To the Editor:
My autistic spectrum children, David and Patrick, age 12, have enjoyed a rich and rewarding experience during the past seven years. That experience has been karate. Focus, self-discipline, coordination, exercise, self-defense, values—these have been the curriculum in their course of karate study. Teaching special needs children, not for just one class, or one week, but year after year, watching them grow and helping develop their growth as persons, requires skills that are a gift. Their karate teacher, Master Noelia Lago, possesses such a gift. Her patience, dedication, and kindness made the rigors of karate “can do” for David and Patrick. This year, they received their black belts in Soo Bahk Do, “The Way of the Striking Hand.” They and I are proud and happy, as we acknowledge our debt to their teacher. Master Lago is also Ms. Lago, teacher of social studies at Lincoln Community School. Her growing involvement in the field of education, from classroom to committees to graduate studies, now means she cannot continue to keep Lago Martial Arts open. Time itself is at a premium. My special needs children and I thank Master Noelia Lago for seven wonderful, enriching years, and wish her success in the future.
JOSEPH GIRONDA