Autistic Boy Fails Exams, But The Touching Letter Teacher Sends Home Will Bring You To Tears
By Zack Walkter
7 years ago
Twist said she had been moved by the fact someone had taken the time to personally write to her son “and say thank you and to consider him as a whole person and celebrate all the other great skills that he has”.
And like the school, Ben’s mum said that regardless of the results she is proud of her son for sitting the exams. “When I looked at his actual scores he achieved what we thought he would. The fact he did it is amazing,” she said.
Twist spent up to 18 months trying to get Ben into Lansbury Bridge, rated ‘good’ by Ofsted, and she said it was worth it: “The school has unlocked how he learns and it’s [a] very personalised and very visual style of learning, which meant he could sit the test without worrying or panicking, which is amazing.”
When the letter was read to Ben, he said: “Wow. Do they really think that about me? I feel amazing.”
Twist thought the letter was so fantastic she decided to share it on Twitter. She didn’t expect it to receive more than 3,000 retweets and 6,000 likes.
In tears. A letter to my 11 yr old autistic son from his school. "These tests only measure a little bit of you" pic.twitter.com/e9OPECidxX
— Gail Twist🐝 (@gailtwist) July 9, 2016
“My phone didn’t stop with alerts. It’s been on the TV in US and [in a] Portuguese newspaper,” Twist added.
“With everything that’s going on in the world especially the UK, it’s nice to have something that reminds us about being human and… I’m glad I can contribute to that.”
And many people have sent Ben supportive messages since hearing about his story.
https://twitter.com/StaceyDooley/status/753149604015722496?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.buzzfeed.com%2Fvictoriasanusi%2Fthis-school-sent-an-11-year-old-autistic-boy-a-heartwarming
good job Ben!!!! Awesome!!!!!?
— Marcus Anthony (@taharka32) July 9, 2016
I just love this. Well done Ben.. @gailtwist https://t.co/zdmQVjqkZ2
— Geth (@GethincJones) July 12, 2016
Ms Clarkson told BuzzFeed News “I wanted Ben to know how proud we are of him as he has worked so hard and made great progress this year. We are a special school and it so important to us to measure progress in many different ways as I have outlined in my letter.”
Credits: buzzfeed.com
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