November 15, 2022 • 34 mins
In its simplest form, today's interview focuses on the program Connections that Count. It partners Central Michigan University undergrads with people with disabilities. More realistically, this podcast episode is about building a community that is based on respect and care; one that brings out the best in others and holds members accountable. Building communities like that take time and work. Dr. Holly Hoffman shares details about this program and tells us why it's important to foster that sense of community.
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Connections that Count
Music: David Biedenbender
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Ashley O'Neil (00:00):
Are you feeling the joy? So it's getting darker
earlier, and it's stayingdarker, longer. And it's that
time of year when the newbackpacks we purchased in August
are showing signs of mud fromwaiting on the sidewalk and
snags from getting caught andcar doors. lunchboxes have lost
their fresh and new smell afterbeing left under a seat or worse
in a locker of the weekend, ifyou know, you know. And
(00:24):
generally this is the time ofthe year when the busyness of
fall activities and the waningof school shiny Beginnings is
maybe leaving us all in ageneral fall malaise. I know I
am I'm feeling that shininesshas worn off a little bit. So
this episode is perfect timing.
It's a reset button for all ofus. Dr. Holly Hoffman is faculty
in the Human Development andFamily Studies program at CMU.
(00:45):
She's taught a variety ofclasses. In fact, she taught
several of my special educationcourses during my undergrad. But
it's currently focused on herterm in the child development
and learning lab, the preschoolthat we're lucky enough to share
a building with. Holly isn'there to talk about those things,
particularly however, she's hereto share a model begun by Dr.
Joan Hogan, and stewarded byHolly, and we brought her here
(01:07):
to your ears for a few reasons.
Number one, Holly is contagious.
Her enthusiasm and joy are goingto infuse your day with all
things wonderful. And numbertwo, she is walking this
thoughtful line that we'vetalked about a few times before.
connections that count theprogram, she'll talk about more
in a minute, brings individualswith disabilities are on campus
(01:30):
for community. They do thisthrough food and activity and
lots of communication. And thisgroup is doing this in a way
that is respectful andincredibly thoughtful. And it's
fun. We've mentioned in a fewepisodes about some changes or
alluded to some changes in thedisability community. As we
listen more to the ideas andpreferences of people who are
(01:51):
living an experience, weunderstand better what they want
to support and language andeducation, what they want it all
to look like. Which is notalways the same as the systems
put in place by specialists andprofessionals. So in thinking
about some of the changes thatare happening in that community,
it's really easy as withanything to get so consumed by
what not to do, how not to talk,what not to say, and it can be
(02:12):
difficult to think about what todo. So what does a healthy and
thoughtful space look like onethat centered around people with
disability? And what does thatlook like in a way that listens
to respects and cares aboutparticipants, but it's also
infused with joy. As you listento Holly today she'll share an
overview of the program. She'lldiscuss how they think about
(02:34):
volunteers and participants andfamilies, what the structure
looks like and how they manageto be such a positive and
community focused group with theexpected turnover that comes
from a student led organization.
Later in the episode we Escaliabout how this group stays in
tune with participants, theirfamilies and the disability
community. You won't want tomiss her answers. This episode
(02:55):
is one that has a lot to teachus all. And Holly's passion and
excitement are exactly theenergy that has been missing
from my mid fall vibe. I hopeyou enjoy this as much as Julia
and I did.
Julie Cunningham (03:08):
So we're here with Hallie Hoffman today, and I
probably worked with you 10years ago, or 12 years ago now
when we did that boomerangproject, right with firewall
why? And you were actually evenin a different department than I
was. Yeah, one that isappropriate to talk about today.
Because you're still involvedwith connections that count.
(03:30):
Yeah. So can you share adescription with us for our
listeners about connections thatcount? And maybe a little about
the history and current rules?
Dr. Holly Hoffman (03:40):
Absolutely.
Yes. So I get to work withConnections that Count, so we're
a service learning organization.
And so we get to work withindividuals in the community
that have different types ofdisabilities, a wide range of
ages, we have some participantswho are I think our youngest is
seven. And then we go up intoearly 30. Some of our
(04:00):
participants are that age. Andwe work on socialization skills
on friendship, skills onlanguage, getting some physical
development. And so we havepartnerships between individuals
with disabilities in ourcommunity, and then college
students. So we have studentsfrom all different leaders. So
freshmen, regular ed, we havepeople that want to be a doctor.
(04:22):
So they're looking at pre medtypes of things. Perhaps
nursing, we have accountingbusiness, so a wide range of
majors of college students thatwant to work with individuals
who have disabilities. And so wecome together, have a great time
and we plan these fun activitiesand then build our skills build
skill building within that. Sowe really enjoy doing that. This
(04:45):
all started back in 2002. One ofmy co workers, Joanie Hogan
started this whole journey soI'm so grateful for that. I got
to work with her at the time weboth worked in the accounting
and special ed department hereat CMU. Johnny got a call about
a me Is your car accident thattook place here in Mount
Pleasant, and there was a momthat was in that car who was
(05:05):
very hurt in that accident, andshe had a son with Angelman
syndrome. So we had a lot ofdifferent types of needs. And so
this family really needed help.
So reach out to Joanie, whoseems to know everybody in this
town, and knows lots ofresources. So Joanie pulled
together some college studentsand said, Hey, let's do
something great for this family.
So they work together to providecare to help this young man, get
(05:30):
on the bus in the morning, getoff the bus in the afternoon,
after school help with dinnerhelp with evening activities,
getting ready for bed, really,all his care was really taken
care of, because of the studentswho around the clock took care
of this young man's needs whilehis mom was recovering. So they
got all down. They did that for21 weeks, God always says that
they said, Okay, what are wegoing to do next after mom that
(05:52):
better? Let's do some more soand then it came into this whole
idea of connections account inour community. So let's branch
that out and work with moreindividuals and families who are
impacted by disability. So yeah,we started with families find
you or how to do mostly word ofmouth. So sometimes we will we
have individuals that work inagencies, in the community of
(06:15):
the ask questions, we havecurrent participants that tell
you to tell other people. So wehave It's on our website, on the
CMU websites, we put everythingout there. So families are
welcome to check it out. And itmight not be for them, they can
check it out anytime, and see ifthey want to most people stay,
we're lucky for that. They seemto really enjoy it. And so
(06:39):
mostly word of mouth, we alsowill tell teachers about it.
I've had students work on makingsure people knew. So she went
and reached out to all thespecial ed teachers make sure
they knew what was going on. Andwe've gone, we had tons of
participants right before COVIDhit. And then we transitioned to
connections, zoom, was our newname for several years. So we
(07:03):
did that. And so we're reallyfortunate, but then people who
didn't have technology thatdidn't really work or so for
some people, it's hard to sitfor the whole hour. And so we
went incorporate some activitieswere getting up and moving. That
was more of a challenge. Andthen when we came back, we were
slowly rebuilding. So we haveprobably 45 participants now.
(07:25):
But we we've been really lucky.
Julie Cunningham (07:27):
And what is your capacity? Like? What are
what is your do, I really have
Dr. Holly Hoffman (07:31):
We don't really have a cut, no, don't
really have a cut, we would justlook at our activities. And you
know, for example, we get tocome to the STEM center pretty,
pretty soon. So we're justcreative, Holly scheduled that.
And we have more and morevolunteers that keep coming, I
got another email this morning,hey, I want to join this come on
down, they do the record, checkand fill out the forms and they
(07:52):
join. So we feel really, reallyfortunate.
