One of Twincess main aspirations is to change negative perceptions of DS in the community. We were delighted to accept the offer at speaking at a local high school and some of the students and staff offered the following reviews of our sessions....to say we were over the moon is an understatement......... Here Goes....... After seeing Matt & Jodi and their lovely family on TV news I tuned in when I heard they lived in Chorley! At the time Id been teaching my Year 10 Health & Social Care class all about factors in life that can affect development - wed been learning about genetic conditions. I was really interested in their charity Twincess - being a little bit cheeky I decided to phone Jodi the next day and invite them to school! How lucky we were they accepted and we were so excited about meeting Abigail and Isobel! The pupils worked in groups and planned questions to ask, writing them all down. One of Jodi and Matts aims is to raise awareness of DS particularly with young people - the next generation! The class were unsure of what to expect and like many a little naive about the condition. If Im really honest I think we were all a little unsure of how it would go on the day - however Abigail and Isobel stole the show! They loved Parklands and I think theyd have stayed all day to play if they could! A massive thank-you to Matt & Jodi and of course Abigail and Isobel for giving our Health & Social Care pupils such a great experience and answering all their questions so openly and honestly. Youll see from their blogs youve all made a huge impact on their understanding and learning. These are the lessons pupils will look back and remember about school! We really enjoyed your visits and once again thank-you so much for giving us your time - the girls in my class would have happily let Abigail and Isobel stay with us all day! Sharon Brookes, Curriculum Leader, Health & Social Care. We only knew about the hearing difficulty and lack of muscle co-ordination. The stereotype that we expected was they always have their tongue out, and would have problems moving about – this isn’t true! Friends of one of our families have someone with Down Syndrome in their family. We were very excited when we heard about the twins coming into school and we didnt know what to expect! We didn’t think they would be as outgoing as they were, and expected them to be quite shy! Now we’re more open minded about DS. It has made us realise that even though Abigail and Isobel have DS theyre no different to any other 2 year old. Abigail and Isobel are bubbly, happy and confident. Yes we think more people should know about DS and be more open minded! Melissa, Olivia, Natalie, Rachel – Parklands High School Before Twincess visited our school, I really had no knowledge about Downs Syndrome. I honestly expected the twins to be quiet, a little nervous and not very energetic, due to how their condition affects them. However, I was surprised to see Abigail and Isobel jumping around, exploring and saying hello, to us all! Their lively, chatty characters outshone their condition, which completely changed my view on DS, Matt and Jodi are incredible, and their visit to Parklands was really beneficial to me and my Health & Social Care class. Annie. I knew quite a bit about DS before we covered it in school as Ive known a little girl with DS for a few years now so even when I was younger Ive been taught about the condition. Despite this early knowledge I still automatically had stereotypes about the condition, both positive and negative. Positively I knew they were very affectionate and liked cuddles and social contact, I also knew that generally, people with DS liked to talk and wave at people. However I still had some negative stereotypes, although it was purely physical, like them sticking their tongue out and having heart conditions. Personally, my friend at primary school lived next door to someone whose daughter has DS, so even when I was only 9 or 10 I became aware of the condition. When I knew that you were bringing the girls in I was very excited as I enjoy spending time with all young children and I knew Isobel and Abigail would have their own special charm. I expected them to be smiley and talkative, as they were and I thoroughly enjoyed the experience, it was a great learning curve and I really recommend it to other students, both in our school and in others. Jasmine – Parklands High School When we first found out we were going to meet the twins we were optimistic and looking forward to their visit. We had very little knowledge of DS and how it affected the girls. Despite this we both knew that it would be a great experience to meet Abigail and Isobel personally, as well as learning about them and their condition from Matt and Jodi. When the girls arrived, we weren’t expecting them to be quite as enthusiastic and energetic as they were! The family made us all feel welcome and before long we had settled down while Matt and Jodi talked about the princesses. Before Matt and Jodi arrived we didn’t know much about the condition except for what we had covered in class. But after they had left, we had learnt so much! We feel personally that if we had someone simply describing the condition to us, then we wouldn’t have learnt as much as we did actually getting a taste of what the condition is about and meeting the girls! We thoroughly enjoyed the hour with Twincess, we had very little knowledge beforehand and felt that we learnt a lot about the condition. We didn’t expect the girls to be as active and intelligent as they are, which surprised us as we thought they were going to be shy and less physical. Twincess was a wonderful experience. Thank-you. Sophie, Megan & Rachel – Parklands High School Before Twincess visited us, and explained to us about DS we only knew the stereotypical things that affect them and their development. We understand that people with DS are affected differently – our stereotypes were typical – we expected physical and developmental differences. We were all really excited to meet Isobel and Abigail. We expected the girls to be more reserved and shy, which was not the case! We thought the girls were lovely and would definitely recommend meeting them and learning more about them and their condition. Thanks, Lara, Emily, Rachel & Liv – Parklands High School We thought that the twins were very cute, they were nothing like we expected they would be, we thought theyd be shy and not communicate to anyone. Jodie and Matt answered all of our questions that we wanted to know about the twins’ condition and we had a lot of fun seeing them. We also learned a lot more about Down syndrome than I knew before. I thought that they had quite a good day because they were meeting new people and just playing with their toys. We all found it really cute when Jodie said that she dresses them the same all the time and when one needs a change of clothes e.g when they spilled some food she changes them both. I think that it is a good idea that Jodie and Matt have taught the twins to strengthen their muscles in their tongues by putting thousands and millions in their yogurts. If more people knew about what Down syndrome is really like, they wouldnt be so stereotypical towards all people with Downs Syndrome. Last of all we had a great time! Thank you from Chloe and Dannielle I thought the twins would have shown more of a disability but I was surprised how much theyre just the same as other little girls their age. When I heard the girls were coming in I was looking forward to meeting them as I havent met anyone with DS before. I enjoyed them so much, I would be confident to look after a child with DS. Sophie Blamire
Posted on: Mon, 11 Aug 2014 18:20:59 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015