Get those tissues out.
Tracy Boyarsky Smith is the mother of a small boy with autism, and she has written to his kindergarten teacher to thank them for getting him through the first year of school.
“You are in a regular classroom but took my son in with open arms,” Tracy wrote.
“He’s anything but typical. Yet you treated him like all the others. You insisted that you were his teacher, not his aide. You kept him mixed at the tables with the other students. You invited him onto the rug at story time.
“You allowed him to sleep in the afternoon because his little body was worn out from working so hard all day long. You allowed him to take walks when meltdowns proved he had his fill for the day.
I was so scared that he wouldn’t make it. When he came to you, he couldn’t hold a pencil.
Within two weeks of being with you, he held a pencil and wrote both uppercase and lowercase letters.
“You taught him to read. You taught him to cut with scissors.
“It wasn’t perfect. There were bumps and yelling and throwing and kicking. He tried to escape once or twice.
“You never gave up on him or me. You not only taught him, you taught me.”
You can read the whole letter here:
