Recently I have not checked e-mails very often so this is a late comment. In previous posts I have talked about our autistic granddaughter who has learned and is still learning to quilt. In ARD meetings at school with some highly educated (?) administrative people in attendance, I have taken examples of her work. So few of these "professionals" have understood the great accomplishment of this skill. Usually, the classroom teachers, especially the art teachers, get it. It amuses me to note that the classroom teachers are normally dressed in comfortable shoes, practical working clothes, with down to earth attitudes and expectations while the administrative group appear in the latest fashions with perfect hair and make-up and absolutely no clue concerning our kids accomplishments. It would appear that these "dressed-up" models are more interested in themselves than the kids, so there could not be any kind of appreciation for any accomplishments of these special kids. I would assume that giving these people anything that did not have a designer tag would be totally unappreciated. On the other hand most of the teachers who see her daily in the classroom understand how hard she has worked on her quilting project and the talent she has for putting colors together as well as her quality workmanship. Haley is now 15 and continues to make great strides. The school has only wanted to teach her to print and has really refused to introduce cursive writing. Haley, with a little help from me, has taught herself to write, but at the beginning of this school year began bringing home work papers which were those pre-k work sheets which have the kids tracing the letters and numbers!!!!!!! I just don't get it, and I hope I left them "burned up" after our recent meeting where I told them they had wasted their time, Haley's time, my time!!!! If we think we have a lot invested in our quilting supplies, can any one of us even calculate the amount of money that has gone into the education (??????) of these people for special needs children??? Then there is their salaries which our tax money pays!!!!!!! When I read comments about not being thanked or appreciated for the gift of a quilt, I am remined of the educators who have no appreciation for the accomplishments of a developmentally challenged student. You can bet your behind that some of the educators I've seen couldn't understand how important quilts were to the pioneers or how a lot of them were so clever in using their scraps to produce an article to protect themselves and their families from the cold. By the way, my best friend is a 4th grade teacher. She is just as surprised as I over some of the attitudes from school, and like I stated earlier it has normally been the classroom teacher who understands the efforts and accomplishments of their students and for these teachers, I have great love and appreciation.