Teacher starts each day with compliments for every kid

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Chris Ulmer is no ordinary teacher. And his eight students at Mainspring Academy in Jacksonville, Fla., are not ordinary students. Ulmer is actively working on teaching love and acceptance to his students.

Each of the students in this classroom have special needs, including Autism, Asperger’s, absence of the corpus callosum and traumatic brain injury. Ulmer makes sure that each of these kids knows how special they are, by starting each day with 10 minutes of compliments.

“You, sir, are an amazing student,” Ulmer says to one of the kids. They are face to face. “You are very funny, you’re very smart, you do a great job every day, and you make everyone laugh because you’re so silly. Thanks for being a great student!” Ulmer ends this compliment with a high five before the next child take his place in front of their teacher.

With the collaboration of his students’ parents, Ulmer is on a mission to make a difference in the world. On the Special Books by Special Kids Facebook page, Ulmer writes that he is on a mission to erase social stigmas and show the true nature of his amazing students.  He writes that he “loves to share stories from children with special needs across the world. Together we can make a difference.”

For more stories of special relationships, visit Humankind on Facebook.