As a teacher, I found myself stopping and wondering: Do I often only hear babbling where there is, in fact, poetry? How do my assumptions and expectations for student writing and communication block a student’s ability to communicate? Do my expectations work against my intentions?
I found myself wondering how often I failed to allow the time and space for my students with autism to fully articulate their thoughts. Moreover, I couldn’t help but smile at the thought of all inclusion teachers reading this text in replace of the many Professional Development pieces that reinforce the deficit narrative of students with autism.