The young women wore beautiful dresses: long and short, in shiny satin, sequins or lace.

Friday, April 28, 2000

The young women wore beautiful dresses: long and short, in shiny satin, sequins or lace. The young men wore suits or tuxedos. Their parents and grandparents snapped pictures during the grand march and everyone celebrated the arrival of an event that had been nervously awaited.

The prom.

On Thursday, Austin held its first special education prom.

"I had to call my husband on the cell phone out in the field, just to tell him how beautiful it was and how I wish he were here to see it," mother Loni Baldner said. Her son, John, was there in his new suit, dancing with his good friend, Andrea Vilt, who was dressed in a long black taffeta dress with spaghetti straps. "This is the boy they told me would never walk."

John, who has Down syndrome, is Loni and David Baldner’s only child. When he was born, the doctors at Mayo Clinic told the new parents their baby likely never would walk because of low muscle tone, nor would he be able to remember much. He proved the doctors wrong on both accounts.

Now he and his classmates are working on proving that a "normal" life isn’t so far out of reach for people who attend special ed classes. According to special ed teacher Connie Boes, the special prom was a fitting culmination to many of the things the students work on in their curriculum.

"Socialization is a big part of the curriculum," Boes said. "Some of the things we’ve worked on include choosing clothes and how to pay for them, etiquette, table manners, baking, dancing … What finer test than sitting down in suits and formal dresses?"

The idea came to Boes because she had a sister, who was "cognitively impaired," and Boes has fond memories of the annual prom at Oak Grove, an event that she and all her brothers and sisters would make a special point of attending. They were exciting times, she said, not only for her sister, but for the whole family.

Thursday was an exciting day too – for everyone involved.

"It’s been a smashing success," Boes said, "just the looks on their faces and the response of the parents. It was an emotional affair for everyone – this is no simple affair for these kids."

One of the things that made the day even more special for the people there was the presence of many of the high school students from Austin High’s Lifework Prep class.

These mainstream high school students helped organize the event, decorated the basement at St. Augustine’s and were in charge of the music. The students also worked with the special ed students to make the table favors and played a significant role in keeping the grand march running smoothly. The dancing afterward was not part of the classwork, but it was a big part of the prom for their new friends.

"It’s been great," Brenda Rollie, a junior, said. "I didn’t know these kids as well before. It’s like having a new bunch of friends. Now when I see them in the hall we can call each other by name – they’re neat people."

Senior Kari Hummel agreed.

"I think this is a great experience for them; it looks like they’re enjoying it," Hummel said. "They appreciate it and we’re all grateful that we got the opportunity to help."

As for John Baldner, 20, son of Loni and David Baldner … well, he was too busy slow dancing with Andrea to talk.

But he did give his mom the thumbs-up sign, telling her wordlessly, "Everything’s OK, Mom."