Making A Difference

I was subbing in a fifth grade special ed class. All the kids had been identified by teachers as ADHD or some emotional based disorder. Toward the end of the class, I had pulled out my knitting while the five kids were packing up or finishing their classwork. One kid who had been very quiet came up and very shyly asked what I was doing. I told him and let him touch the yarn.

I asked him if he wanted to try it. I knew I could not teach him how to knit if five minutes but bless his heart, he was actually talking to me after forty five minutes of just sitting there struggling with math (and unfortunately, I have problems explaining math also).

In five minutes, he was knitting like a pro! I had never seen anyone pick up knitting that fast. When I told him that, his face lit up like a Christmas tree. I gave him some yarn and told him to knit with pencils.

I told the regular special ed teacher about it and she got very excited. It seems this kid had been struggling all year and had problems with concentration, etc.

With her permission, I gave the kid some new yarn and needles. I am just stoked about this.

PS I had posted this on a knitter's forum and some people inferred that I was trying to interfere with the kid's IEP or that I knew better than the teachers. I don't pretend to know about the child's problems but I just wanted to point out that knitting can make a difference in a child's day. Who knows? Maybe this kid will grow up to be a famous knitting designer.