5/27/2023 0 Comments Out of my mind summary![]() Having noticed Melody’s intelligence, Mrs. ![]() Shannon starts an inclusion program to bring H-5 students into main-school classes. When Melody enters fifth grade, she receives an electric wheelchair, which gives her greater autonomy over her mobility. Though she had at first been excited to enter school, the lack of intellectual stimulation in the segregated special-needs class disappoints her. Melody spends the next five years in the special needs classroom, room H-5. Melody’s mother tells the doctor off for his insensitivities and enrolls Melody at Spaulding Street Elementary. The doctor recommends that Melody’s parents put Melody in a care facility so they can get on with their lives without the burden of raising her. Hugely, administers flawed and biased tests, he determines that Melody is severely brain-damaged and mentally retarded. When she is five years old, Melody and her mother consult a specialist to determine if she should begin kindergarten. Together they build a more complex set of vocabulary words for Melody to point to on her Plexiglas communication board. V motivates Melody to achieve more than society expects of her. ![]() V, Melody’s neighbor and after-school caregiver, also recognizes Melody’s brilliance. Though most people in Melody’s life underestimate her abilities, Melody’s parents can see the intelligence in her eyes. In the beginning of the novel, Melody reveals she has never spoken a single word. Melody’s intelligence is mostly unrecognized by society at large, because of ableist prejudice that makes people assume her physical impairment must also affect her mental capacity. Though Melody cannot walk, talk, or feed herself, she has a photographic memory and a witty personality. Out of My Mind is a young adult novel written from the perspective of Melody Brooks, an eleven-year-old girl with cerebral palsy.
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