Ashley O'Neil (07:56):
When you think about the activities that you're
building, what makes what typesof activities are important to
your your students or youraudience. So you've got like
your college students who arecoming to this because it
fulfills a need or an interestin them. And then you have your
young adults or your your K 12students who are coming because
it's interesting or meets a needfor them. And then also parents
(08:16):
or families, it's immediate needthat and that trick. So how do
you figure out what types ofactivities are important to
them? Sure,
Dr. Holly Hoffman (08:21):
we do that in several ways. We ask our
participants, what would youlike to do. So I had a
participant last year who wasvery into sidewalk chalk very
into being outside. So we makesure we always have outside time
when weather permitting wasoutside of time lately, which
has been great. And so we askedour participants what they would
like to do, we also send surveysout to the families and ask them
(08:42):
when we see them at pickup anddrop off. And so no often tell
us what their students love todo lots of bowling, that was a
big hit was bowling, we don'thave our bowling alley anymore
on campus. So we're gonna modifythat we have had lots of
interest in our party. So we hada Halloween party last week,
because we thought participantswould want to be in their own
neighborhoods on actualHalloween. And they loved it.
(09:05):
They loved all the games anddressing up. We have our talent
show we have at the end of everysemester. And that is very well
attended and lots of lots ofexcitement about that. Over at
the SEC, they have an accessiblestage. So we utilize the lifts,
make sure anybody who needs thatare able to get up on the stage.
(09:27):
And so this year we expanded itor didn't do a family talent
show. So we're inviting familiesto come and participate with
that. And so that has beengreat. So it's been a
combination of our students whoare volunteering, what would
they like to plan? What wouldthey like to do? What do we have
access to? What would we managethem all? And then talking to
our families and ourparticipants? What do you want
(09:48):
to do when you come here? Knowwhat sounds good to you. So we
have changed a couple of thingsin that before the pandemic we
had restaurants that donated allthe food that because we start
with dinner and then move intoan activity And so we felt after
the pandemic, we just didn'tfeel right asking restaurants
who had struggled so much comingback from the pandemic, to do
(10:09):
that. So we have a food teamright now. And so they are the
Food Team, ask the participants,what would you like for dinner.
So we get a lot of chickennugget requests, let's get a
request. So they put together agreat meal. And so they, they
provide that and then we move onto activity. So it really, we
don't have like a set way thatwe determine we really are
(10:30):
flexible. And we see what iswhat the interest is. So the
climbing wall is always a hit.
The bowling is always a hit inthe talent show are huge
parties. They know that we cando that
Julie Cunningham (10:45):
sort of thing flexible, and I have not
interacted I think maybe twicewith connections that count in
the MakerSpace. So not not alot. But what I noticed is what
a community you've built, right?
I mean, I met a lot of movingparts. seven year olds, 30 year
olds, right families, collegestudents, you know, a handful of
other adult facilitators. Sowhat do you think it is? What's
(11:08):
the magic? Is it the meal youeat together? Or what's the
Dr. Holly Hoffman (11:14):
I think it's a combination, I think there's a
spirit about it, we hope tooffer a really welcoming
environment. And I thinkeverybody feels included, and I
hope they feel celebrated. We'rereally clear when we have the
volunteer orientation, if thisis something that you're doing
just fulfill a requirement andyou plan to be on your phone,
this is not the right fit foryou. If you want to come and
(11:35):
have a lot of fun and be fullyengaged, and really mindful and
purposeful, great, come on. Andsame with our families, like if
your participant is ready tohave some fun and engage,
awesome, we would love for youto talk with us about what are
ways that we can provide optimalenvironment for your
participant. And if you'd liketo stay you are more than
welcome. It was funny a coupleof years ago, I noticed that
(11:57):
there was a group of families,that parents that were sitting
out in the lobby, we were overthe sack, and I went up there
and I said, Hey, would you likeme to plan like a speaker or
like a site activity that youcould do while your youth are
here and this and they're like,Oh, we just want to hang out?
Like, we just want to connecttogether, like Okay, so there's
a whole sense of community amongthe parents, which is awesome,
(12:20):
the caregivers. And then again,among the volunteers, they're
very tightly knit group, thisgroup right now is amazing, they
are on it. If if opportunitycomes up, they're like, let's do
it. Come on. So we've added newthings. We did the homecoming
parade for the first time thisyear, they were so excited. So
we had a everybody othervolunteers came into my house
(12:42):
and we decorated the flow. Wegot that all set, we had one of
my colleagues, let us use hertrailer, and we had a
participant that had a truck. Soit all worked out. So we had a
great time. So next year, we'regoing to do that again. And
again, that is based on I thinkwe're a group that listens to
our participants and listens toour volunteers and really thinks
(13:05):
it's an important time we wereintentionally wanting to build
positive memories. So we thinkabout that with that we have an
end of the year banquet. And werealized that some of our
participants, this might be theonly word that they've ever
received. And we I feel reallystrongly that when they're
walking up rolling up to gettheir award that they are
clapping for like crazy. I wantthem to be so excited about what
(13:28):
is going on. And I want thatfamily to be in the audience
excited for their child. So wefeel really strongly about that.
And so we got a dance floor lasttime, and we had a great time.
And then we give out awards.
Yep. The call who is one of ourparticipants who will not miss a
concession stand at the footballgames. That's how we do a
(13:51):
fundraiser at the CMU footballgames. This girl is dedicated
the club you're listening to me,you're an awesome volunteer, and
she loves to be on theconcession stand and help raise
money for connections. And soshe got the concession stand
clean. Like I say that's heraward. She does not miss. She
loves to Yeah, she has a greattime. So I think we build
(14:11):
community. That's a long windedanswer to how we build
community. I think we takethings seriously and we group
together. We work if it's at theconsistency and we had fun with
it. If it's even an activity, wehave fun, and we would try to be
intentional. We We are very gladthat you were there. And you'll
be sorely missed if you're gone.
So
Ashley O'Neil (14:32):
So I know that you mentioned the pre med
students, all sorts of people. Ithink in my brain, I'm focusing
a little bit more on yourteacher education students, but
maybe everybody, but I know thatthey get a lot out of their time
as connection participants andvolunteers. So can you talk a
little bit about why that'simportant for future teachers
but future adult shooters?
Dr. Holly Hoffman (14:52):
Absolutely.
Absolutely. We love to providean environment where students
can see what it's like to be areally active part of your
community. You So that's asenior committee that's about we
have students who the bus overfrom firewall, so high schoolers
from Bible come over talkingabout the boomerang opportunity
that we got to do a lifetime godeal. And I and that was really
great chance to meet Bill somegreat connections. So we I want
(15:15):
them to have opportunities tosee what that what tenses there
are, how, what are differentways that I that they, as an
educator could connect in theircommunity, and be inclusive and
be supportive. And so somepeople say, well, I might wander
into special ed, we're all goinginto communities where we have
(15:36):
lots of different participantswhere we have lots of different
members of our community. So Idon't mean, if you're not going
to be a special ed leader, Iwant you to know the skills to
support every single person thatrules or walks into your
environment. If you're abusiness owner, if you're at
your church, if you're at thepark, I want you to know how to
be supportive and inclusive. SoI really think that they learn
(15:59):
ways to build positive bridgeswith family members and with
someone who may learndifferently than they do. So I
hope that that rings true. Andthey continue that. So it's been
neat, because some people theygraduate and they go and they
say they go into a school, andthey say I want to do something
like connections that count inmy school. Can you help me?
(16:20):
Absolutely. We've had otheruniversities reach out, we want
to do something like that, youknow, with? Absolutely. So we
hope that it's a model, we havetons of things that we can
improve and be better about andup and offer. I hope that the
whole idea is something thatother people can utilize.
Julie Cunningham (16:38):
And I just say that for the stomach scholars
who work with the connectionsthat count students and families
when they come into theMakerSpace. And that's only once
a semester. Right. But that ismaybe one of the only
opportunities a generaleducation student would have to
work with the participants withdifferent learning abilities.
