Mohnike recounts joys and challenges of raising a child with special needs

    “I do it. I do it,” 5-year-old Breanna Mohnike-Rodriguez repeated with the only words she knew at the time. She wanted to be independent — to tie her own shoelaces, to get dressed by herself, to get herself a cup of water — but because of her language development disability, it was difficult for her to put her desires into words.

Breanna, now a senior, still struggles with forming and processing language. Due to her disability, she gets easily frustrated when her words get tangled in her mouth as she tries to speak or when she can’t find the word for what she is trying to express.

For her mom, assistant principal Kerry Mohnike, it has been a challenging journey figuring out the best way for her to raise Breanna. Mohnike and her husband, Alexander Rodriguez, adopted Breanna when she was 5. Unlike when raising her step-son, who is now 28-years-old, Mohnike had to take into account Breanna’s disability and her own tendency to be overprotective.

“It’s feeling safe enough to allow her to be independent, not trying to be too protective of her, because she does have special needs, but at the same time knowing that she’s her own person,” Mohnike said. “It’s just hard not to be overprotective of her.”

At the same time, Mohnike describes Breanna as “refreshing” in comparison to many of her hyper-competitive peers. Although she sometimes struggles to understand class assignments and lectures, she possesses a certain confidence that many could only wish to have.

“[Her disability] also comes with a freedom of not feeling overly judged by people. In her case, she has a great sense of being able to talk to just about anybody and not worry about judgment, which is a very freeing thing, if you can imagine,” Mohnike said.

When Breanna went to elementary and middle school in Santa Cruz, Mohnike heard from many of the other kids that Breanna was the most picked on for being different. However, the bullying never got to Breanna, as she never internalized the hurtful words she heard.

“She would never say she was bullied, because she doesn’t perceive herself in that way,” Mohnike said. “Her mental health is pretty strong. She’s just got that ‘I do it’ attitude; she had that when she was young and she still has it. She tells me I worry too much about it.”    

Having been here since freshman year, Breanna has found a place in marching band as well as various clubs, and the ease by which she has been welcomed made it a simple choice for Mohnike to move her here.

“One of the reasons I thought bringing her to Saratoga would be a good move was because the kids are genuinely really nice here,” Mohnike said. “Even if somebody’s different they’re not going to go out of their way to put them down.”

Additionally, Breanna’s teachers understand her needs and support her when she struggles. Although it’s not always easy to accommodate special needs students, Mohnike believes that SHS teachers put extra effort in adapting their curriculums and making Breanna and others with disabilities feel included.

For example, in her creative writing class, teacher Sarah Thermond often gives Breanna one-on-one help and extra time to finish her assignments.

“Extensions allow me to have time to check-in with her and help guide her through each step of the process,” Thermond said. “We sit and break down assignments together so that she can know exactly what the goal is.”

Breanna’s academic journey has not always been so smooth, as her elementary and middle school teachers would not send homework home with her or even assign her classwork. They reasoned that because of her disability, it would be too frustrating for her or she would not be able to understand it.

“That’s not really fair; she should be challenged to some degree,” Mohnike said.

When Breanna was in elementary school, Mohnike attended the school’s open house to view Breanna’s work but while all her classmates had art projects and writing assignments on the desks and on the walls, Breanna did not have a single thing she had made showcased.

Through the way Breanna was routinely left out of class activities in elementary school, Mohnike found that one of the biggest challenges she faced was having people have appropriate expectations of Breanna and not to simply dismiss her abilities because she has special needs.

“You see someone with special needs and you make assumptions that they don’t have the capacity to understand, to do whatever, and that’s not really fair. They do,” Mohnike said. “People are going to surprise you — you never want to undercut them.”