When I picked up Ari today, one of the paras approached me. A para is someone who works one on one with a child who has special needs.
“I wanted to let you know that Ari came up to me on the playground today and let me know that a group of kids were hitting Bryan.** He said that Bryan was telling them to stop and they weren’t listening. They asked him to hit Bryan too, but instead he said he wanted to tell a teacher.”
She said that she was able to stop the kids from hitting Bryan and she thanked Ari for telling her. I, in turn thanked her for telling me the story.
I was glad that Ari spoke up. I was so proud of him, and I told him so.
I can only hope that if one day Ari is in Bryan’s position, another kid speaks up for him.
**Not his real name