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classroom. They also did not plan to hire an aide for me but my parents insisted. I was lucky my parents knew school law because they were both teachers. I had speech therapy, occupational therapy, and physical therapy. My occupational therapist taught me how to write and tie my shoe using backward chaining. My speech therapist taught me how to annunciate and listen to words. My parents paid a physical therapist to work with me and build up the strength in my legs. I learned how to ride my bike around the parade circle at Virginia Military Institute before 3 rd grade. I also learned to swing myself by pumping my legs. This sensation of swinging gave me quite a feeling. I enjoyed this feeling up through middle school. I was scared of loud noises in the cafeteria at school. Therefore, I ate in the storage room off the main office. I was also scared of fire drill bells. Someone would take me outside before the bells went off. Three bad things happened to me while in this school system. I was diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) so I had a hard time sitting down for eight hours. My teacher would allow me to walk around in the hallway when I was restless. My principal did not like me being in the hall and he would make me get into push up position in the office in front of parents, students, and other faculty members. My occupational therapist walked in the door one day and saw this. She called my mom to tell her what my principal was doing and a meeting with the principal was scheduled. They made available some training on autism for him.

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