Ice Cream Poem by Jim Yerman

As I was checking out a father at the bookstore his son began to talk to me…
before I finish…I think it's time for a little history…

For 39 years I taught Autistic students…a career that was as wonderful as it was long…
My job was to help my students, in spite of their weakness…find what made them strong.

I had successes…I had failures…each made me more compelled…
to see their Autism not as something we needed to ignore…
nor as a place we needed to dwell.

I think the moment I became a good teacher was the moment I learned to see…
not the label but the person who was staring back at me.

I return often to that moment when my understanding and my empathy grew…
for not only did it make me a better teacher…but a better person too.

Which brings me back to the young man talking to me…he was wildly gesturing with is hands…his speech was mostly unintelligible…impossible to understand.

So I listened even harder…his eyes I tried to meet…and when he finished I said,
"Sure…it's on the corner…just across the street."

His dad's eyes widened…his mouth dropped even as he continued paying…
"You mean to tell me you understood…" he asked, "everything my son was saying? "

"Oh God no! " I smiled. "My hearing's not that good."
but I believe I heard him mention ‘ice cream' and those two words I understood."

The father smiled as I handed him his book…his transaction was complete…
then he and his son headed out the door…to the ice cream shop across the street.

And once again I thanked my Autistic students…
for helping me discover a way…
to look a little closer
and listen a little harder
to what people are trying to say.