So I called Ryan's teacher the other day to tell her about a change in his transportation for the day, and she had this great story. She was with him from the very beginning of his school experience. He was three years old when he first walked into her room, with virtually no words or other communication skills other than screaming. She was beside Eric and I making sure he got what he needed in those early ARD meetings, leading us as much as Ryan.
Honestly, if there is one, she's his other mother.
After a couple years... well, kindergarten and first grade... he's back in her Life Skills class in the school to which she was promoted (or just moved over). She just had to tell me what he had done.
At the top of his homework, he was to write his name. No big deal. He knows how to write, even in different fonts of his choosing. She looked across the half-moon table where they do their work, and saw this.
Honestly, if there is one, she's his other mother.
After a couple years... well, kindergarten and first grade... he's back in her Life Skills class in the school to which she was promoted (or just moved over). She just had to tell me what he had done.
At the top of his homework, he was to write his name. No big deal. He knows how to write, even in different fonts of his choosing. She looked across the half-moon table where they do their work, and saw this.
When she asked what that was that he wrote instead of his name, he did something awesome.
He looked her right in the eye... this boy who had NO WORDS when they met, and sent her home crying the whole first semester as a three year old... and said, "Bad piggies!" and giggled.
This kid who banged his head on the concrete and tile floor until they sent him home when he first went to school just joked with his teacher.
The same kid who I had to pick up because he couldn't calm down and they were afraid he'd really hurt himself just looked his teacher in the eye and made her laugh.
It's a simple thing, really. But simple is relative. When those things that we do without thinking about it become something to strive for, all of a sudden the inner workings are revealed, showing that there is nothing simple under the sun. That the very things we just do, like look someone in the eye, smile, laugh at a joke, automatically say"hello" when someone says it to us are really supported by several systems working together, seamlessly, in the background.
My kid joked with his teacher, y'all. I was told that this would likely never happen.
Thanks be to God!
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