What makes a good teacher?

After an anxious summer, I wasn’t sure how this school year would play out for my kids. One was starting high school and two would have new aides, new teachers and new classmates. For most parents of kids with autism, the start of a school year is a really stressful time, beyond just buying school supplies and new shoes. We worry about the classroom environment and how (or whether) the other kids will interact with ours. And whether the teachers and aides will teach our kids or merely babysit them for 6 hours a day (as happened in one Florida district). And we watch closely for any signs of anxiety or regression that are bound to happen as the result of the transition to a new year.

On Friday, I had coffee with two good friends who also have children with special challenges. We are all cautiously optimistic about the upcoming year for our kids and the common thread among us was great teachers. I’ve been dealing with school districts and principals and IEPs for almost 8 years now and if there’s one thing I know for certain, it’s this – the right teacher, a good teacher, can make up for the most antiquated district policies or the most ‘undesirable’ schools or the most challenging situations. And it made me consider what, exactly, makes a teacher great for my kids. Here’s my list:

Enthusiasm – Whether the teacher is brand new or has been teaching for 20 years, the best ones for me have been willing to learn about my boys and about autism. They find ways every day to reach my kids, even with all their other classroom responsibilities.

Flexibility – Some of our requests over the years have been, I’m sure, unconventional. When Robert was young, he needed frequent sensory breaks to function in a classroom environment. These included jumping on a mini-trampoline, bouncing on a yoga ball or burying himself in beanbags for a few minutes. He has been most successful when allowed to leave the classroom for a few minutes and do these activities and his best aides have been able to anticipate his need for them right before a “situation” arises.

Curiosity – In the past 8 years, between 3 kids, we’ve had a lot of teachers. There have been a couple who have been genuinely curious about our kids and keen to take on the challenge of reaching and teaching them. On the other hand, there have been a few who were happy to let the aide or special education assistant (and in one case, ME) take on the brunt of “dealing with” the boys.

Kindness – This one goes without saying as a quality we all want for our kids, autism or no. But it goes a very long way. In one Georgia district, my son was in a self-contained (autism only) classroom. The teacher was young and eager to learn but was paired with a strong-willed aide who had worked with autistic students for over 20 years. Instead of allowing her experience to inform her, this aide was stuck in the 1980’s mode of teaching kids with autism. She used a technique called ‘over-correction’ for disciplinary purposes. If a student did something they were not supposed to, she would say to them, harshly and repeatedly, “Stand up! Sit down! Stand up! Sit down!” over and over. Up to 100 repetitions. Call me crazy, but someone with kindness in their heart, in this day and age, could not and would not treat another human being this way. I actually put in my son’s IEP that over-correction was not to be used with him under any circumstances. They found other disciplinary methods, though. The poor kid (he was only 6 at the time) spent so much time in time-out and was never allowed to share treats and juice with the other kids because he was always “in trouble.” There must be a special place in hell for people who mistreat these kids (and adults) and needless to say, I removed Rob from that situation post-haste. One other note here, time-out is pretty much completely ineffective for a child like Robert who used to look for any excuse to sit alone in a corner and “stim.”

I digress. I’ve been gratified that many of my former classmates and family members have gone on to become teachers. One friend who teaches high school told me she would “love to have my boys in her class.” I can’t tell you how much that means to me and I wish everyone we encountered shared this attitude. Good teachers are worth their weight in gold and if I had my say, teachers (along with nurses) would be paid like top-dollar executives. We trust them with the most important things in the world, our kids and our future. 

UPDATE: I was tickled the day I wrote my last entry to hear from a family friend who has an adult son with Asperger’s Syndrome. Jonathan is 25 and was recently featured in a documentary highlighting the success stories of people living with ASD. If you’d like to check it out, there is a trailer clip below or you can visit the website here. (http://www.onthespectrummovie.com/)

What an inspiration.

Peace.