My young daughter has never liked school. She is intelligent but her grades don’t show it, and that has a way of eroding self esteem. She tries hard — harder than many of her neurotypical classmates — but I know she will never make the honor roll.
When it comes to art, though, she is exceptional. She thinks outside the box to create eye-catching and surprising drawings. We both attribute that to her ADHD brain. She spends recess time drawing in one of her notebooks. Classmates, amazed at her artistic abilities, ask her to draw them. One day, a teacher who was on schoolyard duty asked if he could see her drawings. As he flipped through the notebook, his eyes widened. He told my daughter that he’d be right back, and he left.
When he returned, he gave my daughter a sketchpad and told her that she was very talented. This teacher taught art in the upper grades, and he asked if he could keep one of her drawings to display in the art room. My daughter, speechless, said yes.
When she came home from school that day, she was on Cloud 9 — and so was I. I had praised her work, but getting validation from a teacher struck a deeper chord. Lately, she says her dream is to become an animator for Disney. I hope the art teacher knows that his words changed the way my daughter sees herself. A generous word from the right person can make a tremendous difference in a child’s life.