Laura Ferguson never dreamed of being a teacher; it was something she never thought she could do.

Instead, she earned a degree in psychology and was on her way to being a gerontologist when her youngest son was diagnosed with autism.

From that day on, her focus has been helping children with disabilities.

In October, her work with special needs children in Alvarado ISD was recognized by Score a Goal in the Classroom when she received the Bayard H. Friedman Hero Award for “being the most outstanding special education teacher in North Texas.”

“It is very humbling and very nice,” said Ferguson, a life skills teacher at Alvarado Intermediate School. “Ellen Cooper, Arlene Gallagher and a lot of other people all came together and did the nomination without me knowing.

“I was honored that people would take the time to nominate me because it was not just a check box thing. It took a lot of time and thought, and I appreciate what they did.”

Cooper, assistant superintendent for instruction, said the decision to nominate Ferguson was an easy one.

“Laura embodies the student-centered teacher,” Cooper said. “She doesn’t plan her days for her personal ease but for the educational growth and benefit of her students. There is no down time in her classroom. Each student has an individual plan that starts at the beginning of the day and ends as they get on the bus.

“There is urgency in Laura that is special. She only has the students for a finite amount of time so she feels like she has to make the most of that time. We are so fortunate that Laura has chosen Alvarado ISD as her professional home.”

As soon as her son was placed in general education classes, Ferguson began working on her teaching certification.

In the eight years since she began teaching, she has been involved with the preschool program for children with disabilities at Alvarado Elementary North and the life skills class at the intermediate school.

Her first four years were spent with the preschool program at AEN, and she is in her fourth year at AIS.

“Each child that comes into the classroom can learn; I take that as a given, even with the great range of disabilities we see” she said. “When I learned my son had autism, I made the decision to help other children like him, and that’s what I’m dedicated to now.”

One of the few things that separate special education and general education teachers is communication, with the students and parents.

“A big part of what we do is parent communication because a lot of our kids can’t tell their parents what they did during the day,” she said. “We have what we call a communication log for parents that tells absolutely everything we did, and a lot of days it is different for every child because they all go at their own pace.

“The amount of respect I have for general education teachers to handle that many kids and have to differentiate … wow,” Ferguson said. “I’m very happy where I am. It’s slower paced in the material we cover, but you have to keep up with each one of them. Some are here, some are there, but we bring it all together and it works.”

Visitors to Alvarado Intermediate School would have a pretty good chance of seeing Ferguson or one of her aides walking the halls with students.

Her students go to PE, recess, lunch and fine arts classes with their peers, and a second classroom in the sixth-grade hall is used for reading and social skills classes, so there are several chances throughout the day for her class to be among the general education students.

“My kids love to get out of the classroom because they don’t get the opportunity very often,” she said. “It’s really good for the general education students to see us out because they’re going to see people with disabilities throughout their lives and the younger they are exposed to it the better.”

Several sixth graders have even signed up to be Life Skills volunteers as well.

“They get a chance to see they are boys and girls, have friends and people who love them just like they do,” Ferguson said. “I think Alvarado is doing a great job in how they interact, especially at the intermediate school.”