I am so honored to be the "Teacher of the Year" for Fruitville Elementary school. My motto for life is “Never say never.”

This is rooted in the experience of my daughter’s life. Twenty-one years ago, she was born at barely 25 weeks, weighting less than 2 pounds. We were told: she’ll never live, she’ll never breath on her own, she’ll never eat, she’ll never walk, she’ll never write, she’ll never talk, she’ll never be affectionate, she’ll never learn anything past 3rd grade, etc.

She has proven them wrong on every single one.

Through my experiences with her during hospital stays, in school, in therapy after therapy and doctor appointment after doctor appointment, I found my passion in life. I transfer that passion to my classroom. I believe that the most seemingly difficult children can learn if they have true acceptance and a way to communicate.

Acceptance – many of my students are not: able to talk or write, able to feed themselves, able to wipe their noses, able to stay in a seat, are not toilet trained etc. But they can flip a desk, throw chairs, water bottles and notebooks in frustration. Not a typical day in the typical classroom. These children need to be able to trust us and know that we have their best interest at heart. No matter how compromised they are with their disability, the students know if you accept them or not.

Communication – all students need and deserve a mode of communication, a way to communicate their wants and needs so that others can understand them. This is a basic life skill that you and I may take for granted. It is acceptable that a baby can’t talk – the human race is patient with them while they learn to talk, but not so patient with a school age child or adult. The skill of being able to communicate can do many things including helping students show us what they know and helping us to be better teachers. It also helps students let us know what is wrong, thus alleviating some very difficult behaviors.

An interesting thing I learned from having communication systems in place for every student is that some of them knew a lot more than we gave them credit for knowing.

Some behaviors occur because a student is bored, but they can’t tell us. Sometimes the subject is difficult but to properly teach the student we need to know where they are having difficulty. This makes it much easier to break down the skill and teach them in the way that works for them.

Their ability to communicate helps us to be more effective teachers.

In my experience, I have found that if the student’s has these two things – acceptance and a mode of communication – miracles can happen.