(no subject)
Dear Parent,
I appreciate that you are able to recognize that your daughter has made progress since coming to our school. I know that admitting her substantial interpersonal and emotional gains, in the absence of bringing home book reports, is very difficult for you. Thanks for having the perspective to see that these areas of growth matter too. But when I tell you that when your daughter speaks to me now, I hear a more authentic voice that's expressing her own ideas instead of the scripted, perseverative speech that was more reminiscent of talking with a machine than a real person, and that instead of only seeing a shell of awkward social mimicry, a girl who understands words but doesn't comprehend meaning, I feel like I'm beginning to know who she is now, and she is too, and you respond with, "But why isn't she reading (age-appropriate) books yet?" and other things that translate in a fundamental way to "But why haven't you fixed her yet? Why haven't you made her be not autistic?" it's harder to maintain my compassion for how painful this is for you, and I kinda want to slap you in the face.
I appreciate that you are able to recognize that your daughter has made progress since coming to our school. I know that admitting her substantial interpersonal and emotional gains, in the absence of bringing home book reports, is very difficult for you. Thanks for having the perspective to see that these areas of growth matter too. But when I tell you that when your daughter speaks to me now, I hear a more authentic voice that's expressing her own ideas instead of the scripted, perseverative speech that was more reminiscent of talking with a machine than a real person, and that instead of only seeing a shell of awkward social mimicry, a girl who understands words but doesn't comprehend meaning, I feel like I'm beginning to know who she is now, and she is too, and you respond with, "But why isn't she reading (age-appropriate) books yet?" and other things that translate in a fundamental way to "But why haven't you fixed her yet? Why haven't you made her be not autistic?" it's harder to maintain my compassion for how painful this is for you, and I kinda want to slap you in the face.