“People usually think I’m a lenient teacher when it comes to allowing students to bring electronics into my classroom. But when a seventh-grader broke out his video game in class, I quickly refused. I rejected his requests to play the video game at school until one day he offered to play with another student who also had autism. I was excited about the fact that these students, who both have autism, wanted to engage socially by playing a game together. After receiving permission, the students began an activity that continued for several weeks and became a vehicle to build relationships across the classroom. I even bought two controllers for my classroom and am in the market for two more. As a teacher, I’ve learned that it’s important to think differently about traditional classroom norms in order to reach everyone, not just academically, but socially as well.”