Spread the Word to End the Word!

Today is Spread the Word to End the Word Day.  To help celebrate and spread the word I made a power point presentation and presented it to the 4, 5 and 6th grade classes at school.  I ordered a new shirt for the occasion, and everything went pretty well.  The kids in our school are really great. They are so helpful where Ben is concerned and I have never heard any of the kids use the "r-word". In fact, when I asked what they should do if they hear the r-word, tons of hands went in the air and they all had great ideas about different things they could say.

 My new Respect Shirt

 One Library full of kids.

 

One pledge banner full of signatures.  

I am so proud of our school!

Will You Pledge?

Today is the 5th annual Spread the Word to End the Word Day.  I have often struggled to find the right words to describe why using the  R-word is wrong, when others argue that they are using the slang version of the word and would never use it to describe Ben.
Today I took a quiz posted today by Ellen at Love that Max  and it does such a great job of explaining why using the R-word is wrong in all situations, that I wanted to share it with all of you.  Please take the quiz and let me know if you still think it is OK to use the R-word.  And if you don't think it is OK, go to http://www.r-word.org/Pledge.aspx and take the pledge.
 

Spread the Word to End the Word

Today I took a trip far outside my comfort zone.  I went to the Elmwood Murdock Elementary school with Ben, and we did 3 different Spread the Word to End the Word Presentations to the K-6 Students at the school.  I have not spoken in front of any group for about 20 plus years, so it was a little bit intimidating at first, but I had John's 4-H Powerpoint that I changed up a bit, to help guide what I was going to say. 

First we introduced the kids to someone with an intellectual disability (Ben), told a bit about the Special Olympics, and them asked them to take the pledge.  

The kids were great, and Ben was a ham working the crowd giving fist bumps and high fives. 

  In the pledge I challenged the kids to do two things.  1. Don't use the word retard(ed) to refer to anyone or anything, and 2) to tell others not to use it either.  When I asked if there was anyone in the room that would like to sign the pledge banner the hands went up very quickly. 

The kids did a good job of paying attention, and asked some great questions. 

We ended up with a banner that was pretty full of signatures. 

The offical day for the Spread the Word to End the word campaign is tomorrow, but Ben has therapy so it worked out better for us to go to school today.  I would like to thank Mr. Frederich and all the teachers for letting us come and making us feel so welcome.  I would also like to thank Monica from Monkey Musings for doing a presentation like this last year an blogging about it.  You gave me the inspiration, and courage and permission to use your idea and I am thankful that you did.  It was way eaiser than I thought it would be. Now I would like to challenge other blogging parents to think about doing a presentation at your school. 

 If you would like to pleade to Spread the Word to End the Word on-line please click here.