{"id":5555,"date":"2016-09-16T12:08:08","date_gmt":"2016-09-16T16:08:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/?p=5555"},"modified":"2016-09-19T13:28:58","modified_gmt":"2016-09-19T17:28:58","slug":"linkhorn-parks-james-grunwald-broadway-bound-represent-national-syndrome-society","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/linkhorn-parks-james-grunwald-broadway-bound-represent-national-syndrome-society\/","title":{"rendered":"Linkhorn Park\u2019s James Grunwald is Broadway bound to represent the National Down Syndrome Society"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dawn Grunwald flipped the page of a book and showed it to her son James. \u201cWhat does this say James? Can you read it to me?\u201d<\/p>\n

James studied the page and replied.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can ride the bus.\u201d<\/p>\n

They were sharing a book James wrote and illustrated while in first grade at Linkhorn Park Elementary School (LPES) last year.<\/p>\n

Entitled I Can, <\/em>the book describes all of the things that James, a student with Down Syndrome, can do. The book not only made James an author, it also opened up an opportunity.<\/p>\n

\u201cI saw a contest on the National Down Syndrome Society\u2019s (NDSS) Facebook page,\u201d said Dawn Grunwald. \u201cThey were looking for photos of people with Down syndrome to feature in a video to be shown in Times Square. That\u2019s pretty big.\u201d<\/p>\n

She snapped a photo of James holding his book and submitted it to NDSS. Out of more than 2,000 submissions nationwide, his\u00a0photo was selected along with 400 others<\/a> for inclusion in the video. The video will be shown on the Times Square jumbotron Saturday, Sept. 17, to kick off Down Syndrome Awareness Month.<\/p>\n

\"james-grunwald\"<\/p>\n

For James, it\u2019s the latest accomplishment for someone who has worked to overcome obstacles throughout his young life. After attending a small, private preschool, entering Linkhorn Park for kindergarten was a big transition for him. However, thanks to his hard work and with the support of his family and teachers, he is blossoming at school.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe actually sits down to do his homework. He wants me to read. He says, \u2018Mom, I want to do math.\u2019 He didn\u2019t want to do that before, so we\u2019re counting money,\u201d Grunwald said. \u201cHe wants to do the work, once he learns and starts to understand something, he wants to do more and more. He\u2019s really excited about it. He gets off the school bus with a big smile on his face and he\u2019s excited to show us what\u2019s in his backpack and the books he chose from the library.<\/p>\n

\"sessoms-james-dawn\"<\/p>\n

Linkhorn Park Principal Barbara Sessoms credits the teamwork between the school and family.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe key to making all of this work is having the commitment of the parents, the support of the parents and clear communication. Because of his parents\u2019 willingness to try different things and the staff\u2019s willingness to try different things with James, I think we\u2019ve had tremendous success with this young man,\u201d Sessoms said.<\/p>\n

Those efforts at school are having an impact at home. Dawn is pleased that her son\u2019s efforts are recognized by others.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome parents have expressed to us how much their children talk about James at home and care for him,\u201d she said. \u201cHe\u2019s a bright boy and we want to keep pushing him forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"james-on-bus\"<\/p>\n

As for James, college and career can wait. Saturday, he will join his parents and his brother and sister for a trip to New York City for the premiere of the video in the bright lights of Times Square.<\/p>\n

And what is he most looking forward to?<\/p>\n

\u201cThe jumbotron,\u201d he replied excitedly.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dawn Grunwald flipped the page of a book and showed it to her son James. \u201cWhat does this say James? Can you read it to me?\u201d James studied the page […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":5558,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[103],"class_list":["post-5555","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-linkhorn-park-elementary"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5555","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5555"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5555\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5560,"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5555\/revisions\/5560"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5558"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5555"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5555"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5555"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}