ST. CLOUD, Fla. — Even though school is out for the summer, an Osceola County A+ Teacher is hoping her students love of reading carries them until the school bell rings again and beyond.
- Crystal Nori-Gross has Welch the dog help her in the classroom
- She says her autistic students are getting better grades
- Discover more A+ Teachers here
Teacher Crystal Nori-Gross has a tail-wagging tutor at St. Cloud Elementary School to help where she teaches autistic third, fourth and fifth graders.
You can see the focus and concentration on the faces of her students where Nori-Gross is cultivating a love of reading.
Her furry helper Welch is their beloved educational assistance dog.
Nori-Gross says the students love reading to Welch.
"Because they can sit over here in the reading group and read to him and he'll lay down and I think they understand that he's not going to judge them," she said.
A parent nominated Nori-Gross, saying that her teaching style really gets results.
"Coming in at third grade, where they're barely writing their name, barely being able to read simple sentences and to see them now on a cold read having never seen it before was amazing to me," Nori-Gross revealed.
Believe it or not, teaching was not her first career. Nori-Gross was a paralegal for 16 years. She eventually started working as a substitute teacher and was asked to teach in an autism classroom.
That was eight years ago.
"At that time I knew nothing about what autism was. I went into the classroom and I absolutely fell in love with the students," she recalled.
Nori-Gross is humble and hesitant to take the credit, saying the accolades should instead go to her students.
Beaming with pride she smiles when she says, "They're getting hundreds and 80's and they're like, 'Oh I did that!'"
However, her students and their parents say she deserves the recognition.
