The Trucker Buddy of the Month of February 2010 is Shelia Logan.

Shelia Logan was St. Colman's is a residential school for students
with autism. We serve a variety of students ranging in age from 5 to
21 years. Students with autism generally have a difficult time
socializing with others in their home and school environments as
well as with people in the community. St. Colman's serves students
with autism in many ways providing special education, speech
therapy, occupational therapy, music therapy, and vocational training.
Sharon Mahoney a teacher for St. Colman residential school for
students with autism was introduced to your organization by a
coworker who found one of your advertisements in a magazine. She
took the opportunity to enroll the Jr. and Sr. High students in the
Trucker Buddy program. The class was eventually matched with
Sheila Logan, a professional driver who drives for Interstate Distributors
living in California.

Due to the fact that autism students generally have a difficult time socializing with other Sheila decided to communicate many ways, using postcards, letters and pictures, Facebook messages, and even phone calls to me, just to check in on a more personal level. When writing to the classroom, Sheila uses clear concise language and vocabulary, writing in terms most of our severely delayed students can understand. She describes the pictures and photo postcards that she sends in simple detail, making correlations between what she has experienced in her travels and that which the students are familiar.

“Our students enjoy communicating with Sheila and were absolutely thrilled when she called us saying she was near our area and able to come visit. Sheila drove her truck into our parking lot and settled in for the day, spending most of her time with me following my speech therapy schedule with the Jr. and Sr. High students. She gave us all a tour of her truck and we met her cat, Silky, who travels with her across the country. Each of our students had an opportunity to sit in her truck and honk the horn,” say Ms. Mahoney.

Sheila then brought the students to the back of her truck and showed them that she had recently delivered a large amount of talcum powder. She encouraged the students to reach down and feel the dusting of powder in the bed of the trailer. She described the powder as "soft" and asked each one how it felt to them. Ms. Mahoney said, “This may seem quite simple and not very interesting, but for our severely disabled students these opportunities do not come along every day. Many of them may never be that close to a large vehicle again. Touching it, sitting in it, honking the horn, and talking about places all across the country provide real life experiences that teach concepts, communication and many language skills in practical, real life ways. I believe Sheila is the Trucker Buddy of the month, every month.”