(17:00):
Right. Sure. And so and I thinkthat they have so much fun, they
enjoy themselves. And they seethat although they might be in a
general ad regularized classroomwhen they graduate, right, that
all of these people aresuccessful in this space, and
having a good time and able toparticipate. And I just think
(17:22):
that's so mean, we just havestudents sign up just today, for
connections that count on thatthey sign up on the board. This
is my favorite event everysemester. Because I think, I
think additionally, right? It'sa it's a larger community and
even then,
Dr. Holly Hoffman (17:39):
Oh, that's great, thanks.
Ashley O'Neil (17:41):
Okay, so often we have young students or young
adults who have a disability orare underestimated in spaces, as
particularly when those spacesare hands on the makerspace is
hands on, but that not justmakerspace. So how do we
continue to provide thoseauthentic experiences for all
students? And then what types ofconsiderations or questions
(18:03):
should individuals be asking?
Okay,
Dr. Holly Hoffman (18:05):
that's a great question, I think it's
really important to getinformation from, say you have a
participant that might needdifferent kinds of
accommodations, to ask them whatthey would like. And if you
could also get input from thefamily member, or what works at
school, I think that can bereally helpful. So that can be
consistent. I feel like if youcan think of ways to be
creative, that's a huge part ofit. And just asking, you know,
(18:28):
what would what would you like?
How would you like this to look?
What would be how can I help? Ifwould you like help first? And,
you know, what can I do that canbe helpful for you? And so some
people will say, I just want toI want to sit where everybody
else is sitting? Or I just Ijust want to turn? I just want a
chance. Yeah, we all want toturn in a chance. Absolutely. So
(18:48):
I think that I talk a lot aboutbeing really respectful with
your listening with your eyecontact with your tone. So I say
this a lot. Like we have some ofour participants are, say 25 or
30. And they love to colorcoloring as he sought to hit
right, you know, with all thecoloring books. So I'm so
grateful for these adultcoloring books, because I'll say
(19:09):
to students do not pick apreschool activity. As a
coloring book, this person is25, this person was 30. They
don't need to color somethingthat's made for someone that's
three. So make sure to be awareof that. So I think asking a lot
of questions and saying, youknow, what do you entail? What
do you like doing? You know,what, what, what are ways that I
(19:30):
could help? Would you like help?
Could I help you? Okay, what canI do to help you with this? And
I think they love the makerspacebecause this is like big league,
like they're making things lightup and work and they get to be
creative, and there's not like aproduct they have to make. It's
not like a swan set way.
Hopefully they are. They'recelebrating the journey, not
(19:53):
just what you know, is at theend, and I think that they see
this up on place like you allcreate such an environment. Eric
come on in, they get to walk in,there's like, like, right? When
you walk in, there's Legos andlike the 3d printer and all this
like, Whoa, I think they theylove that. And they think, Wow,
it really matters if I'm hearingthat. And I get to I get to do
(20:14):
this like everybody else.
Awesome. Let's do it.
Julie Cunningham (20:17):
Yeah. And I think I agree with you obviously
wholeheartedly, and not, notthat it has to be the
MakerSpace. But sometimes, Ithink people are reluctant to
take students to such an openended on such an open ended
field trip or an open endedexperience, right, because we
(20:37):
maybe don't feel like we have asmuch control over. But for us,
it's the process that'simportant, not the product. So
to me, that naturally saysanyone can participate in a
process because you can enterthe process wherever it is that
you feel comfortable enteringthe process, right. So
disability rights and advocacyare constantly changing, and how
does connections that countparticipate and learn as a
(21:00):
program in that continuededucation? And I think even
probably not even the people whorun connections that count
necessarily, but you have a lotof volunteers coming and going,
how do you
Dr. Holly Hoffman (21:10):
lead them?
Absolutely, we make sure that wehave really open lines of
communication with the familiesand with the teachers, and with
especially majors and we alsowork we're really lucky to
collaborate with students in theDisability Studies program. So
they partnered up with us lastsemester, and then our
continuing. So that's beengreat. And so when I felt like
it flowed pretty smoothly whenJohnny and I were both in the
(21:32):
counseling special eddepartment, because we would
teach about those things, right.
And so now as we have both we'reneither of us are in there
anymore. I think it's up to usto stay current on guidelines
and
Ashley O'Neil (21:46):
your ears for a few reasons. And we do have
showing signs of mud from thesidewalk and the snags in cotton
corridors,
Dr. Holly Hoffman (21:52):
communication with our families just start
over sharing ideas as well. Andso I think it's time for open
communication. So we have, we dohave meetings with the
volunteers. And so we have anorientation. We have, like an
open roundtable, we have an appon our phone. So everybody can
talk. If we if we want to orneed to, or we have open minds
throughout, there was an idea tohave, like a hangout time with
(22:14):
families like can we havesomething extra so we can just
have time to visit with thefamilies? And what's going on
with your family? How's itgoing? What can we do to be more
supportive, things like that, inthe Disability Studies program
really has helped they theyasked us if what could they do
to help. And so they came andinterviewed all of the
volunteers and the vision andthe mission. And they talked to
(22:36):
the families as well. So thatwas really cool. It's okay, I
can share it with you. So theycame up with a vision for us.
And we'd love this like itreally well, to dismantle
attitudinal physical andstructural barriers to promote
social inclusion, througheducation, awareness, advocacy
in the greater mount, pleasantcommunity and beyond. So we
really appreciated that vision,we're like, wow, this really,
(22:58):
this really fits us like that wekind of we knew what we were
doing, we fill out the excitingthings that we love doing. But
then they help label it rightand put our wrap us in this
blanket of support for ourvision. So we'd love that. Our
mission is to positively engagewith the disability community,
by creating an environmentfocused on fostering friendship
and educating and advocating forinclusion and accessibility. So
(23:21):
we felt really lucky. So that'sa group that's been really
informative and helpful with us.
Vector girl she is she startedthat whole program. And then she
came, she's come a couple oftimes to connection since she
she's done that in years past aswell. And so that's great. She
brought her gel pens and was ahit with all the colors. She was
there, they were pink,instantly. So that was great. So
(23:42):
we I feel like we have openeddoor where we have people that
are really helping us staycurrent and informed about
what's best practices and how wecan be optimal. And some of our
participants talk about it. Andsome of our families share with
us as well. So I feel likepeople feel comfortable to share
their ideas. And we can staycurrent on what's needed and
(24:03):
what's right for ourparticipants.
Julie Cunningham (24:06):
I obviously, people feel heard or they
wouldn't keep coming back. Rightand and feeling like they could
trust you and share with you.
And I I'm just struck by howoften in other situations, those
voices are lost or familiesaren't included. Right, and how
important that must be tofamilies that you are including
(24:28):
it. I've heard you say that anynumber of times in this podcast.
And I think that parents mustreally be grateful for that. And
we're
Dr. Holly Hoffman (24:37):
so grateful for the parents and the families
who share with us. I mean, thisis their, their student, their
child like they let us intotheir lives and they let us
pretty sweet and we weren'tlucky ones like they, they trust
us to you know, to participatewith us and I'm really grateful.
I've learned so much from ourfamilies. And so we have like we
(24:57):
have a participant that has hadI'm really, really hard time
with his health, he's in thehospital. And so all the
participants wanted to makesomething. And suddenly they
made this bouquet of cards. Andso Joe is one of the fertility
facilitators he drafted off forthe family. And so mom ticket to
the hospital, and she sent mepictures right away. He ballsy,
he, you know, he's grateful.
Thank you so much. And so then Igot to send that out on the app.
(25:19):
So everybody knew what was goingon. And so we hope that people
find this as a space and forsafety and support, either here
at CMU when they come to visitor beyond in their home, or if
there's bumps in the roads.
