Chance enters himself into the story telling contest

Chance's school had a story telling contest last week. We thought it would be a great opportunity for Chance to learn a story and tell it to other kids. We figured that with Chance's expressive face and just the way that he is, he would be a natural.

Then our lives happened. We went out of town, we had a really busy week and soon it was time for the story contest. We had wondered if Chance was ready to go full fledged into telling a story in front of other people. Would he freeze up when there was an audience? We didn't know the setting either and wondered if he would be in front of a group of kids that he did not know. Would the kids laugh at him if they did not understand what he was saying? Plus, Chance sometimes talks quieter when he is in a group of people he does not know. We still thought that Chance could do it, but time just snuck up on us.

Friday came and as I was checking Chance's backpack after school, I pulled out a certificate made out in Chance's name for participation in the story telling contest. This was intriguing. I was afraid that Chance would not be able to reproduce his performance on demand. However, when I asked him, he gladly performed his story for me. He did "Hey Diddle Diddle," his favorite nursery rhyme. He ran in a circle as he recited the rhyme and then for the finale, Chance stopped running in a circle and thrust his face forward and loudly declared "and the dish ran away with the spoon!!"

We learned that each class had a time when they were given the opportunity to tell a story. It was completely voluntary. You just raised your hand if you wanted to get up and tell a story to the rest of the class. Most of the 27 kids in the class declined. Chance raised his hand though and got right up there and performed his story. We were delighted that Chance had the confidence to get up in front of the class and perform. He had had no advance notice and we had not told him about the contest. He just got up and did his thing. This also means that he was following what was happening when the kids were told that they could get up and tell a story. He caught what was being said and was able to respond. It was not a run of the mill routine that he was used to in class.

Chance didn't need us to help him enter the story telling contest. He took matters into his own hands. You go Chance! Here’s to more storytelling!