When My Son With Special Needs Joined a School Choir That Embraced Him

When my son Dominic started seventh grade back in August, one of the electives he picked was choir. I liked that he wanted to do choir, because it meant that he would be with many of the same kids he has been with for the past couple of years. About 75 percent of the time he doesn’t sing at the concerts but stands with the choir. No one seems to mind that he isn’t singing. Last month, after his fall concert was over and the hubby and I were sitting in our seats and packing up our stuff, one of the girls in the choir came over and kissed Dominic on the cheek. It was very sweet. As we were leaving the auditorium, a bunch of his choir mates were telling him what a good job he had done and were shaking his hand.

I didn’t think anything could top that experience. Well, I was wrong. Yesterday, I got a message from his teacher that I had to send Dominic into school today wearing his choir outfit. The school choir would be singing in a Veteran’s Day assembly in the morning. This afternoon, Dominic’s teacher sent me a message that he had done a great job at the assembly. Cool. It’s always good to hear that!

This evening, my cell phone rang. On the other end of the phone was one of the paraprofessionals who works in Dominic’s classroom. She said something along the lines of, “I was going to text you, but I decided I wanted to tell you this over the phone.” She went on to tell me that during his choir class he has at the end of his school day, the kids spent the bulk of the time writing letters to veterans. She remarked that the 50 or 60 kids were all talking, so the noise level in the room was pretty loud. Toward the end of the class time, Dominic walked over to the piano in the room where one of the girls in his class was softly playing. Once she noticed Dominic was waiting, she got up and let him sit down. He then proceeded to play “The Star Spangled Banner.” She said as he played, the entire class got quiet and the kids were all watching and listening to him play. When he was finished, the entire class clapped for him. She told me that the kids all love him and he loves them.

These kids don’t ignore Dominic or bully him because is he “different.” Instead, they embrace him.

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