From Hidden Brain Media, I'm Shankar Vedanthem. This is my unsung hero, stories where one person reached

out to help another in a time of need.

This week is Teacher Appreciation Week.

So for the next few days, we are bringing you stories

about educators who made a powerful impact

on the lives of their students.

My unsung hero was a teacher's assistant named Max in the spring of...

He would refer me to books and stories and I really became an avid reader at that point of

my life. I still remember that day in the hallway of just my teacher being like I know

what's going on and you're going to be okay.

Today's story comes from a very young listener. It's from 13-year-old Lila Hoffa.

For as long as she can remember,

Lila has struggled to express herself in writing.

Her handwriting is sometimes messy and disorganized, and she used to have trouble holding a pen.

In her first years of school, her teachers didn't seem to notice that anything was wrong.

But that changed when she got to third grade and she had a teacher named Mrs.

Valerie Hmongren.

I will never forget one day when I was having trouble doing an

assignment. I was starting to write in the middle of the page, not on the left

hand side like I was supposed to. My writing was

sloppy and the words ran into each other and the lines ran into each other. I went up to

her to see if I could get some help on this. So,

...