Dear: Karate for All
As April comes to a close, Jeff and I are reminded of the fact that it was just a year ago that Brandon became a member of the Karate for All program, and I felt that this would be a most appropriate time to put a testimonial together for you, Wayne. Use all or part, but accept it with our most sincere thanks -
When Brandon first visited Karate for All for the very first time in April 2007, none of us was quite sure what to expect or whether or not he would want to join the program. All we knew, at the time, was that we were fed up with the constant taunting and teasing, public humiliation and personal frustration, and regular physical attacks against our son. We were, in fact, on the verge of signing him up to take some sort of physical defense class so that, at the very least, he could defend himself to some degree against his peers who regularly used physical violence as a way of hurting and humiliating Brandon, simply because he was "different."
At the time, we were just a year into the official diagnosis that confirmed that Brandon had Aspeger's Syndrome, an autism spectrum disorder. While my husband had, for nearly a year, suspected that was the case, only after the diagnosis did I begin to learn about the disability that Brandon will live with every day of his life. Over the course of the year following the diagnosis, I sought and received support and guidance from Brandon's elementary school principal and his teachers. While they held my hand nearly step of the way, what they couldn't do was counter the clear culture that most children are raised in at home: people that are "different" in a way that you can't see are to be ridiculed, ostracized, and picked on -
Continued.........