In an effort not to feel sorry for herself, Melody decides the next day to attend school to see Catherine. The equality Melody has sought remains elusive. Even though Melody overcame multiple barriers to help bring her team to Washington, the team’s continued prejudice against her disability means she is unable to attend the final. Melody learns they had been together after having eaten breakfast as a group Melody had been excluded from the breakfast because the group worried she would slow them down. It is revealed that the rest of Melody’s team came to the airport early and managed to leave on the last flight out. On the morning of the Whiz Kids national finals in Washington, D.C., Melody’s family learns that their flight has been canceled due to a late-winter snowstorm. Melody wishes she was treated as any normal kid. Melody is confused by the idea that she is a media sensation, and she correctly predicts that her teammates will be jealous. Because of her disability, the news reporters at the competition lavish attention on Melody. Though she falters with math questions, Melody proves herself to be an equal contender and helps Spaulding Street Elementary to win the southwest Ohio regional competition. Despite the adversity Melody encounters, Melody trains for the qualifying test and achieves another perfect score, earning her a spot on the Whiz Kids quiz team. Dimming, her history teacher, and her classmates Claire and Molly are skeptical of Melody’s participation. Even when Melody achieves a perfect score on the Whiz Kids practice quiz, Mr. V, Catherine, and Melody’s parents-Melody receives a Medi-Talker, a communication device that enables her to speak.ĭespite her newfound voice, Melody remains socially isolated. With the help of her support system-composed of Mrs. Shannon secures funding to hire an aide for Melody named Catherine, a university student who helps Melody take tests and participate in main-school classes. 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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