I mentioned that it will be important to have the issue presented to the other kids in the classroom in the right way. Anyone have experience with this that can be helpful? A couple of weeks ago DD's para was out and the class had a written test. (2nd grade having a written test on community and government - crazy...) Rather than send DD to the resource room the teacher read DD's test aloud to her in front of the whole class. Apparently everyone then noticed that DD's test paper was different (multiple choice rather than fill-in-the-blank) and I had to answer a whole bunch of questions about her disabilities and why things are different for her. I want to avoid a repeat of this if at all possible.
Our 3rd grade teacher correctly felt that other kids were pulling away from DS because he is intense and sometimes that's scary. She discussed his disability with the other kids in the class, read them a short story about it, told them what it's called and what things are hard for him. He then was invited to tell the class some things about it. It was very positive and really helped other kids understand what's going on with him.
I would not under any circumstances allow your curent classroom teacher to do this, obviously. In the right, loving hands, disclosure can be very useful in helping children understand difference; but if the teacher's modeling hateful behavior, the other kids will learn that too.
At least an iPad is a really cool piece of technology; probably different in a good way, but still requiring handling and explanation.
DeeDee
