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Teacher Honor Roll: The Nominations
Honoree: Meghan Casey, North Pembroke Elementary School
Her Clowning Reaches Autistic Learners
After nearly a decade traveling the world employed in variety of jobs, from circus worker to adventure tour guide to stewardess on a Caribbean yacht, Meghan Casey had an epiphany. "I had been a nomad for 10 years," she recalls. "I didn't have a home. My things were stored in my parents' basement in Hyde Park. I was tired of traveling. I made the decision to come home and figure out what to do with my life." Casey came home and found her niche in Room 305 of North Pembroke Elementary School.
Teaching is in Casey's genes. Her father was an English teacher at Boston Latin School, and she grew up playing school, lining up her dolls for the daily lesson plan. When she returned from Africa in 2003, she began teaching special needs students at the May Center. She discovered both a talent and a calling for the work. She already had a degree from UMass-Boston, so she became certified in special education, joining North Pembroke Elementary in 2005, where she teaches a group of kindergartners and first graders who have autism.
Casey fosters a sense of lighthearted fun in her classroom that belies the serious learning that is taking place. You may hear her call out to her class like a cowboy, "Can I get a Yee Haw?" And the class responds, "Yee Haw!!" Linda Hamilton, one of the paraprofessionals in the classroom, says, "Sometimes, it's like Ms. Casey is one of the kids. During morning exercises, she puts the music on and boogies with the rest of them."
If this teacher is silly, she's silly with a purpose. "These kids live with a lot of frustration," Casey explains. "I want school to be fun. I make it a big circus for them. My time working with Ringling Brothers has come in handy." If a kindergartner who hates math counts to 10, she'll shout with joy, "Oh my God! That was awesome! High five. Go tell the others."
Nancy Milinazzo gets emotional when she talks about Casey's effect on her daughter Mia, whose autism makes social situations difficult. "Ms. Casey facilitates a 'Circle of Friends' for Mia. Four girls from a typical first-grade classroom join Mia each week to play games, talk, and dance. Ms. Casey makes it so much fun that lots of kids want to be part of it." Casey's efforts have given Mia a social framework at school that had been lacking. "This year, for the first time, Mia had classmates come to her birthday party," Milinazzo says, through tears. "You don't know what that means to us."
Casey is determined to integrate her children with other students at North Pembroke as much as possible. For example, she makes sure her students take gym class with their peers, not separately, as they did before her arrival.
In February, as part of Autism Week, Casey decided to throw open her classroom doors and invite all of North Pembroke's students to meet their autistic peers. Children from mainstream classrooms now approach her students in the hallway, at recess, and in the cafeteria with friendly hellos and offers to play. "After we did that, everyone was so excited: the kids in my class, the parents, the kids in other classrooms, the other teachers," she says.
Casey gets teary as she thinks about it. "I realized I did something good," she says. "I'm here. I'm home."
The Nomination Letter
Meghan Casey is a hardworking, dedicated teacher in a program called REACH, which serves children with autism in kindergarten and first grade. She has the patience of a saint. She works tirelessly and is always going the extra mile, doing home visits for every student in the class once a month to help parents deal with any issues they might be having with their autistic child at home. Recently, Ms. Casey brought Autism Awareness week to the school in which she and a speaker from Community Autism Resources went to every class, pre-k to grade six, to inform students on autism and to explain autistic students' behaviors and quirks.
Now, when my family goes to a local restaurant and my son "flips out" over a loud noise, we don't get the rude stares anymore. Instead, we hear, "I saw that boy put on a wonderful puppet show in school, but clapping hurts his ears. He'll be ok." Ms. Casey has not only pushed David to work to his full academic potential, but by bringing autism awareness to the school, she has changed our family's life forever. Thank you, Ms. Casey.
-Eleanor Prosper, parent
