I have a dream too.

“The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically. Intelligence plus character – that is the goal of true education.”-Martin Luther King Jr.

MLK had a dream. But he also had a voice, and we still hear it today. Inspiration if we listen.

I have a dream.

That kids with special needs would have funding sources that allowed for individual plans to truly be individual instead of “billable”.

That families would have ongoing support, after the age of three, from professionals working with their children providing consultation across specialties instead of isolated “direct contact hours”.

That professional establishments were equipped to generate funding to develop global programs in order to provide true multidisciplinary teaming and affect therapeutic change to individuals holistically.

That educational programs for kids with special needs and typical peers were blended into a reality and built to foster emotional intelligence, empathy, emotional regulation, social response and conflict resolution instead of standadized test scores for 5 year olds in kindergarten.

That as a society we would recognize the need for socialization and community and bring them back to life.

That we would shape our youth through play to create creative and flexible thinking as a way to determine success instead of living in a box directed by someone else’s book with too many rules dictating success.

But really my dream is that the silenced populations would be seen and heard without everyone drowning them out with all the words shaped by ego, agendas and bullying. I believe we have all shared the feeling, sometime in our lives, of being silenced. Only through empathy can we begin to see our differences are really the our similarities.

My dream is that we learn to actively listen to each other. Then we would hear clearly from those who don’t talk so loud.