Ashley O'Neil (25:38):
So we have a lot of teachers and educators of all
kinds who are listening to ustoday and have probably heard
statements, or just I think thatyour attitude and ideas is
pretty pervasive. And just theenergy they used to talk with
us, which is just lovely. Butwhat advice would you give to
those educators, thoseindividuals who are interested
in learning more about the topicsystems discussed today, and
(25:59):
maybe specifically to me anyway,about like your, your approach
and how you, you create thisinclusive community? Sure.
Dr. Holly Hoffman (26:06):
Anybody is welcome to come and visit, do
background check, and you can gocheck them over of our crew. And
so we're happy to talk about it.
Sometimes we'll go to sayconferences like Michigan
Council for ExceptionalChildren, we've gone and done a
couple presentations about howwe work and how we transition to
online and how do we work withfamily. So we are happy to share
so anybody can connect? Youknow, if anybody has questions
(26:30):
directly, they're welcome to dothat. I think having an open
mind and thinking about what canwe do here? You look we do in
our past, in our, in ourcommunity? What could we do?
What are the possibilities? Sojust sitting down and thinking
about what they probably have somany assets they're not thinking
about at that time? But sitdown? And what would be
something really creative? Whatwould be helpful? Who would want
(26:51):
to be at the table when wetalked about something like
this? Who might be someparticipants that would really
benefit? Who the some familiesthat might want to be a part of
this conversation? So I thinkhaving an open mind and asking
questions, I remember, Iremember the very first time I
taught intro to Special Ed andI'm standing up at that time,
there's like 200 people in theroom and I thought, What in the
(27:11):
world?
What if he asked me a question,I don't know. And I was so
stressed about that at thebeginning. And I thought, I'm
not walking Google. I don't knoweverything. So, like, if someone
asked me something I said, Youknow what? That's an excellent
(27:31):
question. I don't know what I'llfind out. Right. And so I think
it's okay to not knoweverything. Some people I think,
are so nervous that they have toknow all the stuff of how to
support every student. We don'tknow. That's questions. It's
okay to ask questions. Okay, notto know, and say, Could you help
me a little bit more with this?
I would love to start a programlike this. Could you help me
(27:52):
with some ideas, asking forhelp? I think it's, I read an
article that was saying askingfor help is a superpower, I
fully agree. We want to act likewe've got it all together all
the time. So don't it's okay toask questions and say, this is
pretty cool. Like, you know, howcould I do something like this
on a different in a differentway? At our facility? Or how
could we do a mini version ofthis during the school day? Or
(28:12):
how can we, how can we ramp thisup? Do a statewide, you know,
there's so many ways that we canlearn from each other? Asking
questions and being open toresponses, I think is a huge
part.
Ashley O'Neil (28:24):
I like that because I think it you walk this
really fine line of you totallyhonor, the assets, and the
knowledge and the skills and thethings that your participants
bring to the group as much asyou are future educators. So
there's not that some, we'redoing this favor for you. It's
(28:47):
that we're a community.
Everybody is benefiting?
Everybody?
Dr. Holly Hoffman (28:51):
Absolutely.
Absolutely. We did a survey ofour volunteers, we've done uh,
you know, we're in the carsettings, we like studies, a lot
of different studies. And so onethat came back is that we asked
the volunteers, you know, what,why did you sign up for this?
And they thought, originally,they said, Well, I really wanted
to give to my community, Iwanted to be really helpful. But
what they found was, the impactthat the participants was having
(29:13):
on them was so much more thanwhat they could even begin to
imagine giving back. So it'sbeen really, really neat. They
got they rated themselves andthe rating was so much higher
for what they received from theparticipants than what they
thought the other way around. Soit was really me. That
Julie Cunningham (29:30):
was a valuable lesson as Oh, and how do you get
away from ever like having itlike that deficit thinking like,
it reminded me of when you saidthe volunteers show up thinking
that they're really going togive back and then understand
that they get more like, howdoes it just automatically get
away from thinking like I'mdoing this for somebody who has
(29:51):
a disability or is there Ithink, how does that
Dr. Holly Hoffman (29:55):
at orientation we're really clear
like this is a positive group.
This is Um, this is anopportunity to celebrate and to
accept everyone as they are andlook at their strengths. And so
we don't ever talk about thenegatives. And when we talk
about, like, if someone's gotsome behavior or something that
we need to make sure that we'resupportive, or we're going to,
(30:16):
if they're really scared ofsomething, we're not gonna go
there, or we could have healthissues, things like that, of
course, and making sure thateveryone feels safe. We don't we
don't go we don't go into okay,this is what's wrong with them.
And then we've got on the ontheir name tags, we on the bat,
we have a sticker with like, anykind of thing we need to know
for health wise, you know, ifepilepsy Yeah, emergency kind of
(30:38):
thing. Epilepsy is something youknow, something like that, then
we have a plan. And everybodyknows the plan, if we need an
EpiPen, or those types ofthings. So we talked about the
needs, we don't talk about, likea deficit model of these people.
These are awesome people. Thisis this is this person's name,
this is what we're gonna callthis person, and we're gonna
celebrate when this first thinggets here. And that's what we're
(30:59):
gonna do. And so we don't lookat it as at all Yeah, we have
Syntel. With this, this reallydoesn't matter.
Julie Cunningham (31:08):
Come on in as you are. And you may or may not
want to include any of thisconversation, because I really
was just curious that because wetend to do that I think
education and education, right,we just talk about sure how many
special needs students we havein our classroom, or how much we
love time they take
Ashley O'Neil (31:26):
efficiency. I'm going to jump in here because
Julian Holly, and I got prettyexcited. And there was a lot of
talking over each other, and itbecame a little hard to
understand. So what we'retalking about here is how we as
practitioners sometimes talkabout students, we label them,
we label them with informationfrom their IEP, maybe we label
them with a service that theyreceive through Title funds. And
(31:47):
we develop some sort of code andmaybe co opting the word like
special friends, to discuss astudent in our room. And
oftentimes, we're trying to usethat label to transmit a whole
bunch of context and informationin a very short amount of time
in a very short amount of space.
Maybe it comes from a place ofefficiency, but it's not
strength based, and it's nothumanizing. It also isn't the
(32:08):
clear descriptor that we oftenthink it is, if you're not in a
system, you don't know whatthose words are. And if we're
trying to be inclusive toeverybody, shouldn't the words
and phrases we use be asinclusive. So Holly's approach
with our students may seemdifferent than some practices
you're familiar with? And that'sokay. Our ask is that you
reflect on what practices youuse in your school community.
(32:29):
And think about how thoseactually play out for your
students and families.
Julie Cunningham (32:36):
Is there anything that we missed or that
you would like to share today,in addition to what we talked
about?
Dr. Holly Hoffman (32:43):
I will, I'm just really grateful that you
asked me to come and share aboutthe script that I think is
really important, I love it. Andso thank you for being open
minded to listen, we hope to bethe ever growing and ever
evolving group. So as I said,we'd like to try new things. So
we tried the parade. And it wasreally fun. We had a great time.
And to watch some of ourparticipants in that environment
(33:05):
was so much fun, some reallycame alive and that I get to
throw candy. People might notadd people to people. So we
worked on how to safely do that.
And some people that were kindof nervous. I've never done in
praying before. That's okay.
Let's just give it areally, yes. So, so we had we
(33:32):
had this truck. And so if youweren't comfortable on the back
of the truck, or if you weren'tcomfortable on that trailer, on
the flow, then here, here's thevaccine, because I'm sitting
here so I have participant thatwas most more comfortable with
the window rolled up most of theway. But then when he got more
comfortable, the roll came down,and then he was throwing candy
out at the back of the othertracks. So we we listen to
(33:54):
students and I'd say where areyou most comfortable and see
with our mentors, with ourvolunteers, if they're not
comfortable getting up there andgoing up everybody, that we have
people that are morecomfortable, you know, behind
the scenes. So we joke that withour talent show we have a lot of
background singers and so theyare all about supporting our
students and let's help themmove forward and be comfortable.
