matters VOLUME 3, ISSUE 1 — 2015
my miriam story Miriam is now
a Family Affair Submitted by Erin Stiegler
O
ur Miriam journey began in 2008 when my husband, Bruce, and I learned that our family would be relocating to St. Louis from Virginia for his job. One snowy night, Bruce was exploring a neighborhood in St. Louis where he’d seen some houses for sale when he struck up a conversation with a woman who was walking her dog. Bruce called me later that night to say that based on his description of our daughter, Greta, the woman suggested we look into the school where she taught. The woman Bruce spoke to that wintry evening was Miriam School teacher, Dr. Kathie Pontikes. With over 30 years of experience in teaching children with learning disabilities, it probably isn’t surprising that she was absolutely correct about Miriam being a good fit for our daughter. Greta is a lovely, kind, intelligent, funny and caring person who happens to be on the autism spectrum. We had a thorough IEP at her school in Virginia. She received extra help, accommodations, and everything else we could manage to put in place. We hoped that this would allow her to succeed in an inclusion class with typical kids. But we eventually had to face the fact that she was really only able to get work done and feel relaxed and successful in the resource room -the room where it was smaller, quieter, where she could sit on a ball chair, have a fidget in her hands, and work at her own pace with lots of personal attention. When she’d return to the bigger, noisier class things would not work out. And Greta felt bad being removed from class. She felt bad being one of the kids who had to leave her friends and go off somewhere else. So when we found Miriam, it was
Greta (left) and Erin Stiegler
“ T he caring and honesty of the teachers at Miriam supported not just Greta, but our whole family.”
like a light bulb went off. Here is the small, personal, quiet, caring “resource room” where she can succeed, except it’s the whole school! And ALL the kids are there. No one has to leave. No one is the “different” kid. At Miriam, Greta could be just one of the gang. She got what she needed to succeed at school while also getting to feel like a regular part of the community. It helped her self-esteem more than I can say. Greta spent the next five years at Miriam, from third to – Erin Stiegler seventh grade, and her time there prepared her for high school and life in many ways. The emphasis on flexible thinking has been a huge help to her, as well as on self-advocacy and finding strategies to work around her disability. But most of all I think simply the experience of getting to feel like a successful, intelligent, valued part of a school community was the biggest help. Today Greta is a ninth grade student at Grand Center Arts Academy (GCAA) where she earned all A’s in her academic classes. She is passionate about the arts and dance, and is a performer in Circus Harmony. We are very proud of her. A Family Affair continued on page 4 >
Unlocking your child’s potential.