In the fall of 2019, I connected with Kendra Allen the director of a Boys & Girls Club of Central Iowa. Due to her recent review of one of my picture books, we discovered we had a common belief in the importance of promoting inclusive thinking.

Using the six-book "Finding My Way" nonfiction series published by Brown Books, we developed a six-week curriculum. Each week the students are introduced to a new book, which includes sharing easy-to-understand information about the child in the story and their disability.

• "I Want to Be Like Poppin' Joe" introduces an autistic adult with Down syndrome and a boy with Down syndrome.
• "Kaitlyn Wants to See Ducks" introduces a girl with Down syndrome.
• "I Don't Know If I Want a Puppy" introduces a boy with a congenital heart defect, which resulted in speech delay.
• "Marco and I Want to Play Ball" introduces a boy with Spina Bifida who wears leg braces.
• "OE Wants It to Be Friday" introduces both a girl and an adult with cerebral palsy who use a wheelchair and communication device.
• "Waylen Wants to Jam" introduces an autistic boy.

Each book shares a child's story as they participate in everyday fun activities at home or in their community. At the conclusion of the curriculum, youth find their own story. Each week, they write a self-awareness sentence about themselves that matches the title of the book they have read. For example, instead of "I Want to Be Like Poppin' Joe", they identify someone in their lives whom they want to be like because they admire a quality that person possesses.

The "Finding My Story" curriculum is filled with science, technology, math, and engineering activities linked to the theme of each book. Kaitlyn's story about her family trip to the zoo includes animal and zoo activities. A pre-and post-survey is also included to assess how youth feel about being with peers with disabilities. This emoji style survey is simple to implement and non-threatening.

In the spring of 2020, a program specialist began implementation of the curriculum. Allen reported, "All in all, 'Finding My Story' is an excellent program ... One of my favorite parts about this program is how versatile it is, since it's planned around six different books. All the students were very excited about the books, loved the characters and the activities."

Then COVID-19 caused the club to close and our plans were put on hold. To prepare for the future, I modified all the curriculum activities to allow for social distancing or virtual participation.

Allen changed positions and the new director, Kristina Cox, welcomed the curriculum into their fall 2020 programming. We collaborated to further adjust the curriculum to meet needs resulting from COVID-19. We changed the kindergarten, first grade and second grade curriculum into a K-1 and 2-3 curriculum to better fit the student groups. Program specialist Sarah Mercer-Smith was assigned to facilitate "Finding My Story" activities. She chose the club's Power Hour time slot for the curriculum to be implemented twice a week.

During each first weekly session, she read the designated book, shared introduction information and had youth complete the science activity. The second weekly session was led by a staff member she supervised who reread the book and had youth complete the math and engineering activities. Due to Wi-Fi difficulties, they were unable to complete technology activities. At the end of the second session, youth discussed the book title and as a group wrote their "Finding My Story" sentence.

When the curriculum had been completed, Mercer-Smith observed youth demonstrating an increased understanding of the vocabulary or language of disabilities. Also, she observed that youth seemed to gain an increased understanding of disabilities by learning about the children in the stories when in daily life they did not have direct contact with persons with different physical abilities. The post-surveys reflected an increased comfort level for interacting with peers with disabilities.

Thinking back to Jae'Auna, her statement that she and Kaitlyn both like ducks reflects the possibility that she and Kaitlyn could become friends and watch ducks together. Jae'Auna is now an inclusive thinker!

To learn more about the "Finding My Way" series and to download the "Finding My Story" curriculum, visit Finding My Way.

Jo Meserve Mach, an NAA Executive member, has co-written 14 children's books featuring true stories of the inclusion of children with disabilities. You can contact her at jo.mach@findingmywaybooks.com.