For the past three or so weeks I've had to deal with young kids whom you can't explain simple concepts to using technical language or just telling them how it works "by the book."

Would it be better to tell a story that will make the kids learn something if they are able to relate with the characters and what you want them to learn?

Or should you opt for a simple article laden with facts to explain something like racial prejudice to them?

Which of the two would work best?

I think for a concept like racial prejudice, it's definitely better to go with a story. It can be really hard to understand, especially for younger kids.

Actually the purpose of the project was to help normal kids accept children with special needs. The material will be used by volunteers, etc who work for a certain charity organization to help aid them in getting the kids to at least change their attitude.

So if a story will do the job, best then maybe I'll need some help to write something powerful.
 
Here's the synop of the story I intend to write:

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Lucy has a younger, autistic brother. They go to the same school and Lucy but Lucy hates him. She tells her friends that he's adopted, the parents intend to return him, etc.

In the playground when her autistic brother joins her, they tease and make fun of him. They even beat him up.

Later when walking home with her brother, a bunch of boys try to attack Lucy. Her brother tries to stop them and distracted by him, she runs home tells her friends. When they come back, they find Lucy's brother is dead. Clutched in his hand is a badly scrawled note that says Lucy is the best friend she ever had.

Your thoughts?

Yikes. While I understand what you're trying to get at, if this is for young kids, I think it's probably too morbid/scary. You may want to lighten up that side.

I'd recommend trying to give a bit of details about WHY Lucy doesn't really like him, too. Give a few of the reasons why autism causes her brother to be different, for example. And maybe instead of killing off the brother, make it so that you can discuss Lucy's guilt about her brother getting beaten up and how she changes her ways of treating him after, etc.

(Also, just because I have a background in this topic myself, "person-first" language is much preferred when trying to teach. For example, Lucy's younger brother *has* autism....instead of her "autistic brother." It might sound nitpicky, but it makes a big difference when trying to teach people to treat them as people first, disabilities/disorders second....instead of vice versa.)

I really appreciate your feedback, Jessi. It's not always easy to get the story that will achieve the purpose you expect it to. Most of the time, a writer is tempted to go for what's most convenient. The story was to be written in the first person, narrated by Lucy, to force the audience [I think the trainer/teacher would read the story to them] to identify with the narrator and tacitly approve all her actions until the very end when the story suddenly changes when Lucy's character growth is complete and they start thinking, hey, we can be like Lucy.

But after pointing out the problems that would present, I think I'll tone down the 'darkness' that surrounds the story and instead change it slightly [as suggested] so it can assault their emotions more once they find out that the kid [who has autism] is not that bad after all . . . just misunderstood.

"Misunderstood" is a great word, by the way! That's exactly the issue you're trying to tackle here, right? Many people with disabilities are simply misunderstood and if others try to gain a bit of understanding, it can go a long way.

When it comes to racial prejudice, there's this one kindergarten teacher who ran a controversial experiment with her class to demonstrate why Martin Luther King was assassinated. I believe it's called "The Angry Eye" and she does an "experience racism" workshop for college students and adults now...which usually doesn't work, because older people are so sure that they know everything and have enough life experience to understand why people are mean to each other, and it comes off as an excuse or contrivance for people of color to be mean to white people just because they get to be mean and are mean, and not as a demonstration of systemic power imbalance or kyriarchy in society.

When it comes to stories, I suppose it's difficult to predict or control what the reader is going to learn from it without being too on the nose...

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When it comes to stories, I suppose it's difficult to predict or control what the reader is going to learn from it without being too on the nose...

But at least one can try. I'm counting on the people who'll use those stories to explain to the youngsters any sub-text as they read the stories to the kids. It's their job to see that they [the kids]understand because the stories will only be used to kind of facilitate their efforts to make the kids learn to accept children with special needs.

 

Put them in the position of someone with special needs - make them emphasize with them. Say you want them to understand wheelchair children more. Bring a wheelchair in. Bring in something that makes noise and sound feel a little overwhelming to help them understand autism. Explain how, even though the kids have these pretend disabilities they're still the same people - they just can't do everything they could if they didn't - like they can't go down stairs in a wheelchair or cope with loud noises if they have autism - but they're still people who are smart and fun.

Maybe do some meet and greets if you can with a specialist school to facilitate understanding. Have little games/competitions and a BBQ lunch . Make a day of it .

Wow. How old are the children you are teaching, Rainman? I applaud you for even trying to get kids to understand that someone who has some form of handicap or disability is no different than them just because they might be autistic, blind, deaf, in a wheelchair, etc. Not always an easy thing to do.

I, myself, am deaf/hard of hearing. I lost my hearing about 5 years ago and for the first 2 years it was like I had walked into a whole other reality. I grew up with hearing and interacting with other folks was no issue. When I lost my hearing people reacted to me differently...for many it was a matter of deaf=stupid and I got treated as such. I got just a small taste of what someone who is born deaf goes through EVERY DAY of their life. Sucks.

(I have hearing aids right now, which make me hard of hearing rather than just flat out deaf...but they won't help forever.)