The video,"Graduating Peter," is about a boy named Peter who has Down Syndrome. The video follows Peter a caucasian male from 6th grade to when he graduates high school at the age of 21 years old. At the beginning of the video Peters family realizes that he suffers from depression and later ADHD which causes him to act out toward his parents, teachers, friends etc. As the video progresses Peter grows up and is able to communicate more with people and his behavior improves.
Peters environment and support system is very supportive and is there to help him improve his life skills as he grows up. Peter does not have many accommodations in his life although starting at the age of 15 years old his parents decide that he does not need to attend all of his education classes and instead start to find him a possible job for after he leaves high school. Peters transition from middle school to high school is discussed by his parents, his teachers from middle school and the teachers he will have in high school. In high school Peter only attends one class and the rest of the day he is finding a job that suits him. Peters locker in high school is very close to where he is dropped off from the bus. .
Some techniques and strategies that have been used by Peters teachers are having him pass out papers like other students, speech therapy to help develop Peters speech and also have a Special Education teacher in the classroom with him to help him through the class that is not a special education class. The strategies and techniques that are listed above are used to help Peter feel like he belongs with his classmates and also to get him ready for life after high school. .
What I found most interesting about this video document is two things. One was how often his teachers would pat him on the shoulder and during his first job as a janitor I saw that his teacher tugged on his shoulder to get his attention.