(34:17):
So
Are you feeling the joy? So it's getting darker
earlier, and it's stayingdarker, longer. And it's that
time of year when the newbackpacks we purchased in August
are showing signs of mud fromwaiting on the sidewalk and
snags from getting caught andcar doors. lunchboxes have lost
their fresh and new smell afterbeing left under a seat or worse
in a locker of the weekend, ifyou know, you know. And
(00:24):
generally this is the time ofthe year when the busyness of
fall activities and the waningof school shiny Beginnings is
maybe leaving us all in ageneral fall malaise. I know I
am I'm feeling that shininesshas worn off a little bit. So
this episode is perfect timing.
It's a reset button for all ofus. Dr. Holly Hoffman is faculty
in the Human Development andFamily Studies program at CMU.
(00:45):
She's taught a variety ofclasses. In fact, she taught
several of my special educationcourses during my undergrad. But
it's currently focused on herterm in the child development
and learning lab, the preschoolthat we're lucky enough to share
a building with. Holly isn'there to talk about those things,
particularly however, she's hereto share a model begun by Dr.
Joan Hogan, and stewarded byHolly, and we brought her here
(01:07):
to your ears for a few reasons.
Number one, Holly is contagious.
Her enthusiasm and joy are goingto infuse your day with all
things wonderful. And numbertwo, she is walking this
thoughtful line that we'vetalked about a few times before.
connections that count theprogram, she'll talk about more
in a minute, brings individualswith disabilities are on campus
(01:30):
for community. They do thisthrough food and activity and
lots of communication. And thisgroup is doing this in a way
that is respectful andincredibly thoughtful. And it's
fun. We've mentioned in a fewepisodes about some changes or
alluded to some changes in thedisability community. As we
listen more to the ideas andpreferences of people who are
(01:51):
living an experience, weunderstand better what they want
to support and language andeducation, what they want it all
to look like. Which is notalways the same as the systems
put in place by specialists andprofessionals. So in thinking
about some of the changes thatare happening in that community,
it's really easy as withanything to get so consumed by
what not to do, how not to talk,what not to say, and it can be
(02:12):
difficult to think about what todo. So what does a healthy and
thoughtful space look like onethat centered around people with
disability? And what does thatlook like in a way that listens
to respects and cares aboutparticipants, but it's also
infused with joy. As you listento Holly today she'll share an
overview of the program. She'lldiscuss how they think about
(02:34):
volunteers and participants andfamilies, what the structure
looks like and how they manageto be such a positive and
community focused group with theexpected turnover that comes
from a student led organization.
Later in the episode we Escaliabout how this group stays in
tune with participants, theirfamilies and the disability
community. You won't want tomiss her answers. This episode
(02:55):
is one that has a lot to teachus all. And Holly's passion and
excitement are exactly theenergy that has been missing
from my mid fall vibe. I hopeyou enjoy this as much as Julia
and I did.
Julie Cunningham (03:08):
So we're here with Hallie Hoffman today, and I
probably worked with you 10years ago, or 12 years ago now
when we did that boomerangproject, right with firewall
why? And you were actually evenin a different department than I
was. Yeah, one that isappropriate to talk about today.
Because you're still involvedwith connections that count.
(03:30):
Yeah. So can you share adescription with us for our
listeners about connections thatcount? And maybe a little about
the history and current rules?
Dr. Holly Hoffman (03:40):
Absolutely.
Yes. So I get to work withConnections that Count, so we're
a service learning organization.
And so we get to work withindividuals in the community
that have different types ofdisabilities, a wide range of
ages, we have some participantswho are I think our youngest is
seven. And then we go up intoearly 30. Some of our
(04:00):
participants are that age. Andwe work on socialization skills
on friendship, skills onlanguage, getting some physical
development. And so we havepartnerships between individuals
with disabilities in ourcommunity, and then college
students. So we have studentsfrom all different leaders. So
freshmen, regular ed, we havepeople that want to be a doctor.
(04:22):
So they're looking at pre medtypes of things. Perhaps
nursing, we have accountingbusiness, so a wide range of
majors of college students thatwant to work with individuals
who have disabilities. And so wecome together, have a great time
and we plan these fun activitiesand then build our skills build
skill building within that. Sowe really enjoy doing that. This
(04:45):
all started back in 2002. One ofmy co workers, Joanie Hogan
started this whole journey soI'm so grateful for that. I got
to work with her at the time weboth worked in the accounting
and special ed department hereat CMU. Johnny got a call about
a me Is your car accident thattook place here in Mount
Pleasant, and there was a momthat was in that car who was
(05:05):
very hurt in that accident, andshe had a son with Angelman
syndrome. So we had a lot ofdifferent types of needs. And so
this family really needed help.
So reach out to Joanie, whoseems to know everybody in this
town, and knows lots ofresources. So Joanie pulled
together some college studentsand said, Hey, let's do
something great for this family.
So they work together to providecare to help this young man, get
(05:30):
on the bus in the morning, getoff the bus in the afternoon,
after school help with dinnerhelp with evening activities,
getting ready for bed, really,all his care was really taken
care of, because of the studentswho around the clock took care
of this young man's needs whilehis mom was recovering. So they
got all down. They did that for21 weeks, God always says that
they said, Okay, what are wegoing to do next after mom that
(05:52):
better? Let's do some more soand then it came into this whole
idea of connections account inour community. So let's branch
that out and work with moreindividuals and families who are
impacted by disability. So yeah,we started with families find
you or how to do mostly word ofmouth. So sometimes we will we
have individuals that work inagencies, in the community of
(06:15):
the ask questions, we havecurrent participants that tell
you to tell other people. So wehave It's on our website, on the
CMU websites, we put everythingout there. So families are
welcome to check it out. And itmight not be for them, they can
check it out anytime, and see ifthey want to most people stay,
we're lucky for that. They seemto really enjoy it. And so
(06:39):
mostly word of mouth, we alsowill tell teachers about it.
I've had students work on makingsure people knew. So she went
and reached out to all thespecial ed teachers make sure
they knew what was going on. Andwe've gone, we had tons of
participants right before COVIDhit. And then we transitioned to
connections, zoom, was our newname for several years. So we
(07:03):
did that. And so we're reallyfortunate, but then people who
didn't have technology thatdidn't really work or so for
some people, it's hard to sitfor the whole hour. And so we
went incorporate some activitieswere getting up and moving. That
was more of a challenge. Andthen when we came back, we were
slowly rebuilding. So we haveprobably 45 participants now.
(07:25):
But we we've been really lucky.
Julie Cunningham (07:27):
And what is your capacity? Like? What are
what is your do, I really have
Dr. Holly Hoffman (07:31):
We don't really have a cut, no, don't
really have a cut, we would justlook at our activities. And you
know, for example, we get tocome to the STEM center pretty,
pretty soon. So we're justcreative, Holly scheduled that.
And we have more and morevolunteers that keep coming, I
got another email this morning,hey, I want to join this come on
down, they do the record, checkand fill out the forms and they
(07:52):
join. So we feel really, reallyfortunate.
