Brad Cohen's Case Study: Front Of The Class

Front of the Class is a personal account by Brad Cohen; a teacher who struggles with his disability of Tourette’s syndrome. Tourette’s syndrome is a neurological disorder that caused him to make tics and noises. Brad 's disorder is hereditary. It waxes and it wanes, and people with Tourette’s syndrome have many great abilities on the inside. Brad Cohen is an example of how great someone with so much adversity can be; Brad became a gifted teacher.

Growing up Brad 's teachers would punish Brad for his tics, and disruptive noises that were caused by his Tourette’s. Brad was raised by his father Norman, and mother Ellen in St. Louis, Missouri. His own father who felt ashamed that his own son had an abnormality, that was present to the world. When Brad was growing up, Norman would chastise Brad for his “clowning around”, and warn him to use self-control. Brad grew up at a time when doctors and psychologists would prescribe medicine for his

Everyone makes strange ticks at a baseball game; Brad would fit in just fine. Baseball acted as an outlet and an in with his father who loved the Atlanta Braves. Brad’s father didn’t believe in his son growing up. He saw his child as acting out, not seeing his son for what he was; a person with a gift. Brad Cohen decided to become a teacher. He felt he was born to teach and fell in love with early childhood education. Early on, he didn’t have much luck because while being interviewed he couldn’t hide his flaws like a normal person. His flaw or disability was present to the world. Brad decided to educate those who were interviewing him. He told them he had a brain thing like a sneeze. It was irrepressible; when you have to tic, you can’t control it, he would say. He told them it never caused a problem for him when he was student teaching. All Brad wanted was a chance to be able to prove himself. He felt he was entitled to that chance; under the IDEA they could not deny him his