Last week, great walk for Autism. Our best friends 5 year old has Autism so we did the 5K walk. Had the Arlington baseball stadium half-full of walkers. Makes it easy to see how this epidemic is affecting so many families.

and I taught a an autistic girl in my mainstream class. She started off in the special needs class next door but we gradually integrated her into my class when it became clear that she would be able to handle it. She was the best reader in the class (in terms of reading comprehension) but her maths was shocking (and in fact she used to go back to her old class for maths)! I taught her for 3 years and it was one of the most enriching experiences of my life. She didn’t like to talk but over time she grew to trust me and we had a great relationship and she would talk all the time! She has left school now and I believe she’s working as a stable hand in the Riding for the Disabled programme. While it was extremely rewarding for me, it was also really frustrating at times too. I knew she had it all inside her but we just couldn’t get it out!!