Ashley O'Neil (07:56):
When you think about the activities that you're
building, what makes what typesof activities are important to
your your students or youraudience. So you've got like
your college students who arecoming to this because it
fulfills a need or an interestin them. And then you have your
young adults or your your K 12students who are coming because
it's interesting or meets a needfor them. And then also parents
(08:16):
or families, it's immediate needthat and that trick. So how do
you figure out what types ofactivities are important to
them? Sure,
Dr. Holly Hoffman (08:21):
we do that in several ways. We ask our
participants, what would youlike to do. So I had a
participant last year who wasvery into sidewalk chalk very
into being outside. So we makesure we always have outside time
when weather permitting wasoutside of time lately, which
has been great. And so we askedour participants what they would
like to do, we also send surveysout to the families and ask them
(08:42):
when we see them at pickup anddrop off. And so no often tell
us what their students love todo lots of bowling, that was a
big hit was bowling, we don'thave our bowling alley anymore
on campus. So we're gonna modifythat we have had lots of
interest in our party. So we hada Halloween party last week,
because we thought participantswould want to be in their own
neighborhoods on actualHalloween. And they loved it.
(09:05):
They loved all the games anddressing up. We have our talent
show we have at the end of everysemester. And that is very well
attended and lots of lots ofexcitement about that. Over at
the SEC, they have an accessiblestage. So we utilize the lifts,
make sure anybody who needs thatare able to get up on the stage.
(09:27):
And so this year we expanded itor didn't do a family talent
show. So we're inviting familiesto come and participate with
that. And so that has beengreat. So it's been a
combination of our students whoare volunteering, what would
they like to plan? What wouldthey like to do? What do we have
access to? What would we managethem all? And then talking to
our families and ourparticipants? What do you want
(09:48):
to do when you come here? Knowwhat sounds good to you. So we
have changed a couple of thingsin that before the pandemic we
had restaurants that donated allthe food that because we start
with dinner and then move intoan activity And so we felt after
the pandemic, we just didn'tfeel right asking restaurants
who had struggled so much comingback from the pandemic, to do
(10:09):
that. So we have a food teamright now. And so they are the
Food Team, ask the participants,what would you like for dinner.
So we get a lot of chickennugget requests, let's get a
request. So they put together agreat meal. And so they, they
provide that and then we move onto activity. So it really, we
don't have like a set way thatwe determine we really are
(10:30):
flexible. And we see what iswhat the interest is. So the
climbing wall is always a hit.
The bowling is always a hit inthe talent show are huge
parties. They know that we cando that
Julie Cunningham (10:45):
sort of thing flexible, and I have not
interacted I think maybe twicewith connections that count in
the MakerSpace. So not not alot. But what I noticed is what
a community you've built, right?
I mean, I met a lot of movingparts. seven year olds, 30 year
olds, right families, collegestudents, you know, a handful of
other adult facilitators. Sowhat do you think it is? What's
(11:08):
the magic? Is it the meal youeat together? Or what's the
Dr. Holly Hoffman (11:14):
I think it's a combination, I think there's a
spirit about it, we hope tooffer a really welcoming
environment. And I thinkeverybody feels included, and I
hope they feel celebrated. We'rereally clear when we have the
volunteer orientation, if thisis something that you're doing
just fulfill a requirement andyou plan to be on your phone,
this is not the right fit foryou. If you want to come and
(11:35):
have a lot of fun and be fullyengaged, and really mindful and
purposeful, great, come on. Andsame with our families, like if
your participant is ready tohave some fun and engage,
awesome, we would love for youto talk with us about what are
ways that we can provide optimalenvironment for your
participant. And if you'd liketo stay you are more than
welcome. It was funny a coupleof years ago, I noticed that
(11:57):
there was a group of families,that parents that were sitting
out in the lobby, we were overthe sack, and I went up there
and I said, Hey, would you likeme to plan like a speaker or
like a site activity that youcould do while your youth are
here and this and they're like,Oh, we just want to hang out?
Like, we just want to connecttogether, like Okay, so there's
a whole sense of community amongthe parents, which is awesome,
(12:20):
the caregivers. And then again,among the volunteers, they're
very tightly knit group, thisgroup right now is amazing, they
are on it. If if opportunitycomes up, they're like, let's do
it. Come on. So we've added newthings. We did the homecoming
parade for the first time thisyear, they were so excited. So
we had a everybody othervolunteers came into my house
(12:42):
and we decorated the flow. Wegot that all set, we had one of
my colleagues, let us use hertrailer, and we had a
participant that had a truck. Soit all worked out. So we had a
great time. So next year, we'regoing to do that again. And
again, that is based on I thinkwe're a group that listens to
our participants and listens toour volunteers and really thinks
(13:05):
it's an important time we wereintentionally wanting to build
positive memories. So we thinkabout that with that we have an
end of the year banquet. And werealized that some of our
participants, this might be theonly word that they've ever
received. And we I feel reallystrongly that when they're
walking up rolling up to gettheir award that they are
clapping for like crazy. I wantthem to be so excited about what
(13:28):
is going on. And I want thatfamily to be in the audience
excited for their child. So wefeel really strongly about that.
And so we got a dance floor lasttime, and we had a great time.
And then we give out awards.
Yep. The call who is one of ourparticipants who will not miss a
concession stand at the footballgames. That's how we do a
(13:51):
fundraiser at the CMU footballgames. This girl is dedicated
the club you're listening to me,you're an awesome volunteer, and
she loves to be on theconcession stand and help raise
money for connections. And soshe got the concession stand
clean. Like I say that's heraward. She does not miss. She
loves to Yeah, she has a greattime. So I think we build
(14:11):
community. That's a long windedanswer to how we build
community. I think we takethings seriously and we group
together. We work if it's at theconsistency and we had fun with
it. If it's even an activity, wehave fun, and we would try to be
intentional. We We are very gladthat you were there. And you'll
be sorely missed if you're gone.
So
Ashley O'Neil (14:32):
So I know that you mentioned the pre med
students, all sorts of people. Ithink in my brain, I'm focusing
a little bit more on yourteacher education students, but
maybe everybody, but I know thatthey get a lot out of their time
as connection participants andvolunteers. So can you talk a
little bit about why that'simportant for future teachers
but future adult shooters?
Dr. Holly Hoffman (14:52):
Absolutely.
Absolutely. We love to providean environment where students
can see what it's like to be areally active part of your
community. You So that's asenior committee that's about we
have students who the bus overfrom firewall, so high schoolers
from Bible come over talkingabout the boomerang opportunity
that we got to do a lifetime godeal. And I and that was really
great chance to meet Bill somegreat connections. So we I want
(15:15):
them to have opportunities tosee what that what tenses there
are, how, what are differentways that I that they, as an
educator could connect in theircommunity, and be inclusive and
be supportive. And so somepeople say, well, I might wander
into special ed, we're all goinginto communities where we have
(15:36):
lots of different participantswhere we have lots of different
members of our community. So Idon't mean, if you're not going
to be a special ed leader, Iwant you to know the skills to
support every single person thatrules or walks into your
environment. If you're abusiness owner, if you're at
your church, if you're at thepark, I want you to know how to
be supportive and inclusive. SoI really think that they learn
(15:59):
ways to build positive bridgeswith family members and with
someone who may learndifferently than they do. So I
hope that that rings true. Andthey continue that. So it's been
neat, because some people theygraduate and they go and they
say they go into a school, andthey say I want to do something
like connections that count inmy school. Can you help me?
(16:20):
Absolutely. We've had otheruniversities reach out, we want
to do something like that, youknow, with? Absolutely. So we
hope that it's a model, we havetons of things that we can
improve and be better about andup and offer. I hope that the
whole idea is something thatother people can utilize.
Julie Cunningham (16:38):
And I just say that for the stomach scholars
who work with the connectionsthat count students and families
when they come into theMakerSpace. And that's only once
a semester. Right. But that ismaybe one of the only
opportunities a generaleducation student would have to
work with the participants withdifferent learning abilities.
