Dad Pens New Report Card For Daughter With Autism To Let Her Know Grades Aren’t Everything

For some parents, their children’s report card is everything. This has become a norm in the education sector that the amount of importance put on this piece of paper tend to force students to see it as something that will define who they are.

That is not the case for Shane Jackson. In fact, the dad-of-three from Tasmania did something unexpected after his nine-year-old daughter, Sophie, broke down in tears after seeing her school report card.

For Shane Jackson and his wife, Fiona, their children Ben, Will, and Sophie are everything

Sophie Jackson felt that she had “let everyone down” after she received her report card and found out that she got straight Ds. She was so disappointed at this because she got the same grades last year and had been working hard to turn things around ever since.

Shane was devastated after learning that his nine-year-old daughter, who was diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), felt this way. Because of this, he decided to create his own report card to acknowledge all the things she is good at.

Shane wrote this report card for Sophie and shared it on Twitter

In the new report, Shane listed down everything Sophie is good at and gave her a grade not lower than an “A” for each of them. He also included her imaginative prowess and told her that she was the “best daughter” by giving her an A+ in those “subject” areas.

When she was only three years old, Sophie was diagnosed with ASD, a condition characterized by problems with communication and social interaction. But even with her condition, she is receiving education from mainstream school. After she got straight Ds from last year’s report card, she had been working extra hard to make her parents proud with the help of additional tutoring three times a week.

“She has been working so hard and we have seen some great out of school improvements,” Shane said in an interview with Huffington Post UK.

“So, we [Shane and his wife Fiona] and Sophie were really positive that there may have been some improvements. Then, Sophie received the report and she was just so disappointed because she had tried so hard and honestly thought that she may be at a higher level than last year,” he continued.

He and his wife strongly believe that Sophie tried her best and are happy with how she’s doing. But after his daughter got her school report, he thought that it is time to show her that she is not alone and that her efforts are appreciated.

“From our perspective, we know she had tried hard and were very comfortable with her effort, whatever the report said.”

After sharing their story, Shane received a lot of comments on Twitter, commending what he did for his nine-year-old daughter.

There were also some who appreciated how he acted to help her daughter with autism get over that awful feeling of disappointing the people she love

And, of course, the most important response he got was from Sophie, who shared the report card she made for her father on Twitter.

Sophie's report card for his father reciprocates his love for her

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