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Published May 20, 2012, 12:00 AM

Students with autism


Teacher Stephanie Twardowski, who teaches students with autism at Laura MacArthur School, calms Dakota Corrigan, 12, with a hug and gentle words during a recent class. (Bob King / rking@duluthnews.com)

  • Teacher Stephanie Twardowski, who teaches students with autism at Laura MacArthur School, calms Dakota Corrigan, 12, with a hug and gentle words during a recent class. (Bob King / rking@duluthnews.com)
  • Autistic students at Laura MacArthur delight in a special visit from a golden retriever therapy dog during a recent gym class. (Bob King / rking@duluthnews.com)
  • Tyler Parks, Lilly Filipovich and Brentt Numbers raise their hands to answer questions while listening to a story in class in Valerie Stortz’s room at Laura MacArthur Elementary School recently. Stortz’s students are relatively high-functioning. (Bob King / rking@duluthnews.com)
  • Autistic kids are hyper-aware of their environment and often explore it in basic ways. Here, Jordan Sumter takes a second to smell a nontoxic marker used in class at Laura MacArthur School. (Bob King / rking@duluthnews.com)
  • Jordan Sumter quietly colors during an exercise in his class at Laura MacArthur Elementary School. (Bob King / rking@duluthnews.com)
  • Antonio Perrault, 9, loses his concentration for a moment while playing with a toy in class and begins to move his hands in a rhythmic, repetitive pattern. (Bob King / rking@duluthnews.com)
  • Teacher Stephanie Twardowski assists 9-year-old Antonio Perrault as he plays a game in class recently at Laura MacArthur Elementary School. (Bob King / rking@duluthnews.com)
  • Rayne Okeson, 6, concentrates while stacking squares of different colors on a toy. (Bob King / rking@duluthnews.com)
  • Stephanie Twardowski encourages Cash Goggleye, 6, to rejoin the class after he grew frustrated and collapsed on the floor in the corner of the classroom. (Bob King / rking@duluthnews.com)
  • Brentt Numbers uses a Smart Board to write the day of the week on a calendar in his class at Laura MacArthur Elementary School. (Bob King / rking@duluthnews.com)
  • Brentt Numbers and Lilly Filipovich pick crayons to color in their watermelon drawings during an exercise in class at Laura MacArthur School recently. (Bob King / rking@duluthnews.com)
  • Tyler Parks and Brentt Numbers run around the gym during developmental adapted physical education class at Laura MacArthur Elementary School. Physical exercise has been found to improve behavior and quality of life for children with autism. (Bob King / rking@duluthnews.com)
  • Duluth Denfeld student Matt Morschauser talks about what it is like to be a student with autism at Denfeld High School. “I’ve learned that you should never let your autism hold you back,” he said. “Don’t feel hindered by your disability; let it empower you.” (Clint Austin / caustin@duluthnews.com)
  • Duluth Denfeld junior Matt Finch talks about what it is like to be a student with autism at Denfeld High School. Finch said he hopes to become a biologist. (Clint Austin / caustin@duluthnews.com)
  • Denfeld junior Jacob Guldner has an after-school job working at an auto-body shop. “I have a very weak social filter,” he said. “I know that it’s wrong; I am inappropriate at the wrong times.” (Clint Austin / caustin@duluthnews.com)