(17:00):
Right. Sure. And so and I thinkthat they have so much fun, they
enjoy themselves. And they seethat although they might be in a
general ad regularized classroomwhen they graduate, right, that
all of these people aresuccessful in this space, and
having a good time and able toparticipate. And I just think
(17:22):
that's so mean, we just havestudents sign up just today, for
connections that count on thatthey sign up on the board. This
is my favorite event everysemester. Because I think, I
think additionally, right? It'sa it's a larger community and
even then,
Dr. Holly Hoffman (17:39):
Oh, that's great, thanks.
Ashley O'Neil (17:41):
Okay, so often we have young students or young
adults who have a disability orare underestimated in spaces, as
particularly when those spacesare hands on the makerspace is
hands on, but that not justmakerspace. So how do we
continue to provide thoseauthentic experiences for all
students? And then what types ofconsiderations or questions
(18:03):
should individuals be asking?
Okay,
Dr. Holly Hoffman (18:05):
that's a great question, I think it's
really important to getinformation from, say you have a
participant that might needdifferent kinds of
accommodations, to ask them whatthey would like. And if you
could also get input from thefamily member, or what works at
school, I think that can bereally helpful. So that can be
consistent. I feel like if youcan think of ways to be
creative, that's a huge part ofit. And just asking, you know,
(18:28):
what would what would you like?
How would you like this to look?
What would be how can I help? Ifwould you like help first? And,
you know, what can I do that canbe helpful for you? And so some
people will say, I just want toI want to sit where everybody
else is sitting? Or I just Ijust want to turn? I just want a
chance. Yeah, we all want toturn in a chance. Absolutely. So
(18:48):
I think that I talk a lot aboutbeing really respectful with
your listening with your eyecontact with your tone. So I say
this a lot. Like we have some ofour participants are, say 25 or
30. And they love to colorcoloring as he sought to hit
right, you know, with all thecoloring books. So I'm so
grateful for these adultcoloring books, because I'll say
(19:09):
to students do not pick apreschool activity. As a
coloring book, this person is25, this person was 30. They
don't need to color somethingthat's made for someone that's
three. So make sure to be awareof that. So I think asking a lot
of questions and saying, youknow, what do you entail? What
do you like doing? You know,what, what, what are ways that I
(19:30):
could help? Would you like help?
Could I help you? Okay, what canI do to help you with this? And
I think they love the makerspacebecause this is like big league,
like they're making things lightup and work and they get to be
creative, and there's not like aproduct they have to make. It's
not like a swan set way.
Hopefully they are. They'recelebrating the journey, not
(19:53):
just what you know, is at theend, and I think that they see
this up on place like you allcreate such an environment. Eric
come on in, they get to walk in,there's like, like, right? When
you walk in, there's Legos andlike the 3d printer and all this
like, Whoa, I think they theylove that. And they think, Wow,
it really matters if I'm hearingthat. And I get to I get to do
(20:14):
this like everybody else.
Awesome. Let's do it.
Julie Cunningham (20:17):
Yeah. And I think I agree with you obviously
wholeheartedly, and not, notthat it has to be the
MakerSpace. But sometimes, Ithink people are reluctant to
take students to such an openended on such an open ended
field trip or an open endedexperience, right, because we
(20:37):
maybe don't feel like we have asmuch control over. But for us,
it's the process that'simportant, not the product. So
to me, that naturally saysanyone can participate in a
process because you can enterthe process wherever it is that
you feel comfortable enteringthe process, right. So
disability rights and advocacyare constantly changing, and how
does connections that countparticipate and learn as a
(21:00):
program in that continuededucation? And I think even
probably not even the people whorun connections that count
necessarily, but you have a lotof volunteers coming and going,
how do you
Dr. Holly Hoffman (21:10):
lead them?
Absolutely, we make sure that wehave really open lines of
communication with the familiesand with the teachers, and with
especially majors and we alsowork we're really lucky to
collaborate with students in theDisability Studies program. So
they partnered up with us lastsemester, and then our
continuing. So that's beengreat. And so when I felt like
it flowed pretty smoothly whenJohnny and I were both in the
(21:32):
counseling special eddepartment, because we would
teach about those things, right.
And so now as we have both we'reneither of us are in there
anymore. I think it's up to usto stay current on guidelines
and
Ashley O'Neil (21:46):
your ears for a few reasons. And we do have
showing signs of mud from thesidewalk and the snags in cotton
corridors,
Dr. Holly Hoffman (21:52):
communication with our families just start
over sharing ideas as well. Andso I think it's time for open
communication. So we have, we dohave meetings with the
volunteers. And so we have anorientation. We have, like an
open roundtable, we have an appon our phone. So everybody can
talk. If we if we want to orneed to, or we have open minds
throughout, there was an idea tohave, like a hangout time with
(22:14):
families like can we havesomething extra so we can just
have time to visit with thefamilies? And what's going on
with your family? How's itgoing? What can we do to be more
supportive, things like that, inthe Disability Studies program
really has helped they theyasked us if what could they do
to help. And so they came andinterviewed all of the
volunteers and the vision andthe mission. And they talked to
(22:36):
the families as well. So thatwas really cool. It's okay, I
can share it with you. So theycame up with a vision for us.
And we'd love this like itreally well, to dismantle
attitudinal physical andstructural barriers to promote
social inclusion, througheducation, awareness, advocacy
in the greater mount, pleasantcommunity and beyond. So we
really appreciated that vision,we're like, wow, this really,
(22:58):
this really fits us like that wekind of we knew what we were
doing, we fill out the excitingthings that we love doing. But
then they help label it rightand put our wrap us in this
blanket of support for ourvision. So we'd love that. Our
mission is to positively engagewith the disability community,
by creating an environmentfocused on fostering friendship
and educating and advocating forinclusion and accessibility. So
(23:21):
we felt really lucky. So that'sa group that's been really
informative and helpful with us.
Vector girl she is she startedthat whole program. And then she
came, she's come a couple oftimes to connection since she
she's done that in years past aswell. And so that's great. She
brought her gel pens and was ahit with all the colors. She was
there, they were pink,instantly. So that was great. So
(23:42):
we I feel like we have openeddoor where we have people that
are really helping us staycurrent and informed about
what's best practices and how wecan be optimal. And some of our
participants talk about it. Andsome of our families share with
us as well. So I feel likepeople feel comfortable to share
their ideas. And we can staycurrent on what's needed and
(24:03):
what's right for ourparticipants.
Julie Cunningham (24:06):
I obviously, people feel heard or they
wouldn't keep coming back. Rightand and feeling like they could
trust you and share with you.
And I I'm just struck by howoften in other situations, those
voices are lost or familiesaren't included. Right, and how
important that must be tofamilies that you are including
(24:28):
it. I've heard you say that anynumber of times in this podcast.
And I think that parents mustreally be grateful for that. And
we're
Dr. Holly Hoffman (24:37):
so grateful for the parents and the families
who share with us. I mean, thisis their, their student, their
child like they let us intotheir lives and they let us
pretty sweet and we weren'tlucky ones like they, they trust
us to you know, to participatewith us and I'm really grateful.
I've learned so much from ourfamilies. And so we have like we
(24:57):
have a participant that has hadI'm really, really hard time
with his health, he's in thehospital. And so all the
participants wanted to makesomething. And suddenly they
made this bouquet of cards. Andso Joe is one of the fertility
facilitators he drafted off forthe family. And so mom ticket to
the hospital, and she sent mepictures right away. He ballsy,
he, you know, he's grateful.
Thank you so much. And so then Igot to send that out on the app.
(25:19):
So everybody knew what was goingon. And so we hope that people
find this as a space and forsafety and support, either here
at CMU when they come to visitor beyond in their home, or if
there's bumps in the roads.
Ashley O'Neil (25:38):
So we have a lot of teachers and educators of all
kinds who are listening to ustoday and have probably heard
statements, or just I think thatyour attitude and ideas is
pretty pervasive. And just theenergy they used to talk with
us, which is just lovely. Butwhat advice would you give to
those educators, thoseindividuals who are interested
in learning more about the topicsystems discussed today, and
(25:59):
maybe specifically to me anyway,about like your, your approach
and how you, you create thisinclusive community? Sure.
