Dear Members of the Local Public School Board,
To learn is to feed my soul, to read is to feed my mind. The easiest thing I do in the course of my day is to read newspapers that my parents leave scattered on every hard surface of our otherwise spotless kitchen. Most reading I do does not take place in school, not because I am incapable of it, but because no teacher believes I am. You should try reading something designed for a young child all day, every day…though the main reading you do for intellectual stimulation at home consists of periodicals written for adults. I am essentially kept in a learning prison that would drive anyone to despair, if they were not persistently determined to read anything they could get their hands on as soon as they left school.
I am autistic and non-speaking. Due to dyspraxia, commonly a comorbid diagnosis with autism, I cannot plan everything my body will do after I tell it to do it. This is because there is a connection issue between my brain and my viciously mischievous body, which operates entirely under its own will, despite my real wishes (“Dyspraxia”). The trouble finds every way to interfere with my behavior so that I am really trying my hardest to find the control necessary to do the thing you asked, despite what it looks like. Seriously, it takes essentially every neuron in my brain to type each of these letters, which means that this letter will take me eons to write. From the outside, I may appear intellectually disabled (ID). But inside, there is a truly stupendous, tumultuous, impetuous young teenager who is more than capable of understanding age-appropriate reading material in school.
The hardest thing about being non-speaking is that the school system serves the autistic student they believe they see, rather than the autistic person that actually exists. The data may state that about 1 in 31 (3.2%) children has been identified as having Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), but the story is more nuanced than the data suggest (Shaw et al.). The reality is that each student needs independent instruction tailored to their sensory and motor planning needs, as well as their intellectual abilities. Choosing to teach autistic students as if they are all ID relegates those of us who are not to learn at a level far below what we are capable of.
The first thing special education (SpEd) teachers should do is determine whether the autistic student is storing their intelligence behind sensory disregulation and dyspraxia, or whether they truly are ID (Courchesne, Valérie et al.). Teachers must alter their approach to match the unique learning profile of each autistic student to prevent students like me from suffering the fate of so many autistic students everywhere.
In the typical SpEd classroom, teachers seem to rely on occupational therapists (OTs) to offer strategies to students on how to organize their sensory system and plan their movements. Instead, teachers, with support from OTs, should help dyspraxic but non-ID students engage with age-appropriate material and regulate their incredibly misbehaving bodies in the regular SpEd classrooms (Abelenda, Mailloux, and Roley).
The reality of dyspraxia is that school feels like a wall that I can’t break through. What I need from teachers is some faith and help to build a door through that wall, allowing me to study the things I crave so that I can create a meaningful life, despite my disability. Give people with autism the chance to show their teachers that they are intelligent. Let them twist up your notions about dyspraxia and autism and teach you how they need to be taught.
Sincerely,
Mouse
Letter Board Speller and Typer
Works Cited
- Abelenda, Judith, Zoe Mailloux, and Susanne Roley. “Dyspraxia in Autism Spectrum Disorders: Evidence and Implications.” SI SIS Quarterly, vol. 38, 2015, pp. 1–3.
- “Dyspraxia: What It Is, Causes, Symptoms, Diagnosis & Treatment.” Cleveland Clinic, 9 Aug. 2022, my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/23963-dyspraxia-developmental-coordination-disorder-dcd.
- Courchesne, Valérie et al. “Autistic children at risk of being underestimated: school-based pilot study of a strength-informed assessment.” Molecular Autism vol. 6 12. 6 Mar. 2015, doi:10.1186/s13229-015-0006-3
- Shaw, KA, et al. “Prevalence and Early Identification of Autism Spectrum Disorder Among Children Aged 4 and 8 Years — Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring Network, 16 Sites, United States, 2022.” MMWR Surveill Summ, vol. 74, no. SS-2, 2025, pp. 1–22. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, http://dx.doi.org/10.15585/mmwr.ss7402a1.