By Alexandra Madsen
Most students only see the Lane Buddies during lunch or passing periods while walking through the halls in the PE Leaders class. Many do not know that these special needs students actually have a daily schedule very similar to their own.
Over the last year, the Special Needs Department has been taking steps to help its students’ schedules function more like a regular school day.
Lane Buddies club sponsor and special education teacher Ms. Tucki, formerly Ms. Murphy, said that the change was a big step for the program to mimic a general educations student’s life more closely.
“This is a really great start for us because we want to have that similar life experience for the students,” Ms. Tucki said. “It’s not normal for students to sit in one classroom all day, so now we rotate as such and each class has more functional independent living skills.”
Each day the students interact with their general education buddies through the Lane P.E. Leaders class. In class, they have the opportunity to improve motor skills and connect with someone outside of the cluster program. Mr. Hofman runs the P.E. Leaders class. He organizes scavenger hunts and other P.E. activities adapted for the students, such as a modified version of musical chairs, called “musical spots,” in which no chairs are used.
Madi Maldonado, Div. 455, is in her first year of Lane Buddies. Alongside friends from previous years recommending the class to her, Maldonado also grew up with an autistic cousin. She knew about disabilities her entire life, and from spending a lot of time with her cousin, she knew that the class would be a good fit for her.
“I love the class so much,” Maldonado said. “It takes so much patience, but it has taught me so much. Every day I have to think about how I treat him, and how I act around him because I need to remember [that] he has this disability, but he is also a 22 year old man and I need to treat him that way.”
Throughout the year Maldonado has been trying to gain the trust and friendship of her buddy through treats. Frequently Maldonado brings her buddy, Dominic Szuba, Rice Crispy Treats and Pop Tarts, which he gets excited for. For a Christmas present this year they bought him a whole box of Pop Tarts and Rice Crispy Treats.
“It was so funny. I brought them out and his eyes instantly lit up,” Maldonado said. “I was giving him bits of it at a time but I decided to give the whole thing to him, and he shoved it in his mouth!”
Though Maldonado’s buddy cannot speak, before she leaves every day she asks him for a hug and he leans in and rests his head on her shoulder. However the other day, as she asked him for a hug at the end of the day, he sprang his arms out and wrapped them around her.
“I was just like wow!” Maldonado said. “I know I see him every day, but because he can’t speak, I don’t always know what he’s thinking. But when I got that hug, I knew that he likes me, and enjoys [spending time with] me.”
Maldonado has considered going into special education in college, but she also knows it takes a special kind of person to teach special needs students: someone with a lot of patience who can handle all the responsibilities that come with being a special education teacher. It is an option for her in college, but spending time with her buddy Szuba has helped her to realize the amount of love and care that goes into taking care of her buddy.
“I think the way the buddies are treated is really awesome at Lane,” Maldonado said. “I feel really fortunate to come to a school where I walk down the hallways with Dominic and people say ‘Hi’ to him and I don’t even know them.”
In her first year of P.E. Leaders, Elizabeth Lefkow, Div. 589, has come to notice little tricks her buddy will do to cheat in games, like musical spots.
“They’re really competitive,” Lefkow said. “My buddy Brian will sit on the dot and not move, or sometimes he’ll drag the dot with him so he always has a dot under him.”
For many general education students in the PE Leaders class, interpreting body language is a big part of the job. Even a simple gesture like getting a hug from their buddy can go a long way. For Lefkow, one of the most memorable moments has been getting her first hug from her buddy. She hopes to continue with PE Leaders next year.
“We’ve had several [regular education] kids that have gone into special education in college, in part because of this class,” Mr. Hofman said. “You have to work hard with your buddy and have a lot of patience, and the kids form strong bonds with their buddies.”
Some hope that Lane will offer a class for general education students to take an art or music class with the students much like PE leaders. The Special Education Department feels this is a great addition to the program, and helps the cluster students connect with the general education students.
The Special Education Department at Lane is one of the biggest in the city. It has been featured on WGN News and in newspapers. For students like Maldonado and Lefkow, having the privilege to come to a school where they not only mentor their buddy but also become their friend is something that they will never forget.
