At Lincoln Pre-K in Tiffin, the smallest gestures can change a child’s school day. When Blair Krause, a young student who is autistic and nonverbal, became attached to an old mat near her classroom door, her teacher moved the mat to story time so Blair could join her classmates from the spot where she felt safe — and took it home to wash it, too, according to a Tiffin City Schools feature published Nov. 1.
That teacher was Lindsey Distel, who now serves as Tiffin City Schools’ Director of Early Learning, leading the same Lincoln Pre-K where the Krause family first knew her, the district reported. Blair is now in second grade, and her younger sister, Meredith, attends Lincoln.
"We were new parents with a new diagnosis for our kid," Pam Krause told Tiffin City Schools. She remembers a teacher who focused on Blair’s strengths and kept thinking about ways to help her participate, and she describes what Distel did for her daughter as life-changing, according to the district’s feature.
Lincoln’s integrated preschool classrooms, where children with and without special needs learn together, gave Blair that opportunity, Garrett Krause told Tiffin City Schools. He remembers other children helping Blair during activities and how much it meant to see her learning alongside them.
Distel’s path to the classroom started early. She spent time in her mother’s special education classroom at Noble, graduated from Columbian High School in 2000, studied early childhood education at Bowling Green State University and earned a master’s degree in special education at the University of Toledo, according to Tiffin City Schools. She taught in Fremont before returning to Tiffin, first in elementary special education and later at Lincoln, and pursued her administrative license through the University of Findlay.
"Independence can look very different for each child," Distel told Tiffin City Schools. She greets children with high-fives and fist bumps as they arrive and joins classroom activities herself. "Getting in and interacting with them is very important to me," she told the district, adding that she wants children to feel glad to be at school and proud of what they are learning to do.
Lincoln secretary Sarah Brill told Tiffin City Schools that Distel is the person with a plan, a backup plan and a spreadsheet — and someone who remembers what it was like to be a classroom teacher. "She does expect a lot out of everybody, but she’s very supportive," Brill told the district.
The Krauses still send Distel pictures of Blair as she grows, and they have joined a committee with Lincoln staff to discuss what is working and what could improve, including making school events more accessible to families, Tiffin City Schools reported. "You get the same Lindsey every time," Pam Krause told the district.
Photo: Gammon-m, CC BY-SA