Today’s guest on THE HAPPY HOUR is my friend Meghan McCamant. I can’t remember when Meghan and I met, but she is one of my most favorite people in the world. Meghan is first my friend, and second she is Story’s BFF. Meghan is a fun loving, headstrong, homegrown Austinite! She loves to read, be outside and hang with her dog Pearl. Meghan is the gifted and talented specialist at the elementary level in Cedar Park, TX and has also taught 1st and 2nd grade for five years. As well as teaching, she is also a CASA in the Austin area for children in the foster care system. She is also one of my favorite friends to talk about books with!
In this podcast episode we discuss Meghan and her sister Amanda who has special needs. Meghan’s experiences as growing up with a sister with special needs are so special. She gives a great voice to families that might look different than others. In this episode she talks about how to help your kids with questions that they might have when they see a child or adult that looks different than them.
Meghan has written a post for me before about the “R” word. She talks about how we important it is to view all people as people first and then the fact that they have a disability. Viewing them as a person first and then their differences.
Meghan also shares lots of great advice for us parents about our kids teachers and how we can bless them and help them in the classroom whether you are a mom that works outside the home or stays home. She shares some of her favorite gift she has gotten from her kids in her classroom.
Meghan is also one of my favorite book friend. We’ve been in a book club together and like to read a lot of the same books.
Links from the show:
– Meghan’s post about the “R” word
– Pitter Patter art where I bought key rings for my kids teachers
– 36 books that will be movies this year
– Books I just read: Harry Potter, BossyPants, The Fault in Our Stars, & Popular
{You can listen to the show HERE, and make sure you never miss a Happy Hour by subscribing through your favorite podcast app (ie. iTunes, Stitcher). And of course, I would love if you would share with your friends!}
Upcoming guests: Rachel McCoy, Ashley Benson, and Janet Reeves
Loved doing this! Thanks for letting me share my heart on some important topics and chat about sone fun ones! Love you friend!
Thank you so much for this reading list. I went straight to the library and got two of the books. Love all the books you’ve been sharing in your podcast 🙂
Ok…I’ve got so much to say! Of mice and men by John Steinbeck is the book that made you cry. That was such a sad story. Agreed! Next I use to be a special education teacher for middle school. One of my students loved to read and so we would read and discuss books together. So I’ve read a lot of these teen books. Maze runner, Divergent, and the Giver. They were all really good books. As I’ve already posted love your pocast.
Thanks Sara – yes half way through my next day I remembered the name of that book. So good! I’m about 100 pages into Divergent right now.
Loved the podcast this week!! As a 1st grade teacher too I was nodding my head in agreement with almost everything Meghan said about school. Loved the book discussion too!
Hello Jamie! I just started listening to your podcasts from the beginning (love it by the way!) and I had a thought I wanted to share. You and your guest discuss person-first language and it struck me since I work with individuals with special needs as a music therapist. I am taking a class for my masters about autism and have been exposed to what is called the neurodiversity movement in which some individuals with autism advocate to be called autistic for similar reasons many in the Deaf community prefer to be called deaf instead of a person with deafness and are often proud of their differences. This is still hard for me to grasp as I am very client focused—a diagnosis provides information but does not completely define someone. Yes, I acknowledge and celebrate differences, but I had never thought about some autistic individuals preferring this language. I find I take cues from the individual and his/her family to be as respectful as possible. Just a thought, and I look forward to binge listening to the show!
I recently found your blog and podcast! I LOVE listening to them. I listen to them when I’m trying to unwind from my hectic life as a Foster Mama to two little ones. Thank you for being a source of relaxation for me!