Dr. Holly Hoffman (26:06):
Anybody is welcome to come and visit, do
background check, and you can gocheck them over of our crew. And
so we're happy to talk about it.
Sometimes we'll go to sayconferences like Michigan
Council for ExceptionalChildren, we've gone and done a
couple presentations about howwe work and how we transition to
online and how do we work withfamily. So we are happy to share
so anybody can connect? Youknow, if anybody has questions
(26:30):
directly, they're welcome to dothat. I think having an open
mind and thinking about what canwe do here? You look we do in
our past, in our, in ourcommunity? What could we do?
What are the possibilities? Sojust sitting down and thinking
about what they probably have somany assets they're not thinking
about at that time? But sitdown? And what would be
something really creative? Whatwould be helpful? Who would want
(26:51):
to be at the table when wetalked about something like
this? Who might be someparticipants that would really
benefit? Who the some familiesthat might want to be a part of
this conversation? So I thinkhaving an open mind and asking
questions, I remember, Iremember the very first time I
taught intro to Special Ed andI'm standing up at that time,
there's like 200 people in theroom and I thought, What in the
(27:11):
world?
What if he asked me a question,I don't know. And I was so
stressed about that at thebeginning. And I thought, I'm
not walking Google. I don't knoweverything. So, like, if someone
asked me something I said, Youknow what? That's an excellent
(27:31):
question. I don't know what I'llfind out. Right. And so I think
it's okay to not knoweverything. Some people I think,
are so nervous that they have toknow all the stuff of how to
support every student. We don'tknow. That's questions. It's
okay to ask questions. Okay, notto know, and say, Could you help
me a little bit more with this?
I would love to start a programlike this. Could you help me
(27:52):
with some ideas, asking forhelp? I think it's, I read an
article that was saying askingfor help is a superpower, I
fully agree. We want to act likewe've got it all together all
the time. So don't it's okay toask questions and say, this is
pretty cool. Like, you know, howcould I do something like this
on a different in a differentway? At our facility? Or how
could we do a mini version ofthis during the school day? Or
(28:12):
how can we, how can we ramp thisup? Do a statewide, you know,
there's so many ways that we canlearn from each other? Asking
questions and being open toresponses, I think is a huge
part.
Ashley O'Neil (28:24):
I like that because I think it you walk this
really fine line of you totallyhonor, the assets, and the
knowledge and the skills and thethings that your participants
bring to the group as much asyou are future educators. So
there's not that some, we'redoing this favor for you. It's
(28:47):
that we're a community.
Everybody is benefiting?
Everybody?
Dr. Holly Hoffman (28:51):
Absolutely.
Absolutely. We did a survey ofour volunteers, we've done uh,
you know, we're in the carsettings, we like studies, a lot
of different studies. And so onethat came back is that we asked
the volunteers, you know, what,why did you sign up for this?
And they thought, originally,they said, Well, I really wanted
to give to my community, Iwanted to be really helpful. But
what they found was, the impactthat the participants was having
(29:13):
on them was so much more thanwhat they could even begin to
imagine giving back. So it'sbeen really, really neat. They
got they rated themselves andthe rating was so much higher
for what they received from theparticipants than what they
thought the other way around. Soit was really me. That
Julie Cunningham (29:30):
was a valuable lesson as Oh, and how do you get
away from ever like having itlike that deficit thinking like,
it reminded me of when you saidthe volunteers show up thinking
that they're really going togive back and then understand
that they get more like, howdoes it just automatically get
away from thinking like I'mdoing this for somebody who has
(29:51):
a disability or is there Ithink, how does that
Dr. Holly Hoffman (29:55):
at orientation we're really clear
like this is a positive group.
This is Um, this is anopportunity to celebrate and to
accept everyone as they are andlook at their strengths. And so
we don't ever talk about thenegatives. And when we talk
about, like, if someone's gotsome behavior or something that
we need to make sure that we'resupportive, or we're going to,
(30:16):
if they're really scared ofsomething, we're not gonna go
there, or we could have healthissues, things like that, of
course, and making sure thateveryone feels safe. We don't we
don't go we don't go into okay,this is what's wrong with them.
And then we've got on the ontheir name tags, we on the bat,
we have a sticker with like, anykind of thing we need to know
for health wise, you know, ifepilepsy Yeah, emergency kind of
(30:38):
thing. Epilepsy is something youknow, something like that, then
we have a plan. And everybodyknows the plan, if we need an
EpiPen, or those types ofthings. So we talked about the
needs, we don't talk about, likea deficit model of these people.
These are awesome people. Thisis this is this person's name,
this is what we're gonna callthis person, and we're gonna
celebrate when this first thinggets here. And that's what we're
(30:59):
gonna do. And so we don't lookat it as at all Yeah, we have
Syntel. With this, this reallydoesn't matter.
Julie Cunningham (31:08):
Come on in as you are. And you may or may not
want to include any of thisconversation, because I really
was just curious that because wetend to do that I think
education and education, right,we just talk about sure how many
special needs students we havein our classroom, or how much we
love time they take
Ashley O'Neil (31:26):
efficiency. I'm going to jump in here because
Julian Holly, and I got prettyexcited. And there was a lot of
talking over each other, and itbecame a little hard to
understand. So what we'retalking about here is how we as
practitioners sometimes talkabout students, we label them,
we label them with informationfrom their IEP, maybe we label
them with a service that theyreceive through Title funds. And
(31:47):
we develop some sort of code andmaybe co opting the word like
special friends, to discuss astudent in our room. And
oftentimes, we're trying to usethat label to transmit a whole
bunch of context and informationin a very short amount of time
in a very short amount of space.
Maybe it comes from a place ofefficiency, but it's not
strength based, and it's nothumanizing. It also isn't the
(32:08):
clear descriptor that we oftenthink it is, if you're not in a
system, you don't know whatthose words are. And if we're
trying to be inclusive toeverybody, shouldn't the words
and phrases we use be asinclusive. So Holly's approach
with our students may seemdifferent than some practices
you're familiar with? And that'sokay. Our ask is that you
reflect on what practices youuse in your school community.
(32:29):
And think about how thoseactually play out for your
students and families.
Julie Cunningham (32:36):
Is there anything that we missed or that
you would like to share today,in addition to what we talked
about?
Dr. Holly Hoffman (32:43):
I will, I'm just really grateful that you
asked me to come and share aboutthe script that I think is
really important, I love it. Andso thank you for being open
minded to listen, we hope to bethe ever growing and ever
evolving group. So as I said,we'd like to try new things. So
we tried the parade. And it wasreally fun. We had a great time.
And to watch some of ourparticipants in that environment
(33:05):
was so much fun, some reallycame alive and that I get to
throw candy. People might notadd people to people. So we
worked on how to safely do that.
And some people that were kindof nervous. I've never done in
praying before. That's okay.
Let's just give it areally, yes. So, so we had we
(33:32):
had this truck. And so if youweren't comfortable on the back
of the truck, or if you weren'tcomfortable on that trailer, on
the flow, then here, here's thevaccine, because I'm sitting
here so I have participant thatwas most more comfortable with
the window rolled up most of theway. But then when he got more
comfortable, the roll came down,and then he was throwing candy
out at the back of the othertracks. So we we listen to
(33:54):
students and I'd say where areyou most comfortable and see
with our mentors, with ourvolunteers, if they're not
comfortable getting up there andgoing up everybody, that we have
people that are morecomfortable, you know, behind
the scenes. So we joke that withour talent show we have a lot of
background singers and so theyare all about supporting our
students and let's help themmove forward and be comfortable.
(34:17):
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