Autistic Boy Fails His Exams, But Receives Powerful Letter From Teacher That Is Quickly Going Viral

Sep 06, 2018 by apost team

A good teacher makes sure that a student learns something. A great teacher knows that the worth of a person is measured by more than academic tests and that crushing a child's spirit is a terrible thing to do.

Ben Twist has autism and was just 11-years-old when he failed his school exams. His teacher, Mrs. Clarkson, sent the test scores home to his parents to let him know how he performed, but she also sent home a loving tribute to Ben to let him know that the scores weren't the end of the world.

apost.com

She spelled out clearly that the tests mattered and shouldn't be disregarded, but they only measured a small part of who Ben is. Her letter then enumerated many good things about him that weren't covered by the test, such as how hard he works, how well he gets along with people and how much progress he has made.

Ben is fortunate to attend a school for special needs students in St. Helens, Merseyside. His mother, Gail Twist, was so pleased to get this lovely letter from the teacher, that she posted it online via Facebook for all the world to see.

It was soon picked up and shared widely.

So Gail was hardly the only person to recognize that living with a disability is often compounded by the bad treatment of other people and this was a rare exception. No matter how good or bad you are at certain things, those specific things don't give the measure of a whole person.

Children are especially vulnerable to getting negative feedback. At the same time, you don't want to ignore a failed test and pretend it doesn't matter at all. The letter hit exactly the right balance of making sure Ben understood that he needed to keep working on the areas measured by the test, while also making sure he didn't feel disheartened because he didn't do well on the test.

Gail got all teary-eyed over it. Presumably many internet strangers did as well since it proved so popular online.

Making sure Ben's self esteem was intact was a brilliant way to make sure he would continue to work hard on his academics without it being a horrible experience. It's clearly one of the things that makes Mrs. Clarkson qualified for her important job.

Did this make you a bit teary eyed? Did it make you think your boss could use a few tips from this teacher? Pass it along and make the world just a little better today.