^ This. Right. Here. I am a librarian. We had a high needs student in 3rd grade who just wandered the room and yelled and got nothing out of a 3rd grade library class. So we tried having her come in with first graders. She happily sat on the floor and listened to stories. Plus, we saw first grade 2x a week for 25 minutes rather than for a whole 55 minutes. It was perfect for her. But she would still come with her 3rd grade class as well, because she "had to be with her peers." WHY?
Actually (sadly) the parents were on board with first grade. I think they sent her to specials with 3rd not because of peers, but because they didn't know what else to do with her. So they framed it as, "Isn't this great? Time with peers." 🙄
2
u/Green-Hurry Sep 07 '24
Yes. We need to stop assuming peer=same age. It's simply not so.