I believe :)

I believe that all students can learn no matter what their disability is. As many of you may not know, I am a triplet. Unfortunitly, because of how premature we were, my brother did not recieve enough oxygen to his brain. To this day, my brother Andrew has severe special needs. Andrew has impacted my life in ways I never would have imagined.

When people are out in public and see that someone looks different or acts different they tend to be curious and maybe without knowing, they stare at that individual. I don't view these individuals differently when I am out in public. Living with someone on a daily basis changes your perspective of how you view others who have special needs.

It wasn't until my Junior or Senior year of high school that I made the decision of wanting to become a teacher. For our senior project, we had to do so many community service hours and present them to a pannel of teachers. My community service consisted of helping out with an organization called Buddy Bowling. This is an organization for students with special needs and I  would assist them in bowling. By helping out with this event, it made me realize that the littlest things can brighten there day. One day a week it was there time to shine. The kids would get so excited when they would see the bowling ball roll down the isle and knock over the pins. All of these students were unique individuals in some way, shape, or form.

Once I started my freshman year of college, I wasn't sure if special education was what I wanted to pursue a career in. I pondered about it, and finally decided to just go with it. One of my classes this semester dealt with learning about students who had special needs. As the semester progressed, I realized that the material that we were learning about came so easy to me because I live with someone who has special needs. As part of the course, we had to go out into a school setting and complete so many hours of observation. I knew right then where I would be doing my obeservation hours at; my brothers school. After spending a week in his school I knew that that is what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. Watching the students learn and how they all understand the concepts in a different way was amazing to me. Some of the concepts my brother was learning I would of never thought he would be able to accomplish. I am so proud of all the things he has accomplished throughout the years.

After spending a week in his school, I don't think I realized how lucky I was to have a brother with severe disabilities. I witnessed students screaming and crying and my heart broke for them knowing that they couldn't help the things they were doing. I am so grateful to have a happy, funny, and most of all lovable brother who just enjoys life to the fullest. He has taught me so many life lessons that not many people get the chance to experience. I often wonder who I would be today if I didn't live with someone who has special needs.

From left to right: Katie, Andrew, and Eric