“In 1st grade they took my reading score. ‘We’re looking for anything over 50. Over 200 and they’re ready for 2nd grade. Rohan scored 530.’”
‘He’s only 11! He’s too young for college.’ She set out to prove I wasn’t smart. I got grouped with disruptive kids.’: 13-year-old attends college, ‘I found a place that challenges me’
‘She’s sending me away. She says I’m a bad kid and I’m wrecking her life. Why doesn’t anybody love me?’ I held his little hand, crying hard. ‘Will you adopt me?’: Woman adopts boy from foster care, ‘He’s the missing piece we didn’t know we needed’
“It was a chilly fall night when Zack called. ‘My mom is out of control. I’m scared. I don’t know what to do.’ He was hiding in the driveway. I jumped into the car. ‘Nobody wants me bec—’ We quickly interjected, ‘Nope, it doesn’t matter what happened. We want you. We love you. And you always belong here, no matter what.’ In that moment, we knew he was ours.”
‘I hope you’ll take time to get to know their strengths and weaknesses. That will make it so much easier for me to let them go.’: K-5 teacher urges middle school teachers, ‘Your students will always be OUR students.’
“I was already worrying about the next school year. Some of my students, I fell in love with right away. Others, it took a little more time. Will you give them that time? When you struggle with them, maybe it will help if you think of all the teachers who loved them for years. If you need help, I’ll be here.”
‘What did you do to make *her* like this?!’ Wow. My son was just 4 years old.’: Mom shares lessons learned raising trans son who ‘is blazing trails’
“I thought I was being so progressive when I ‘allowed’ my son to dress ‘like a boy’ when he began voicing his opinions. Now, I laugh at that notion. I’ve transformed into a completely different person.”
‘I bought school supplies today, because I wanted to feel normal. Because I still have hope.’: Mom holds out hope for the day school returns to normal
“Last year, it was impossible to find construction paper and crayons. So, I bought the highlighters, because I still have hope.”
‘You may not be getting the best parts of kindergarten, but you’ll be getting the best parts of me.’: Kindergarten teacher shares touching letter to incoming students
“Instead of creating spaces to come together, I’m thinking of ways to keep us apart. I’m used to letting students know what the year ahead will be like, but this year not even the teacher knows what to expect. Kindergarten is coming and it feels nothing like it should.”
‘I was threatened with a letter to be kicked out because my grades were crap. I didn’t even believe I deserved to be there.’: Childhood trauma survivor’s message for others struggling, ‘You are already a somebody’
“I dropped out. ‘You won’t get very far,’ they told me. I believed it. I was determined to do was prove people wrong. You don’t need ANYBODY to make you a SOMEBODY.”
‘My sister called. ‘Rachel is thirsty. I think she has heat exhaustion.’ She stopped breathing. I was on the phone as they started CPR.’: Mom loses daughter to undiagnosed Type 1 Diabetes
“She was moodier than usual, but she was turning 12. ‘Hormones, right?’ She started complaining about leg cramps and throwing up after running. When the coroner’s office called, we were told, ‘You missed the symptoms.’ Rachel was gone, and she was not coming back.”
‘On our way home, we ended up front and center for a local protest. My daughter said, ‘Mama.’: Mom wonders about George Floyd’s final words, ‘I wonder if in those last few breaths, he was calling not on her, but us’
“I thought she was asking for me. She wasn’t.”
10 Things Special Needs Parents Wish They Had
“We always expect our kids with special needs to learn how to live in a world that wasn’t made for them, but we never ask the people around them to learn more about how to live in theirs.”
