Matthew is not a huge fan of Halloween.
Matthew: “Got candy, Mom?” translation: Can I have some candy?
Me: “No, we don’t have any Mat, but we can trick-or-treat for some tonight.”
Matthew: “Can buy some?” translation: Can’t we just buy some?!
My thought: “That’s what I’ve been wanting to know all these years!!!”
My family is involved in an awesome program. We have students who are majoring in education come visit our home for a few hours. Each semester we have a new set of 2 students that come visit us. The vast majority of these students are going into regular education.
With inclusion becoming more of a reality the colleges have realized that regular education
teachers need to know about special needs children too. They also realize that a book only touches the very surface of a special needs child. To really get into the special needs childs brain the teacher needs to go into their environment.
Our family loves it. We get to talk about our life and our children and these people have to listen. We give them their grade. 
Our students this year were two very sweet women. They visited us on Sunday afternoon. I gave them information on fragile X syndrome. I also explained it’s tie to autism. Then we discussed the good and bad of the children’s teacher over the years.
I like to open it up to questions. I was really impressed that the questions they asked were focused on fragile x and what a teacher could do to actually help the kids learn.
Before they left they were just excited about the visit. They thanked us and commented that they knew in the future that they could look back on our visit and find it helpful.
When we have the visits usually Matthew hides and Rachel is all over them. Rachel was still all over them but this time Matthew actually sat in the hall and watched them the whole time. I like that he is getting more comfortable with people. Plus it let the students see more of him and his behavior compared to Rachel’s.
I don’t know if there is more of these programs out there. The program we go through is called “Families as Faculty.” It is not just for future teachers but it is also for people going into the medical profession. Check into your local college or university if see if they offer it. 
And if not, maybe encourage it. It’s awesome!! And you don’t have to just sit and talk. You can eat a meal, play a game, anything ya want. (and in some areas you can get paid)
For more information check out our program: Families as Faculty
