Some of the Best Advice I've Ever Received

I was just over at Finding Ninee reading a post called Stuff about Tucker.  It made me think of some advice I learned last fall.

In our county, there is special education, EBD special education, and an autism unit. 
I have been terrified of the EBD and AU since I learned they were options. 

Why, so afraid? 

You know how people always say your kid will learn the worst behaviors from her peers? 

Like most kids, Patty is constantly learning from the people around her.  With one exception, she is very impressionable.  In her first year of kindergarten, she learned to belch on command.  I worried about her prolonged exposure to children with social and behavior problems in the EBD or AU settings; spending large amounts of time with children who were unable to control some of their social and behavior skills.

A bit shamefully, I admitted these fears to an acquaintance and was given some really good advice.

You do not want your child to socialize to special needs kids,

you want your child to socialize to regular kids. 
 

This may seem horribly insensitive and harsh.  Even I think it's a bit horrible, a whole lot blunt.  But, horrible or not, it's some of the best advice I've ever received. 

Patty is still exposed to some of the most annoying behaviors from her regular education peers; you just can't shield them from everything.  The difference is how we handle those annoying behaviors.  If she comes home doing something, like making noises or faces during homework time, I take a minute and I watch her.  I can tell the difference between clowning around and having a hard time with the work.  When she's just clowning around, I explain that we don't do that while we're trying to do our work.  I do this because I know she's capable of stopping the undesired behavior.