Puppets Teach Stanley School Students to be Kind

Large, floppy, friendly puppets came to the Stanley School Friday morning to teach students that kids with disabilities may be different on the outside, but they’re the same on the inside.

The program, “Kids On The Block,” was performed by The Phoenix School sixth, seventh and eight graders, coordinated by Jennifer Nisbet, and brought to the school by Stanley parent Nicole Levy.

Levy, who is the mother of a special needs student at Stanley, says she felt that “kids need to be educated, especially regarding autism.”

She added that it’s important to increase students’ sensitivities “in order to foster normal interactions” and to teach kids to be able to “deal with differences.” That way, she pointed out, bullying can be stopped before it’s started.

The puppets sang: “Kids are different, if you look inside you’ll see, they’re just like you and me—badda bump bump!” One puppet was blind; another was in a wheelchair.

The Phoenix School kids agreed that they want the younger students to understand that kids who are different need “to be accepted.”

Perhaps it was the puppets, or perhaps the lure of watching the big kids perform, but the show had a rapt audience.