Cairo Association of Teachers - Newsletter

CAT Tracks for December 5, 2008 MOVIE REVIEW

'Front of the Class' tells story of St. Louisan's triumph over Tourette syndrome

By Gail Pennington
POST-DISPATCH TELEVISION CRITIC

Growing up in Chesterfield, Brad Cohen didn't go to many movies. The strange barks and whoops that came out of his mouth, the head twitches and leg jerks he couldn't control, made his presence in a theater so disruptive, he was apt to be asked to leave.

But Thursday night in Los Angeles, Cohen was set to walk a red carpet and then sit down for the premiere of a movie in which he is the unlikely hero.

"Front of the Class," a "Hallmark Hall of Fame" drama airing Sunday on CBS after its Hollywood debut, is Cohen's story. It is based on his book about his battle with — and ultimate triumph over — Tourette syndrome.

Now 34, Cohen still has Tourette's, a neurological disorder that causes frequent, sometimes debilitating vocal and muscular twitches. But he defied it, becoming a teacher and a motivational speaker.

The dramatization of "Front of the Class" is inspiring and upbeat, but Cohen's early life was hardly a Hallmark movie.

In the 1980s, before his Tourette's was diagnosed, young Brad was labeled hyperactive and punished for "cutting up" in school. One teacher made him stand in front of the class and promise never to make noises again — a promise he knew he couldn't keep. Another teacher banned him from the classroom entirely, forcing him to sit facing a wall.

Perhaps most alarmingly, a doctor never diagnosed Tourette syndrome and instead put him on medication for hyperactivity, keeping him on the drugs even after his symptoms grew more severe.

Cohen's book "Front of the Class: How Tourette Syndrome Made Me the Teacher I Never Had," published in 2005 and now out in paperback, doesn't sugarcoat his ordeal.

"I thought it was important to be honest," Cohen said last week from his home in Atlanta. "What happened to me was no reflection on St. Louis or on any school there. But 25 years ago, there was much less awareness of Tourette's. The syndrome was identified in 1895, but even in the '80s, a lot of doctors had never seen anyone with it."

Cohen's hero during this time was his mother, Ellen Goldstein, who still lives in West County. His parents were divorced, and his father, Norman Cohen, moved out of town. But his mother was relentless in seeking a diagnosis and treatment for Brad.

"Doctors considered me a single, nervous mom," Goldstein said. "They just wanted to give him a pill. It was so frustrating that nobody believed me that something more was wrong. I spent hours in the Washington University library, writing down everything I found."

At home, Goldstein, 62, kept Brad and his brother, Jeff, as busy as she could, while constantly reminding them that they could do anything they wanted to do. She was encouraging even when Brad decided he wanted to be a teacher.

Teaching "is the opposite of something you'd think a person with Tourette's would even be inclined to do," said Cohen, who graduated from Parkway Central High School in 1992. But after his eighth-grade principal changed his life by asking him to talk about Tourette's to the entire student body, Cohen had wanted to be "the teacher I never had," helping children realize that whatever their differences, they could all achieve.

The agonizing process of landing a teaching job is depicted in "Front of the Class" by Jimmy Wolk, who plays the adult Brad. Dominic Scott Kay is Brad as a child, and Ellen Goldstein was thrilled to learn that she'd be portrayed by Patricia Heaton of "Everybody Loves Raymond" fame. Treat Williams plays Brad's father.

"I urged Brad to write the book," Goldstein said. "I told him, 'Your story needs to be heard.' He'd say, 'Who's going to read my book?' I'd tell him, 'I am.'"

Others read it, too. "Front of the Class," written with Lisa Wysocky, landed Cohen on "Oprah Winfrey" in 2005 and in People magazine. But his mother wasn't finished; she thought the book needed to become a movie.

So did Tim Shriver, chairman of the Special Olympics, who pitched "Front of the Class" to Hollywood and ultimately to Hallmark.

And so, in September, Cohen and Goldstein found themselves on a movie set in Shreveport, La., watching their story come to life. Goldstein bonded immediately with Heaton, who has four boys of her own. Cohen and his wife of three years, Nancy, even landed cameos in the movie, playing teachers in the scene in which young Brad addresses an auditorium full of students.

Despite a little dramatic license, the movie is "remarkably accurate," Cohen said. He was especially impressed with the actors' ability to replicate his vocal tics. "They recorded me, and they even had a dialect coach on the set to keep the tics consistent," he said.

He planned to attend the Los Angeles premiere (the movie's second, after a low-key one at Hallmark in Kansas City) with Nancy, played by Sarah Drew. Cohen and his wife met on the Internet, where his Tourette's was not an obstacle to romance. "It's great to have a partner," Cohen said.

Goldstein was taking five of her oldest friends, all of whom went to grade school together in University City, to the premiere.

"I'm so excited for them to see it," she said. "And I'm excited for everyone who watches the movie to get to know Brad. I have never seen anyone as determined as he is. He never gives up, and that's what makes him so beautiful."