"We Don't Say Those Words in Class!"

 I was subbing for an autism class last week.  There is an overweight substitute teacher that comes to the school on a regular basis.  Her attire is not very neat mainly because  it’s probably hard for her to find clothes that fit. The clothes she wears are always a material that clings to her body, and you can really see how overweight she is.  I was taking three of the autism students to music and all three stopped and started laughing and pointing at this teacher.  I advised them to stop because that’s not nice. One of the students covered his mouth and he was getting ready to say she is “fat”.  I had to hush him up and pass by her quickly. I started to not to have a conversation with him because of him being in special ed, but he knew exactly what he was doing.  I pulled him to the side when we got to music and said that his actions weren’t nice. We have to be mindful of the things we say and do. I reminded him that we must say nice things to people regardless of how they look.  I advised him that we all come in different shapes and sizes. As an anti-bias educator, I would support the discussion by showing pictures of people of all different sizes. However, we must accept people of all body types.