You’ll notice that I always refer to my students with autism as “students with autism” or “readers with autism.”  I don’t use the word “autistic.”

It’s my personal preference and also, I think, is a best practice we educators should adopt, referring to the person first, and then the disability.

If we place the disability before the child, then we are sending one of two messages:

1.  that the child is the disability; or
2.  that the disability is the main descriptor of the child.

If all we see of a child is the autism, we are missing something huge.  We’re missing the person, and if we let the autism obscure our view of the person, we are not going to teach the child.  We’re going to teach the autism.

I’m not interested in doing that.

A child may have autism, or live with autism.  She’s a child first.  The autism she has is a feature, much like her hair color, sweet tooth, or athletic ability.

When a child enters my classroom, I look right at him.  He’s my focus, not his disability.  It’s the child to whom I commit myself, whom I love and hope to nurture, not the condition he lives with.

Related posts:

1. Why I object to the term shadow