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Father's sweet gesture after girl with autism 'left in tears' over report card

The father of a Tasmanian girl with autism has been praised for his adorable reaction to the girl’s school report card, after she became upset from receiving all Ds.

Shane Jackson told how his 10-year-old daughter Sophie, who has autism spectrum disorder, cried as she told him she had “let everyone down” with her grades.

“Sophie and my partner were so upset, mainly because she had tried so hard,” said the dad, who is the national president of the Pharmaceutical Society of Australia.

Sophie Jackson, second from left, with her brothers Will, 11; Ben, 13; mum Fiona; and dad Shane. Source: Shane Jackson
Sophie Jackson, second from left, with her brothers Will, 11; Ben, 13; mum Fiona; and dad Shane. Source: Shane Jackson

While he told Yahoo7 “Sophie loves her teacher” and appreciated the support all her teachers give to the students, Dr Jackson wanted to lift his daughter’s spirits after the report card, by grading her on the things he valued outside the standard curriculum.

He made his own report card, and awarded his girl either an A or A+ for categories like “imagination”, “drawing” and “best daughter ever”.

He tweeted a picture of the new report card, which has since gone viral.

“My daughter who has ASD received straights Ds on her report today,” he tweeted.

“She cried and said ‘I’ve let everyone down’. This is my report card for her.”

His tweet was met with more than 1000 heartfelt messages of support for Sophie and praises for the dad’s creative parenting.

Some responded saying they would adopt the approach with their own children with autism who, like Sophie, are not excelling at school.

Dr Jackson said the messages on social media left his daughter with a “beaming smile”.

“The response has been overwhelming,” he updated in a follow-up tweet.

“And she has loved the positive twitter comments – especially on her art,” he added.

“Sophie feels so supported by everyone in the twitter world.”

He said it was important to show other children with learning difficulties they were “not alone”.

“Sophie was over the moon with her ‘new’ report.”