, and not have like chronological expectations or whatever. So those kinds of things, I think are really
a lot of thank you, Grant, you have anything to share for therapists and educators from your, from your perspective. Anything that
like you'd want your teachers or therapists ot PT, adapted, like, what would you want to tell them about helping kids that are in wheelchairs or with different abilities? No, no? You don't know. Okay.
Okay. I think mom shared a lot. So thank you. Okay, I have some fun questions.
Questions for you, Grant.
What's the movie you would recommend?
What movies do you like? What movie do you like?
Not big movie people. What? What about what is your favorite TV show that you watch every night? Learn from it.
You're smiling big there. Okay. I want to know what that is.
Cops. You watch. What do you learn?
What do you learn from cops?
Once you get less and like Don't break the law. Yes.
Okay. You see what happens? They break the law. Okay. What's the best place to visit and Cape Charles?
The best place to visit in Cape Charles.
I'm from Dallas. I'm from Texas. So I would love to know some good stuff about your area.
What do you like doing in Cape Charles? Is there a place you'd like to go to see? Or eat or what? What do you think? No, there's no place. What's your favorite thing to do there?
Oh, my God, my what?
Golf Course. ride around in a golf cart. That's his favorite. Okay, okay. Okay. friendly town that
finds me. They also used to own a bed and breakfast on an island. And they were no cars allowed on the island. So grant would go down to the dock the theory dock and pick up their luggage. And they had a wagon on the back of his power chair and he would deliver the luggage to the bed and breakfast. So that was also an early job that he had. And I know Michelle used to say that when he delivered luggage, she would get more tips than what they would get paid to read. How's that?
That's just the kind of thing that I mean, the whole family just was always coming up with more ideas and talking about feeling valued, talk about having a purpose and meaning. I mean, that's just tremendous. That the they did that and they trusted him to do that and to take on that role. So I That's That's one of my favorite stories favorite grand stories.
Love it so if there's one wish you could make to a genie what would that be?
What's your genie wish be if you could wish for anything and what come true one thing
well lovely build
his house building done. Oh, certainly. You
want to make it like right now it's gonna come true love it what's your favorite vacation spot
where's that
Mela?
What is it called
Camp? Amp fetch. It's a family camp.
Oh cam? That's part of it.
Why do you like it? I know why you like it
because I have to lay off
his off wheel real chair. He has a four wheeler. Model. Dad made a four wheeler out of an electric wheelchair that's got tractor tires on it. So it's like a fourth choice. Control.
Oh my gosh. Okay. Driving.
Would you be able to take the track wheelchair the air?
Yes. We're gonna take the truck chair. Wow.
That's amazing.
Cool. My last question was coffee or tea?
The answers? Coffee, of course.
What's your favorite brand?
My favorite to Korea?
Do you ship it? Yes. Oh,
can I make an order? That a way to order it? I want to try your Yes. Okay. Thank you.
Thank you. All right, grants. frys.org.
Okay, I'm going to put that in our show notes. So you can check it out. Thank you. Thank you, Grant and Michelle, for taking the time to share your experiences with us. And thank you, Debbie, for the introduction and for sharing your journey with Grant over the years as an as OT. And yeah, thank you for having us. My pleasure. Thank you
