AUSTIN — Austin Public Schools' Peer Power Program kicked off on Tuesday, beginning its second year helping students with disabilities have better school experiences.
The kickoff event at Ellis Middle School got district Special Services Director Sheri Willrodt thinking about who gets the most out of the program — the disabled students or the ones paired with them as mentors?
Willrodt concluded it's a tie. The mentors learn about various disabilities, such as autism, and they gain empathy and compassion, she said.
"That is a lot to offer. The ones who get involved tend to see the similarities," not the differences, she said.
And the mentees get the much-needed friendships that those with disabilities often lack because they are different, she said.
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Last year, the district launched the program by enrolling 60 students at Holton Intermediate School. This year, the district expanded the program, enrolling 100 students at Holton and 50 at Ellis Middle School. The program is a collaboration of the Parenting Resource Center, Austin Public Schools and Vision 2020 Community Pride and Spirit. It's funded by the Hormel Foundation, Austin Public Education Foundation and private donations.
Other Austin schools also like to have students with typical development meet those with special needs, but do it more informally, such as at lunch, Willrodt said.
Tuesday's Peer Power kickoff included a presentation on autism by Tara Tuchel, an expert who works with the Hudson, Wis., school district, and Jaimie Lowell, who helped Tuchel write the book "My Best Friend Will" that tells about her helping a classmate with autism.
About half of the mentees in the Austin program have autism, Willrodt said. What is learned about that problem also often works for other problems, she said.
Jessica Carlson, special education case facilitator at Ellis, began an evening presentation Tuesday night at the Historic Hormel House by saying "we had a number of kids come in non-empathetic."
She said that changed after the students learned a little bit about what it's like to have disabilities.In one exercise, the students wore goggles smeared with Vaseline to simulate what a student with visual problems sees, or doesn't see. In another example, they wore heavy gloves and tried to do a simple task like putting a nut on a bolt to learn what it feels like to have motor control problems, Willrodt said.
It's a good life lesson, too, because about 50 million Americans live with some kind of disability, she said.
Peer Partners also helps stop bullying, she said. About 90 percent of those with disabilities are bullied, but a study found that 57 percent of bullying cases end when a peer steps in, she said.
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Tuchel said it can be difficult having autistic children around. One student got frustrated when he couldn't talk, so he took off his shoe and hit others on the head with it, she said. And many autistic children don't have social filters, so they blurt out whatever is on their minds, even if it's not socially correct.
To help both those with autism and those with typical development, she tries to teach about the disabilities, why they are different, how they use their brains differently, and how others can help them, she said.
Lowell said she's an example of how mentees gain. "I grew from it (helping Willie)," she said. "I saw things he saw."
