A young girl who has autism was left upset and feeling like she had "let everyone down" after receiving straight Ds on her school report for the second year in a row. However, rather than be annoyed at the grades, her dad decided to cheer her up in the cutest way possible.
Shane Jackson, from Tasmania, found it difficult to see his nine-year-old daughter Sophie so upset about her report, so he made her a new one which highlighted everything she is good at, including: being funny, loving dogs and, of course, being the best daughter ever.
Sophie was diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder at the age of three and is now in mainstream education and having an after-school education.
Speaking to Huffington Post, Shane said:
“She has been working so hard and we have seen some great out of school improvements. So we [Shane and his wife Fiona] and Sophie were really positive that there may have been some improvements.
“Then Sophie received the report and she was just so disappointed because she had tried so hard and honestly thought that she may be at a higher level than last year. From our perspective, we know she had tried hard and were very comfortable with her effort, whatever the report said.
“That’s when I thought I’d give a report of all the things that make Sophie unique and makes her, her. She loved it and has been so upbeat since I gave it to her, it has the effect I wanted.”
Shane took to Twitter to share the report because he believes it is “important to show others they are not alone” and Sophie has loved all the nice twitter messages he has been sent in response.
One person commented: “As someone with ASD, I can really empathise with this. One of my friends has medium-functioning autism and broke down after seeing his report card. I wish I could have done what you did. No-one deserves to feel like that. Ever.”
A teacher added: “I love this. I am a special school teacher, have been since 1987. The biggest issue for me is the requirement to put square pegs in square holes in assessment due to the bloody national curriculum. I love the individual nature of my students and celebrate with them.”
Sophie decided to repay her dad and wrote a report about him as well. Amazingly, he managed to get an A+ for being the best dad ever and also for being annoying. Sadly, for Shane, he could only manage a B for being funny. Taking to her newly formed Twitter account, Sophie said:
"hey, i thought i would do a report card for my Dad. if anyone else wants to do one for their dad or mum, you can reply with a photo of it to this tweet. should be fun!"
It's a lovely act of parenting from Shane and an example of parenting done right. At the end of the day, your school grades don't define who you are.
