Looney Toons

What was your favorite cartoon as a kid?  Remember those early Saturday mornings spent with Huckleberry Hound,Felix the Cat, and Woody Woodpecker in the 1950’s?  Of course you don’t, save a few of us who are baby boom kids. How about The Jetsons, The Flintstones, and  Rocky and Bullwinkle from the 60’s? Nope, still not born yet, huh.  You youngsters.  Josie and the Pussycats, Spider-Man, and Tennessee Tuxedo from the 1970’s were popular.  Still not there yet for most of you am I?  How about the 80’s with the Bernstein Bears, the Care Bears, and Barbie and the Rockers?  Still too young to remember?  Last shot – the early 90’s with The Ren & Stimpy show (what the heck was that all about?), Rugrats, and X-Men?  I cannot move up a decade because you would be too young to have a teaching license.  I enjoyed the Looney Tunes & Merrie Melodies with Foghorn Leghorn, Slyvester the Cat, Snagglepuss,Elmer Fudd, Bugs Bunny, Porky Pig, and Daffy Duck.   I noticed something that these characters have in common during a grad class in the mid-1980’s.  Yes, they are all animals and talking animals at that!  That’s not what I noticed. Each one of these characters has a speech impediment.  Think about it – “I say, I say, I say, boy”, “Sufferin’ succotash”, and “Watch the woad, Wabbit!”  If these characters went to our school, they would all receive services from our speech therapists!  In the not too distant past, they would have been ostracized and placed in a separate educational facility.

This is Disabilities Awareness Month.  Disabilities run the gamut for those that are vividly apparent to those not noticed by the untrained eye.  At our school, we have kids with specific learning disabilities, cognitive deficits, emotional handicaps, Autism Spectrum Disorder, moderate mental handicaps, severe mental handicaps, mild mental handicaps, visual handicaps, physical handicaps, and many more.  I have never thought of any of our kids as cartoon characters.  I love our kids that are in our special needs program.  I have a special place in my heart for them that God put in a long time ago.  These kids are a reality check for me on occasion.  Special education has come a long way.  When I first began teaching in the fall of 1980, I was placed at a school that only contained children with severe handicaps and that building was at capacity.  Now, that building is virtually empty as students have been moved to more inclusive settings with age-appropriate peers and often with at least partial placement in a general education setting. I am proud to say that my Dad was a pioneer in this movement.  That’s the way it should be.  It’s the right thing to do and we do it well.  As much as I enjoyed these cartoons from my childhood, I enjoy these kids so much more.  We are blessed to be an inclusive school.