The Po Show

Goodbye Ms. C.

I wish I'd typed this out the other day as I'd planned, because now my right index finger is in a huge dressing, thanks to the four stitch laceration I gave myself yesterday.

It's an important story, though, so I'll muddle through with nine fingers.

Tuesday was the last day for Matthew's aide, the beloved Ms. C. Her name is Heather Castellani and she's about 23, thin, blonde, and extremely pretty. She was with Matthew every schoolday from lunch through the end of the day. She facilitated his interaction with other students, helped keep him on track in getting his work done, read his "signs" and recognized when he was starting to lose it and moved in to defuse him. She was amazing and he absolutely adored her. She was the only person he asked to buy a Christmas present for. He called her his favorite teacher.

She got a job as a special ed teacher in another district, which is wonderful. She definitely deserves to be a "real" teacher, rather than a teaching assistant. I found out she was leaving two weeks ago, and was just devastated. The school principal let me know as we waited to pick up Matthew from school, and all I could say "But he LOVES her!"

I saw Ms. C. two days later and she asked me, stricken look on her face, "You heard?" I said I had and that it was great that she'd gotten a teaching job.

"But he LOVES you," I couldn't help adding.

"And I love him," she said, her eyes filling with tears. "I cried. Believe me, I cried."

There's is something about Matthew that inspires real devotion in his teachers. I've never entirely understood it. I mean, *we* love him, but we have to :). He's sweet and smart and can be charming, but he can also be *such* a pain in the ass, so much work to deal with. But he's always been intensely adored by his teachers. When he was two and first was in daycare, he became his teacher Olivia's favorite. The other teachers called him "Olivia's boyfriend" and she called him her "little love." She was a wonderful teacher and person, but slightly reserved and not very effusive, but she was intense about Matthew.

I'll never forget last school year, during a meeting with Matthew's teacher and speech therapist. His teacher was saying that she honestly was so glad that we decided to put him in kindergarten instead of first grade, because if he'd gone into first she wouldn't have had him in her class.

"And I just love him," she gushed.

The speech therapist practically bounced up and down in her seat, she was so enthused. "Oh, I do too!"

Ms. C. loved Matthew too. Before Christmas, she stopped us in the parking lot and slipped Matthew a present. She said she hadn't gotten things for anyone else, so she wanted to give it to him privately. There were several different puzzles and games, all very nice. It was so sweet.

Matthew wanted to get her a going away present, so we went to the mall on Saturday morning before the blizzard hit. We walked all around and he finally decided on a pretty costume jewelry bracelet, with pink roses. He clutched the bag as we continued to walk through the mall, stopping once to look inside the bag and gift box "just to make sure it was all right."

He made her a card, with a big heart on the front with "Good bye" written in the middle. Inside he wrote "To Ms. C., I love you. Matthew S."

I'm constantly struck by how indebted we are to our children's teachers, especially those of us with "special" children who require so much more attention and patience. Ms. C. really helped turn around Matthew's school experience, after a very rocky start at the beginning of the year, and we'll always be grateful to her.