Many ADM students require additional support. These students often have siblings who can share their school experiences, both past and present. This shared perspective can provide valuable insights into the student’s lives and help us better understand them and their families.

It is very important for these students who need a little extra help to have good connections with their families and siblings, Mrs.Hickman explains this, “Siblings are your forever friends, they are your people forever, you might always be super close to them or super intentional on how you spend time with theme, but as an adult from a large family, my siblings are my friends so it’s important to have that connection. I think the student siblings find much comfort in understanding what we are doing.” Mrs.Hickman also believes it’s important to interact with the family and siblings, especially if they’re in the same building. 

Aubree Timmer shares how she was involved with her brother, Brycen Timmer’s, steps to independence. “There were steps to his independence. When he was younger we had to take him to speech therapy and they gave him some meds and at-home exercises. This is because when he was younger he wasn’t able to talk at all and he needed an iPad to speak. He has associates that help him and he has these goals he sets for things he wants to accomplish. And there are these people who work with him, including me, to help him accomplish these goals. These goals have stuff to do with running and shopping and paying for things.” Aubree also talked about how Brycen being in cross country affects both her and him, “He is gone a lot more, and there’s a lot more being accomplished, he has something he looks forward to and something he likes doing now so he’s not just at home. And we as a family are gone a lot more, but I do enjoy watching cross country, at first I thought people who wanted to run were weird but as I started to go to more cross country meets I realized how cool it is.” Aubree tells how Brycen’s goals are connected to running and independent living. She says he goes and exercises more and is learning how to cook and clean to get ready for a fully independent life.  

Faith McGinnis and Parker McGinnis are only a year apart, this means, for the most part, they have been in the same school building. Faith gives some insight into how she and Parker get to school every day, “Right now our mom takes us to school and after school, we usually ride the bus home. The bus has been alright because we have been doing it for long enough that the kids on the bus are used to Parker and can handle how he acts.” She also tells what is like in the same school and school building transitions, “I’ve always been with his associates and been close with his associates and talked with them. So the main thing that changes over time is who his associates are and getting to know them as people.” Faith also talks about how Parker is no different at home from how he is at school and that he is very talkative even though he doesn’t speak English. 

It is important for students who need a little extra help to have some sort of connection with their siblings so they can get that little extra help from a person they are comfortable with. It’s also important that these siblings have connections with the people who are helping these students from day to day so they can understand what is going on in their lives and find comfort in understanding their student’s school days.