Educators Are SO Important

 A wonderful thing happened a few weeks ago and I wanted to share it here.  

Gerry's tics have been increasing in both frequency and severity the last few months.  His most noticeable one, and the one that bothers him the most, is a hum when he's trying to speak.  It stresses him out, which makes it even more pronounced and noticeable.  His teacher is absolutely amazing and she reached out to us to ask if we'd be okay if she taught a lesson on Tourette Syndrome, and asked Gerry's permission to speak specifically about him and his tics and then let the class ask questions if they had any.  Gerry was totally on board and super excited.

Instead of re-typing it all here, I'm just going to share what I wrote on Facebook.  This was my Facebook post:

To say that his teacher nailed the lesson would be severely understating just how amazing it was.  The kids all paid attention and asked good questions, and it was a great way to "put it out there" for them instead of just letting them wonder why the weird kid is making noise again.  I was so impressed that I wrote an email to the principal and superintendent to let them know what a great thing she did.  I only hope that all of his teachers through the years are as accepting and willing to help educate the class.