From a Child's Voice

There are a lot of times when the start of a conversation with a child can turn into a time to teach one of life's valuable lessons.  Yesterday proved to be one of those between Nic and me.  She began with the exciting news of being amongst a team of 3 kids that were named as having the most spirit in a school competition.  Participating in her team was a classmate who has been repeatedly shunned by the other students, as kids will unfortunately do when they don't understand another individual's learning difficulties.  Especially with autism, since it can facilitate so many different characteristics from one child to another.

I certainly don't know enough to become the teacher in this area, but yesterday I found out that I was really more of the student.  Nic expressed her amazement at the artistic aptitude of this child and was very put off by the other students behavior toward him..."he's a great artist, Mom; why can't they see that?"  We talked about taking the stance, being the one voice that can maybe get the other students to consider that we are all different, but we all deserve respect.  Then, we spoke about how standing up for someone doesn't always make you the popular kid; sometimes others with turn away.  Sometimes you will lose friendships over these types of issues, but then, maybe they weren't really your true friend.

Then it happened.  Call it the light bulb burning brightly, but Nic just amazed me with her determination to put together an award honoring this student for the next assembly.  She sat down and wrote out a very passionate tribute to all students in compassion, understanding and overall, respect.  She is utilizing her last days as Student Body President to attach a message of hope to everyone; after all, as she points out, "you voted me as your president because I truely care about our students."

Eleven years old, and I couldn't be prouder.