A is for Alex

A Mother's Tribute to her Autistic Son

I remember the day four years ago when I was told I was going to receive a new student in my classroom. My principal's exact words were, "He's probably the most severe student in our school."

Being a first year teacher of students with autism, I'm not going to lie; the thought of a student with severe behavior problems was a bit disconcerting. Today, this well-behaved student is in the second grade, fully included, and is now the youngest member of my family!

There's a book entitled A is for Autism. Well, I prefer to believe A is for Alex!

A is for Acceptance. The first day when Alex went into kindergarten by himself without me as his special education teacher (and in the role of his Mom) was very hard for me. It was difficult to let go and let the new teacher take over his education during those 8 hours. I'd been his teacher for almost two years before. That's when I made the "All About Alex" book. It was to tell her that he was a student and my son with a lot of potential. I wanted his teacher to see past the oddities that makes up autism and sees that Alex has amazing learning capabilities. I realized when I was writing this article, the real purpose of it for me was for his teacher to see past his label. Sometimes as a teacher, it is hard to see past the outside of the student or the label and realize there's a student who wants the chance to live up to his or her potential!

A is for Ability. Alex is now in second grade and is able to go through the day fully included! He makes A's and B's and has lots of fun. He's also playing T-ball this spring and absolutely loves it!

A is for Advocacy. Not only am I Alex's advocate, but I'm also an advocate for all my students. Along with our students' parents, we are our student's best advocate. We are the ones who can set the stage for the future success of our students.

A is for Achieving his potential. The other day we were talking about third grade and beyond, and Alex began talking about lying on his back and looking at the stars. At first I was puzzled about what he was talking about, but then I realized he is talking about the fifth grade and his class at school. His teacher has a planetarium-type tent that the students crawl into and lie on their backs and look at stars. This made my heart soar! He's already looking forward to fifth grade!

A is for Appreciation. It's hard to hear criticism. Sometimes I think other teachers need to realize how difficult it is to hear criticism about Alex. He is my son. I am his Mom. I have a newfound appreciation for my students' parents. I can relate in a different way and can share stories, offer guidance, and so forth. I try to give them hope, and I temper any difficulties as best as I can in order to offer them encouragement.

A is for Aspiration - achieving his hopes and dreams. More than anything, I want to see Alex live out his choices when he grows up. He has a fascination with trash trucks. He's told us he wants to be a trash truck driver. I think that's great! Every time the trash truck comes through our neighborhood, Alex runs to the window to see it and says in a very excited manner, "It's a trash truck, Mom!"
Any profession he chooses will be fine to me because it would be fine for Alex.

A is for Adoption It warms my heart when people tell me how much Alex looks like me or my other children – and he does! He also has our sense of humor and is very witty. Everyone says Alex is so blessed to have us, and that we've made a difference in his life. We are the ones who are blessed – the ones who have been changed.

"A" may be the first letter in Autism, but to me "A" is for every student's ability, appreciation of life, aspirations, and achieving their hopes and dreams! A is for Alex!

Michelle Hicks, M.Ed., currently teaches in an early intervention autism classroom and is the Mom of Alex and 3 more beautiful kids.