How to explain disabilities to DS

[gscrym]

I'm looking for a bit of help and I don't mean to offend anyone in asking this.

DS (4) was at the soft play barn today. He came over to me after having been playing for about 10 minutes, in floods of tears. He told me that a bigger boy had hit him in the face. I asked what had happened and he said he bumped into the boy, then the boy hit him. I asked him to show the boy to me and when he did, it was a boy of about 7 or 8 with downs syndrome.

I didn't speak to the boy or the people who run the play barn. DS wanted me to tell the boy off. I told him that the boy maybe hadn't realised he had hit DS so hard (his face was red). DS said he would go play somewhere else. I didn't tell him to stay away from the boy, just to be careful not to bump into people.

I honestly don't know how to explain about various disabilities to DS. There aren't any disabled or special needs kids at nursery so it hasn't come up.

Again, I hope I haven't offended anyone, I genuinely want to know the right way to explain to DS.

Thanks

riven i can't see what this has to do with inclusion.

I think that while inclusion may help the NT, it often doesn't help the children with SEN.

I would keep it simple, as Fio suggests.

gscrym, my dd has a friend with speech and hearing difficulties. They've know each other since they were about 2/3 and are now 6 and 7.

dd cried, shouted 'no no' and ran off when I first explained that X couldn't always hear properly. A few weeks later she was more willing to accept my explanation that some people's bodies don't always work as well as others and that we have to find ways of helping each other. eg, dd has to look at X when she wants to speak to her.

I've also told dd that sometimes X gets cross because her ears don't work properly.

Sorry, not sure if this is of much help.

Sorry to sound thick but what's NT. Also what do you mean by inclusion.

Riven, I was unsure of how to approach it and whilst watching other children playing throughout the 2 hours we were at the barn, the boy lashed out at quite a few other smaller children.

As you can guess, I'm totally clueless in this area and feel bad about it. I'll keep it simple as Fio said. I know he's just 4 but I want him to have a little understanding.

I'm sorry if I haven't expressed myself very well. I've typed so many things and have deleted them as I just sound like I'm asking stupid questions or wording them badly.

Mercy, that's a great way to explain to him. Keeps it simple and if he asks further questions, I can try to answer them. Or I can quickly pop on here, ask the questions then give him a good answer.

Thanks everyone for your help. I feel I need to read a bit about all the things you've mentioned. I think I need a better understanding along with DS .

Thanks Fio.

gscrym, I'm glad you've asked this, I've been thinking about something similar and wondering on and off whether to ask it here. A few weeks ago DD finished her trampolining class, which took place straight after a class for learning disabled adults, and while she hasn't apparently noticed yet, or said anything, I do wonder when she will pipe up 'why does that man talk like that?' or similar when we go back next term or the term after. Even if it doesn't come up in the near future, the primary school she will (probably) go to seems fairly inclusive (I noticed one little girl with DS when we visited, and the head mentioned there was an autistic boy in each of the Year 1 classes) so I don't want to end up saying something unhelpful when she comes home and asks why a child is a certain way.

Ugh, now I am wittering, this is exactly why I've never got round to asking the question.

I tell children that Ellie was very ill as a baby and it hurt her brain so it means she cant always do things the same as them or it takes her longer to do them/harder for her to do them etc