Everyone Learns

Thank you all for your encouraging comments in my previous post! That boost was just what I needed! In looking at my school calendar, it looks like the light at the end of my tunnel will be Oct. 31st. Then things will slow down to just normal stress, not scary-stress (get it? scary? Halloween? Ha!) Today, I thought I would share an anecdote with you.

I was standing in line with "Mason" (not his real name) and the rest of his first grade class for hot lunch. Mason is new to us this year and he has Aspergers. His one-on-one aide was not there on Friday and the substitute we had contacted decided not to show at the last minute. So I had to e-mail all the teachers of the kids I work with and inform them of the emergency situation and apologize for not being able to pull their kids for services that day (so I could sub for Mason's aide).

The most interesting part of Friday was in the lunch line. A little boy right in front of Mason and me (I'll call him Herb), turned and looked at Mason and said very sweetly: "Hi, Mason, my name is Herb. Can you say 'Herb'?" Mason just ignored him. I hung back and decided to let this play out as a spectator.

Herb tried again. "Hey, Mason, our teacher is "Ms. Fox"; can you say 'Ms. Fox'?" Mason can actually say quite a lot of things but was getting tired of this conversation, so he said in a rather bored way "Ms. Fox".

Well Herb was very excited about his progress. He looked me directly in the eyes, pumped both of his little fists up in victory and shouted: "HE LEARNS!"