Made for TV movie

Last night, the A-man and I watched a made-for-TV movie called “Front of the Class.” It was a Hallmark presentation and was an amazing (true) story about a teacher from the US named Brad Cohen. The actual movie was based on a book of the same name. The reason we made a point of watching this movie was because in addition to being an incredibly talented and dedicated teacher, Brad Cohen has Tourette Syndrome.

I will admit it – the movie brought tears to my eyes. As a parent of a child with TS, I could empathize with the mother of this remarkable man, and I could also appreciate the frustrations that he must have experienced while growing up.

It was amazing how they were able to portray the actions/reactions of the teachers and students as he was growing up, and even more how everyone tried to remain politically correct while he was going through the interview process as a young adult. The actors did an incredible job of portraying the verbal ticks that Brad lives with – both the child and adult actors were amazing at carrying on life in a ‘normal’ manner while making odd noises and moving in jerking motions.

As we watched the movie, the A-man kept repeating how he was so grateful that he doesn’t have the verbal ticks that were shown in this movie. The A-man has a head-shake tick, and has recently begun an eye-lift tick. (His eye brows rise up as if he were surprised about something.) The stutter that developed when he was between Grades 7 & 8 has never really dissipated, but we do see times when it is both really pronounced and really relaxed. While we watched the movie, I did have the chance to explain to him that it is possible that a more vocal tick could happen in the future. He was very aware of that, and I must say, he seems to have a very positive outlook on it too. I don’t know if he will remain as positive should it happen, but at least he is prepared and I think his view on life is very remarkable for a teenager of 15.

Actually, one thing that he said that made me laugh was that he has friends in school that don’t even realize that he has TS. Some of the new friends have noticed he does the head-shake during exams – high stress times – but he told me that they just assumed that he was working through the answers in his head, and was saying “No” to himself before writing the answer. I hope that by watching the movie he learned some very positive ways to discuss Tourettes.

My biggest hope, though, is that he never experiences the negative reactions that Brad Cohen had to face; the Principal that said he would hire him if he promised to not make the noises while teaching, the people in the bars that continually turn and stare/glare while he is having a relaxing time with friends. I hope he always has friends – and girlfriends - that are able to ignore the ticks and see the real person that is behind the odd facial expressions.

As a young man, Brad Cohen was very fortunate to have the Principal that recognized that he truly could not help the noises and made a point of educating the entire school about it and not allowing the bullying and rude behavior of both adults and students. Once he was ready to look for full time work, it took a long time for him to find school staff members that were able to embrace him and welcome him into the teaching profession, but his perseverance was remarkable. The most ironic part of Brad Cohen’s story? The students (Grade 2) never had a problem with seeing past the noises; it was always the adults that couldn’t cope. He even had one student pulled from his first class because the father didn’t think he would be able to “properly” teach his child while ticking!

My biggest hope though, after watching this movie, is that a number of people were educated about the neurological disorder that is Tourettes. I hope that there are less jokes about the swearing, and more people willing to learn – and accept – that not everyone can be the same. What a boring world we would live in if that were true.

I’m so proud of the A-man. Like Brad Cohen, he is very aware of his own self worth and I pray that he is able to succeed in a similar manner.

“Front of the Class” – if you have a chance, watch the movie. I’m going to be looking for the book very soon.