[ImJustAnotherOkie]

Or....It harmless, funny inside joke, and a way for the teacher to connect with the rest of the class how sad the situation was but that the class had accepted it and continued.

[from occupied ga]

I don't get the apology - does the fact that he was supposedly autistic mean that he wasn't disrupting the rest of the class? Or is that just a convenient term for a behavioral problem kid who should NOT be in a classroom with students who want to learn (OK most of them probably don't want to be there, but they're at least not disrupting everyone else)

[Alas Babylon!]

If you read it again, it said his teacher from his special education class—not a regular class.

Special education is different. I don’t support this type of award at all.