Student Teaching w/MS

[hodgeshs]

Hello I discovered this forum today and look forward to hearing everyone's stories.

I was diagnosed in April w/RRMS and put on Avonex. After 4 serious exacerbations and 6 IV steroid treatments, I am looking fwd to starting Gilenya next week.

I will also start my internship as a post-bac student teacher on 1/24. I'm equal parts excited and terrified. I was hoping to keep my MS a secret because I hope to gain employment shortly after my internship. Unless I can convince my mentor that I'm permanently wobbly, I doubt that is possible.

Does anyone have any advice/tips or would like to just share?

[heliotrope]

I've done teaching in a couple different settings over the last year or two. One of them was basically as a student teacher under a more experienced teacher.

I was honest about the MS (mostly because mine causes vision issues -there were weeks when I couldn't see my students). But I was also really honest about what I could do. That meant planning for electronic sessions instead of office hours some days. It worked and everyone ended up happy.

If you decide to have the discussion, I think my biggest suggestion would be that you explain exactly what your limits are. If you get tired, explain how you'll tell your mentor that. If you need help reaching for something, do the same. It means that you don't come off looking lazy (or drunk, as in a few horror stories I've heard) and you can succeed in what you're best at.

My caveat is this... I had the same discussion with someone else that I had taught for (and wasn't teaching for after diagnosis)... it taught me that people have a lot of wrong assumptions about MS. Just be aware and be prepared to deal with.

[hodgeshs]

Thank you so much Heliotrope for your input. I am more apprehensive about the "MS talk" than the teaching. Knowing that you told and still did well gives me courage and hope!

[heliotrope]

I'd glad. Hoping for the best

[Tash1217]

How are you doing now?