“This boy is in your ranks now. And I need you all to help me.
His brain grew up differently than a lot of ours. It grew up focusing on protecting Zeke from being overwhelmed by sounds, and light, textures, and smells.
His senses are stronger than ours. And so while we were growing and paying attention to other babies…and learning how to behave and react…he was paying attention to the way sun hit his moms earrings, or how loud the dog was…and he missed out on all that social training we didn’t even realize we were getting.
He runs to class, he doesn’t know his graduation year, he gets really confused in busy hallways, and he loves that he can tell what year you are by the color of your ID badge.
If you see this kid, say “Hi Zeke!” and don’t get offended if he doesn’t respond. He heard you. And he feels a little more confident now that someone knows his name.
Ask if he’s doing okay, if he likes class, or if he has any questions.
Compliment his band tshirts. He LOVES Panic! At the Disco.
He may answer you. He may stare at the floor. He may run away. But he’ll know that you care.
And I promise you, that will help him feel better than he feels when people laugh at him. Because he does notice when people laugh at him. He just doesn’t know why.
I am raising a very VERY strong kid. Please do me a favor and raise very kind kids in return.”
Credit: Cara Thulin