Meadow Joins Together to Celebrate Autism Acceptance Month

Baldwin’s Meadow School came together to honor and celebrate Autism Acceptance Month in April!

The elementary school's hallways were decorated with student artwork highlighting newfound understandings about Autism, while bulletin boards were assembled by Life Skills students from Baldwin High School, who have participated in work-based learning opportunities at Meadow every Tuesday this school year. 

Events were scheduled for each week, starting with a visit from Henry Viscardi School, a school that supports education for children with severe physical needs. Students were invited to watch their teachers play wheelchair basketball against the notorious Henry Viscardi basketball team! 

The school community pledged to learn and celebrate Autism throughout the month, by participating in Spirit Week, and grade level academic units. For spirit week, the school was encouraged to dress in a way that honored a significant public figure with Autism each day. For example, to honor Satoshi Tajiri, the creator of Pokémon, staff and students wore clothes that showcased their favorite TV shows or video games. 

Students at Meadow participated in thematic units that opened conversations about Autism, and how learning can look different. The projects included colorful murals highlighting Autism Acceptance vocabulary and themes, and weekly history hunts, where students tried to decipher clues to figure out which public figure with autism was being highlighted that week. Public figures included Dr. Temple Grandin, Greta Thunberg, and gold medalist Breanna Clark. 

School-wide collaborations took place throughout the month, notably between the Life Skills classes and Meadow's Character Counts Club. Character Counts is a group of students that work collaboratively with Meadow's social worker, Mrs. Naggar, to spread humanity, inclusivity, and positivity throughout the school. Character Counts went into each Life Skills classroom and taught a lesson where students helped each other to make sensory bottles! It was truly a pleasure to see the students learn together through this activity. 

The Future Educators, a group of high school students interested in studying education and related career fields joined the Life Skills students for a mock-movie event at Meadow. Here, Life Skills students practiced giving their movie tickets and in exchange for drinks and snacks to enjoy while watching the movies. The Future Educators, likewise, received hands-on experience supporting students to advocate for themselves with upmost independence. 

Meadow ended the week with two annual events, the Autism Acceptance Walk and Sensory Carnival. The walk has taken place since Madelyn Kurz, a Meadow alumni and freshman at Baldwin high school, wrote a letter proposing that a walk for Autism take place. The classes at Meadow prepared banners and neurodiversity necklaces showing infinity symbols to showcase their pride as they walked the back of the school together, special education classes and general education classes united. This year, every student was awarded a medal and water bottle for their participation in the walk, and for their pledge of commitment to Autism Acceptance! 

Beyond events, tremendous fundraising efforts were made throughout the month, with the goals of building a new playground for Life Skills students at Meadow and supporting Baldwin’s SEPTA chapter. For the playground, t-shirts showcasing the phrase “Make it Inclusive, Make it Possible” were sold district-wide, raising funds and awareness for the future playground. 

Autism Acceptance month came to a close with the Autism Sensory Carnival, an event that unites life skills students from across the district. While students from the high school worked at the booths, showcasing their vocational skills, students from the middle school and Meadow attended the carnival as participants. This year, inclusion was highlighted in conjunction with the Carnival, as general education students that earned the most Billy Paw Points were awarded tickets to attend the carnival together with the 15:1 and 8:1 classes at Meadow. 

The Meadow community also banded together to show their support, in which the Multicultural Committee and PTA made informational posters to display throughout the school and donated beautiful banners that were showcased during the Autism Walk. 

Overall, the school's pride truly came through during the month of April. 

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