School Remi's Way...

Every once in awhile, Remi gets his time to shine. And though rarely, sometimes, it just so happens, it is in a school setting. When this happens, it's like he is set on fire. An intense focus, getting to do exactly what he loves and exactly what he is incredible at.

The project was about Learning the Engineering Process while inventing a back scratcher. Remi dreams of being an engineer one day- getting to build, create, use his hands- oh, the things his little hands can create! It doesn't really matter what he is creating, he just loves to problem solve, trial and error and make a huge mess with his tools sprawled out everywhere!

Remi came home immediately knowing what he wanted to do. Micah loaded him up, took him to Home Depot and then Walmart, letting Remi pick out the materials he thought he would need. He woke up early in the mornings to work before school, came home and worked until dinner, missed bike riding with buddies and often downstairs in his little workshop alone, in his element, working intensely and enjoying every minute.

Remi started with an electric toothbrush. He sawed it apart, took apart the little motor, detachted the button mechanism, cut and stripped wire from spools he had bought, soldered wires together so that the toothbrush would be on one end of a wooden rod and the button would be on the other. Remi did this all by himself. Micah supervised the sawing, but other than that, this little invention was 100% Remi. I don't even know how he knows how to do the things he does, but it is pretty amazing.

Remi took his prototype to school on Monday. Each student had to get up in front of the class and present their invention. Remi was one of the last few to go and after he presented his invention, something magical happened- something no other student received.

Every student in his class clapped for him- a round of applause just for him.

You cannot possible understand what this does to my heart. Its like taking every happy emotion I have, balling it up into a big lump and it exploding like confetti. Remi is so beaten down at school way too often and for him to have this one moment of getting to be the best, getting to shine, getting recognized for his talents- it is what I feel like I am constantly holding my breath for. He spends his days struggling to keep up, making sure he is getting his accommodations, learning to advocate for himself, feeling less than, feeling embarrassed and for him to have a moment like this all to himself is like erasing all the challenges his faces... even if only for a day.

This little assignment was probably hard for some students. Some parents probably hated having to deal with this. Some may have even stressed about it. For my Remi, that is how every single assignment for him is. Even if this is the only time this year he will get an assignment he can ace without accommodations, all on his own, I will never forget the day his entire class gave him his very own round of applause!