Santa Clarita Valley International School’s second annual Neurodivergent Celebration Spirit Week started off with kindness on Monday.
Students were given the opportunity to write something that was kind about themselves or someone else on colorful strips of paper to create one massive kindness chain that would spread across the front of the school.
“We are doing activities within the classroom and outside the classroom just to show the different importance of being inclusive to all different types of life. Here at SCVi, we have a lot of learners that are more on the spectrum and share some of these neurodivergent disorders,” said Jenae Coleman, a school counselor at SCVi. “So, we want to make sure that they’re feeling super celebrated, super loved and hopes to boost their confidence a little bit more.”
Children of all grades were running to the tables during recess to get in on the fun. Some were smiling as they were writing their ideas of what kindness looks like to them.
Coleman added that this week is important to her and SCVi because it celebrates inclusion in a learning environment, which is one of SCVi’s core goals.
“A lot of people that have neurodivergent disorders have really awesome ways of thinking … but because they are excluded from everything, we don’t ever get to hear it. So, if we can be more inclusive and events like this help with that, then we’ll be able to bring some of those ideas and those thought processes to light a bit more,” Coleman said.
Along with the kindness chain being made, there was a theme of the day – Magnificent Minds — where students could put on their favorite hats to show support for neurodivergent students.
Other themes that SCVi is exploring this week include wearing red for Autism awareness on Tuesday, a sensory-free day where students can show up in comfy clothes on Wednesday, tie-dye shirts to show inclusion for all walks of life on Thursday and “not all heroes wear capes” as students can wear superhero shirts on Friday.
Coleman added that she hopes this event will continue to get bigger and bigger as time goes on and that parents continue to show their support for their neurodivergent kids.
