Thread by @penneranna

Let me tell you about the maze book.

When my kid started kindergarten in the @tdsb in 2020 things were HARD.

Not just regular starting kindergarten hard. Really hard.

It was September 2020. The first COVID September. Nobody knew when, or if, school would be starting.

But it started.

My kid is neurodivergent. Being thrown into a room full of 25 loud, unpredictable children and fluorescent light is his idea of hell.

On top of that, a speech delay meant that almost nobody could understand what he was saying through a mask.

He stopped speaking almost entirely at school. We were told that he had Selective Mutism.

Most days, the only time he would talk at school was when he would throw himself down at the entrance, screaming “NO”.

But behind those doors, his ECE was there.

Ms. L took the time to get to know my kid. In a room full of 25 kids, in a pandemic. Really know him.

And in getting to know him, she learned that he loves mazes.

So, almost every day, Ms. L would draw him a maze. Each one with a different theme, each one with a different route.

My kid began to look forward to the mazes. And to doing those mazes with Ms. L.

And, slowly, that meant he began to look forward to school.

That wasn’t all she did, of course.

She intentionally paired him with kids who he might connect with. She worked with us to find learning strategies that would work for him. She made him feel seen.

There are thousands of kids like mine in schools across Ontario. And thousands of educators and school support staff like Ms. L who work every day to support them. All without adequate support themselves.

I’m shattered by the idea of another disruption to education. I hold #FordNation accountable & stand in solidarity with @CUPEOntario & members of the @OntarioNDP like @JILLSLASTWORD

Fight for school support staff, for Ms. L, for kids like mine.

#onpoli #oned #39kisnotenough