Brad Cohen

Brad Cohen (born December 18, 1973) is an American motivational speaker, teacher, school administrator, and author who has severe Tourette syndrome (TS). Cohen described his experiences growing up with the condition in his 2005 book, Front of the Class: How Tourette Syndrome Made Me the Teacher I Never Had, co-authored with Lisa Wysocky. The book has been made into a 2008 Hallmark Hall of Fame TV movie titled Front of the Class, and adapted into a hit 2018 Bollywood film Hichki.

During his childhood, Cohen was accused of being a troublemaker in school and was punished by his teachers for the tics and noises caused by TS. He decided to "become the teacher that he never had". After he graduated from college and received his teaching certificate, he was rejected by 24 elementary schools before he was hired at Mountain View Elementary School in Cobb County, Georgia. As a new teacher, he was named Georgia's First Class Teacher of the Year.

Early life Cohen was born December 18, 1973 and grew up in St. Louis, Missouri, in a Jewish family. His parents divorced during his early childhood. Cohen barked and twitched constantly during his waking hours, and would knock his knee against the inside of the car door. Someone asked his mother once if she had considered an exorcist. His mother was compassionate, but his father did not understand why his son did the things he did, often getting frustrated and punishing him for making noises or other physical tics.

Doctors initially told Cohen's mother that his tics were an emotional reaction to his parents' divorce. and was president of the St. Louis Council of Aleph Zadik Aleph.

College and career Cohen attended Bradley University in Peoria, Illinois, where he majored in elementary education and was a member of Alpha Epsilon Pi. During his first week at school, he was kicked out of a local fast food restaurant when an employee thought he was drunk and threatened to call the police, even as Cohen and his friends were trying to explain about his vocal tics and TS. Within hours, fellow students began to organize a boycott of the restaurant; the manager phoned Cohen and asked him to come back to the restaurant so he could apologize in person.

After graduating cum laude with many academic honors, Cohen moved to Atlanta, Georgia in the 1990s to seek employment, applying to numerous elementary schools for a teaching position. He interviewed with administrators, but his interviews were always punctuated by his tics. He was rejected 24 times before Mountain View Elementary School, in Cobb County, Georgia, hired him to teach the second and third grades.

In the classroom, Cohen, who taught about his Tourette syndrome at the beginning of each year, was popular with students; one parent requested his child be removed from his class, but asked to have the child moved back only weeks later. Cohen later taught second grade at Tritt Elementary School in suburban Atlanta, before leaving the classroom on the path to becoming a school administrator. In the 2009-2010 school year, he was an Assistant Administrator for both Mountain View Elementary School and Chalker Elementary School. From 2010-2022, he served as Assistant Principal at Addison Elementary. Cohen met Nancy Lazarus of Charleston, South Carolina, through an Internet dating service; and have two children.

Accomplishments Cohen's book, Front of the Class: How Tourette Syndrome Made Me the Teacher I Never Had, co-written with Lisa Wysocky, was published in 2005. It won the Independent Publisher Book Award for Best Education Book for that year. According to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the book is "well worth reading, giv[ing] insight into what it is like to live with Tourette's—such as when Brad's noises disturbed other people at restaurants, sports bars, golf courses and movie theaters, and when Brad could get a first date with a woman but never a second". He has been featured in a public service announcement for the national Tourette Syndrome Association, and he serves as the vice president for the Tourette Syndrome Association of Georgia. He was a chairman of Relay for Life, a Little League coach, a Major League Baseball mascot, and has received recognition and several awards for volunteerism and community involvement. the movie aired on CBS on December 7, 2008.

Following his 2006 appearance on The Oprah Winfrey Show, in 2007 Cohen spoke at a conference after Timothy Shriver of the Special Olympics. According to Shriver, "The audience 'was laughing, then crying, then laughing, then crying, then cheering, and at the end, they gave him a huge standing ovation. Cohen still has frequent and loud vocal tics and barking. He joked: "I'm hoping I don't get kicked out of my own movie."

Foundation Cohen established the Brad Cohen Tourette Foundation, a 501(c)(3) non-profit, to provide funding for children with Tourette Syndrome to attend "camp or other social activit[ies]."